“Where is your faith?” Luke 8:25.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Jesus does not sympathize with fear. When His disciples went into panic when He had already told them they were going to the other side, He asked them three very important questions that you may want to ask yourself when you go into what the world very appropriately calls an “anxiety attack.” It is an attack of the devil and it is the unclean spirit of fear. And you should know just what to do with that. Yes, you are to cast it out. Anything I did not give you, you must reject and I did not give you a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
So what are the questions Jesus asked? Remember He is looking for faith.
“Where is your faith?” Luke 8:25.
“Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?” Mark 4:40.
“Why are you fearful, you men of little faith?” Matthew 8:26.
Going into panic and fear is the result of lost faith, no faith, and little faith. But when the Son of Man comes will He find any faith on the earth? Faith is the only way you can connect with victory every time. Faith is the only way you can be an overcomer.
For whoever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:4-5.
True faith is a wonderful thing. It is what makes you stand in a storm and get the solution to take down anything that comes against you. And to have that kind of fully persuaded faith is to rest in Me, knowing you are in good hands and I will do what is right. It is peace from your enemies on every side, no matter how many ways they come against you.
They came to Jerusalem with harps, lyres and trumpets to the house of the LORD. And the dread of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God gave him rest on all sides. 2 Chronicles 20:28-30.
I tell you that the Israelites that I redeemed from the slavery of Egypt never entered My rest because they did not mix My promises with faith. My promises were sure and like Joshua and Caleb, they could have settled in their hearts that no matter what the circumstances looked like, no matter how contrary they appeared to My promises, they could rest in Me knowing that I would bring to completion the good work I had begun for them.
It began when through Joseph, I called them to Egypt to save them from famine and it finished with ten plagues, the Passover, the parting of the Red Sea, the defeat of the mighty empire of Egyptian without any battle on their part, and on to the guidance of the cloud and the pillar of fire, and the provision of the Manna, the quail, and the water from the rock. Plus the wonderful creative project I gave them to do and maintain in the Tabernacle by which I traveled with them in their midst. I saw to their deliverance, protection, sustenance, and fruitfulness. It was all there for them to enjoy. Plus, as an awesome extra, though they had been slaves for four hundred years, I brought them out laden with silver and gold and not a feeble one among them. Psalm 105:37.
And now let Me ask you a question, how did I bring them out? Because this is the key to your victory for you should imitate Me as My dear children to get My kind of results. I brought them out with joy—joyful shouts and singing!
And He brought forth His people with joy (sason(שָׂשׂוֹן): joy, gladness, exultation), and His chosen with joyful shouts (rinnah (רִנָּה): joyful shouting, cry of joy, rejoicing, singing). Psalm 105:43.
Faith celebrates. Notice I did not wait to rejoice like the Israelites did when they were safe on the other side of the Red Sea and had seen My mighty works of deliverance. I was leading them through the troubles with joyful celebration of victory before anyone even saw the path under the sea that I had put there from the foundation of the world for just that time.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14.
It is a triumphal procession of victory. You can come to Me with confidence.
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16.
And what is the way you come to My throne? A particular kind of confidence. You know:
O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. Psalm 95:1-2.
When you know Me, you know something that no one can take from you.
Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. John 16:22.
Resurrection joy—the power in you that can do exceedingly beyond and above all you ask or imagine. But it is only released by faith. True faith, not feigned faith.
You know something that makes you stand up to any obstacle and laugh in its face as you CELEBRATE your deliverance. Why? You know who I AM and what I do.
You know that I am good and that you are in My all-powerful hand and that I will give you the answers you need just when you need them and that I will perform ALL My good promises for you.
You know what I have done for you in Jesus. That you were hopelessly lost and under the divine sentence of condemnation passed down to you in Adam but that Jesus paid your judgment, took your sentence, and gave you the fullness of who He is so that you can live your life though Him. And you know that I have blessed you already with every spiritual blessing in the Heavens in Him and that I have given you the gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace (My life and skill in you) in Jesus.
Resurrection power. My Spirit is living in you.
It has pleased Me to give you the Kingdom, which includes all My benefits, Psalm 103:1-5, and the perfect protection of the heavenly host at your disposal by My command.
You can walk in perfect confidence and rebuke any storm. Now, may I ask a question, do you? Or are you not at rest but like the waves of the tossing sea? The life of the complaining, blaming doubter that questions My goodness in every situation that does not look like a celebration. That is what the Israelites did in the desert that kept them out of the Promised Land and out of My rest though they already had it if they had just taken it. And to take it you must celebrate it.
“Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and he (the destroyer) will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.” Deuteronomy 28:47-48.
But now I will tell you the truth that will set you free—if you will celebrate My promise before you see it manifest, but while you have only conceived it by faith in your spirit, you will see My promise come to pass for that is true, unfeigned faith. And it grieves Me that very few do this. Faith knows something. And faith celebrates. When you have the key, you do not worry if someone locks you out. And joyful celebration is the key.
