Are You Afraid of Jesus?

Sitting here in my home office getting ready for a very busy Wednesday night at New Hope. They are a blur of activity from every angle - worship practice, fellowship meal, kids, youth, and adult study and prayer. Over the last few weeks I've been praying over and through every step we take each week, asking God to be known to us and for Him to use our imperfect efforts for His perfect will.

We have to go into every gathering not wanting "a good service" or "a good small group" or whatever, but wanting God to be glorified and Jesus exalted. Praying that today and realized just how dangerous a prayer it is. You see we make plans. On a normal Wednesday we have several servant leaders who work very hard to prepare to lead their areas of ministry. Hopefully they are wanting the Kingdom advancement I pray for too.

So what if it happens? What if Jesus shows up and does more than we'd expect Him to? What if He changes things we never even hoped or prayed would change because we thought it wasn't very likely. What would our reaction be?

35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed).37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.
38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the water, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”
Mark 4:35-41 (NLT)

They've seen Him heal dozens - lepers, paralytics, whoever came forward to Him with a need. No one had ever done that in the history of Israel. And yet, when circumstances changed, they panicked and forgot all that - forgot everything. Desperately they asked Him to do something.

He did something. Something beyond anything they'd ever thought to ask for.

And it scared them more than the prospect of imminent death

Here's my question.

Are we afraid of Jesus - of what He could do if we prayed without restrictions or reservations, believing fully in His power and authority over everything in this life and beyond?


Think about it. Pray about it.


"Do you still have no faith?"