"So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me." (Acts 27:25, NIV))
Fear ruled on board that ship. They could not sleep; they could not eat; hopelessness ruled, "Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned." Most know the feeling. I have seen this far too often in too many people, "....all hope...was gradually abandoned."
Yet in Acts 27 is one of the most encouraging reads you will ever encounter. Here is the Interlinear: "Therefore take heart men I believe indeed God that thus it will be according to the way (manner, character, manner of life) it has been said to me." I take this to mean, "Because of Who said this, there is every reason to, "take heart," or, "keep up your courage...."
People lose heart/courage because they only rely on their reasoning or the reasoning of others. Such people are products of "Renaissance/Enlightenment/Age of Reason" thinking. Most on planet Earth are afflicted with this disease. They will only believe what they see. Their grandparents were such; their parents were such; their schools were such. It's like they never had a chance. They look at their circumstances and say, "Impossible. This has been going on way too long to believe it will change." They are slaves of laboratory thinking.
Then "arrives" our Lord Jesus Christ's New Birth and Conversion. Jesus makes a, "new creature," or, "the new creation has come: The old has gone...." Jesus does not rework or reform our hearts; Jesus creates in us a new heart. And when a storm which has lasted longer than one as a child of the "Enlightenment" can take, Something/Some One else rules. The "Age of Reason" has been replaced by the "Age of Jesus." As the old song says, "It shall be done even as He says."
Now one can stand on board that storm-tossed ship of life, having not been able to eat or sleep for a long time because of fear, and enjoy the, "table before me," Jesus' table, which somehow shines most powerfully, "in the presence of my enemies," in the presence of that most violent, "all hope... gradually abandoned," storm.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You for the new heart of believing You, no matter the storm. Amen.
Fear ruled on board that ship. They could not sleep; they could not eat; hopelessness ruled, "Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned." Most know the feeling. I have seen this far too often in too many people, "....all hope...was gradually abandoned."
Yet in Acts 27 is one of the most encouraging reads you will ever encounter. Here is the Interlinear: "Therefore take heart men I believe indeed God that thus it will be according to the way (manner, character, manner of life) it has been said to me." I take this to mean, "Because of Who said this, there is every reason to, "take heart," or, "keep up your courage...."
People lose heart/courage because they only rely on their reasoning or the reasoning of others. Such people are products of "Renaissance/Enlightenment/Age of Reason" thinking. Most on planet Earth are afflicted with this disease. They will only believe what they see. Their grandparents were such; their parents were such; their schools were such. It's like they never had a chance. They look at their circumstances and say, "Impossible. This has been going on way too long to believe it will change." They are slaves of laboratory thinking.
Then "arrives" our Lord Jesus Christ's New Birth and Conversion. Jesus makes a, "new creature," or, "the new creation has come: The old has gone...." Jesus does not rework or reform our hearts; Jesus creates in us a new heart. And when a storm which has lasted longer than one as a child of the "Enlightenment" can take, Something/Some One else rules. The "Age of Reason" has been replaced by the "Age of Jesus." As the old song says, "It shall be done even as He says."
Now one can stand on board that storm-tossed ship of life, having not been able to eat or sleep for a long time because of fear, and enjoy the, "table before me," Jesus' table, which somehow shines most powerfully, "in the presence of my enemies," in the presence of that most violent, "all hope... gradually abandoned," storm.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You for the new heart of believing You, no matter the storm. Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