Where is your faith?
So let us look at a storm when you are trying to cross to the other side and what you should do with it.
After a full day of preaching, teaching, healing and many conversations, when evening came, He said to His disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Mark 4:35; Luke 8:22. You know that Jesus only spoke My Words and did the works I showed Him, so if He tells you that you are going to the other side, know that no matter what gets in your way, I will complete the good work I have begun in you if you just go forward and do not retreat in fear.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Hebrews 10:35-39.
And the best way to encourage and strengthen yourself is to celebrate in joyful songs and shouts. And that will keep you in My rest, in shalom peace, even in the most challenging of circumstances and will bring you out laden with blessings.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:15-17.
But back to the disciples and Jesus at the boat as they left the crowd on the shore. They took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was, this time He did not stay behind to pray and send them off. Jesus, tired from the day so filled with crowds, teaching, and healing, fell calmly asleep in the stern of the boat while the four disciples who were fishermen and knew the Sea of Galilee inside and out took over to steer the boat while the others helped pulling the oars.
Suddenly, without warning, a fierce gale of wind arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Mark 4:37. It was a storm beyond what they had experienced at any time before and they went into panic.
Jesus, however, was not even moved, He was still in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Mark 4:38. And again, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” Matthew 8:25; Luke 8:24. And He said, “Why are you fearful, you men of little faith?” Matthew 8:26. Then He got up and calmly regarded the situation, and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. Mark 4:39, Matthew 8:26; Luke 8:24. He then turned to His disciples, and said to them, “Where is your faith? Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Luke 8:25; Mark 4:41. They were awed and became even more afraid at the supernatural power they had just witnessed in Jesus and said to one another, “Who then is this, what kind of a man is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?” Luke 8:25; Mark 4:41; Matthew 8:27.
But Jesus did not do this to awe them, in fact, by His rebuke of their lack of faith, He had expected them to do what He did. You have dominion authority. I gave you rule over the works of My hands. Psalm 8:6-8. Do not forget that and just let things get out of order. And you will note, Jesus did it by words alone. That is the way I made everything. My Word and My Spirit, and you have both.That is My Covenant with you. Isaiah 59:21.
Remember that the night the fierce storm came up on the lake, the disciples had heard teachings and seen miracles of healing and mighty works that very day. And yet in the storm they forgot who was in the boat with them and accused Him of not caring that they were perishing. Do not be like that. Do not forget the wonders that I have done and that My wonders never cease. Each morning My mercies are new. Never question My care of you. Jesus did not question Me about the storm, He knew I did not cause it or will it or He would not have rebuked it.
But if you note where they were headed, you will know why the devil raised that storm. They were headed for the country of the Gerasenes. And when they got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met them, yes, the demoniac with the Legion of devils in him. Mark 5:1-20; Matthew 8:28-34; Luke 8:26-39. And Jesus set him free to become a preacher of the gospel. Satan had a stronghold in that area that Jesus was headed across the Sea of Galilee to pull down. And He did. Satan can never stop you if you take authority over what he puts in your way. You must rebuke it by answering it.
You will have trials in this life, the leasehold of Adam is not up yet, and the devil is still roaming and patrolling the earth seeing whom he can take captive to do his will, but he knows his time is short. He is watching the signs of the times and trying to hinder the saving of souls by as much filth, violence, storms, plagues as he can throw in your way. But he has already been judged, sentenced and conquered. He is around but you who are not of the world even though you are still in the world can take him down every time. Celebrate and trample on him. He tries to put you in fear and depression so he can take away your authority. But remember, he is a liar and the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. He is not a source so he has to steal what is yours to kill and destroy you and others. Take authority over him by My Word of truth.
Faith puts up with no nonsense. Jesus never did and neither should you. He that is in you is greater than he who is in the world (the “god” of this world). I have made you righteous in Christ. Be established in that and you will be far from oppression.
“In righteousness you will be established; you will be far from oppression, for you will not fear; and from terror, for it will not come near you. If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me. Whoever assails you will fall because of you.” Isaiah 54:14-15.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing My Word, but faith is only released by speaking it and the most effective way to speak it is to celebrate like you believe it. And the good news is that the more you celebrate the stronger in faith you become until you are in such peace, that you are never anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving you will make your requests known to Me and be at rest knowing it will all work out just as I have promised. And My shalom peace, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I love you. Celebrate and I will celebrate with you. Joyful praise always brings Me down to fight for you. 2 Chronicles 20.
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Romans 4:15-21.
Faith is what makes you celebrate in a storm and that is what brings you safely to the desired harbor.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, so that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they were quiet, so He guided them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, and for His wonders to the sons of men! Psalm 107:28-31.