MARCH 02 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#07 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26)

 

MARCH 02  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

  JQ#07 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” 

(Matthew 8:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord I pray that Your Spirit will continue to consume me, Lord

 I proclaim as Paul did, I know that I have not yet attained the goal but I press

 on to the finish which is a race that I cannot run on my own strength,

 Lord I need You, I need Your daily Mercy and Grace and I do TRUST You

 to finish the good work You have begun in me. 

There is nothing in me besides YOU that can move my soul towards

 the prize of the high calling of service to the Kingdom so therefore refresh

 and renew in me a “Right Spirit” and “create in me a clean heart O God”!    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS is asking a most revealing Kingdom Question with 

JQ#07 - “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26a) 

and so far we haven’t even really considered the context in which this

 personal Question was asked. We looked at the immediate circumstance

 of Jesus and His disciples being in a “great tempest” after they had 

followed Jesus onto a boat and then when the tempest beset them

 His disciples panicked — but Jesus was sleeping. Of course, we like the

 disciples, see the waves and the tempest and we consider the physical

 consequences of drowning in our storms but we miss the spiritual

 consequences of (1) following Jesus through the storm and (2) trusting

 Him to “calm” even the worst “tempest” in our lives and (3) to know

 that our “faith” in JESUS is the only thing in our earthly lives 

that has “Sublime Eternal” consequences. 

The larger context of the circumstances of the “Teachings” of Jesus

 to His disciples should also be observed in terms of what the disciples

 had seen Jesus doing immediately prior to them getting on the boat

 and then ask ourselves if those actions of Jesus should have built

 their “faith” in His Power and Divine Nature???  

After Jesus Taught the disciples the parable of the

 “two builders”

 (Matthew 7:24-27)

 which introduced the concept that 

we should build the “foundation” of our “faith” on “solid rock”,

 (see 1 Samuel 2:2b “Nor is there any ROCK like our God.)

 Jesus then laid the “ground floor” of our “faith in Jesus” by (1) healing

 the servant of a centurion as Jesus connected His Healing Power to

 our Faith Building when Jesus told the centurion (A)

 “I will come and heal him.” (Matthew 8:7) and (B)

 “Then Jesus said to the centurion, 

‘Go your way; as you have believed, so let it be done for you.’ 

And his servant was healed that same hour.” 

(Matthew 8:13).

 Jesus continued His Lesson on His Healing Power when next He came

 to Peter’s house “ … [Jesus] saw [Peter’s] wife’s mother lying sick

 with a fever. So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. 

And she arose and served them.” (Matthew 8:14-15) 

That very same evening the disciples had witnessed the villagers where

 Peter lived bringing “to [JESUS] many who were demon-possessed. 

And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick…” 

(Matthew 8:16) 

So Jesus gives the parable of the “two builders” to encourage 

the disciples to “build their faith” on Him and then He immediately

 demonstrates His Divine Power and Compassion for all people 

by “healing” both their “physical” and their “spiritual” ailments! 

When the tempest arose, the disciples acted like they hadn’t seen

 these Divine Attributes of Jesus — all the disciples could see was

 the “physical world” as they got into a boat, and then the boat gets in

 a great storm, and the wind and the waves of the tempest makes the

 disciples go into full panic mode — and the first thing Jesus says 

upon awakening and seeing their panic is,

 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26) ???  

JQ#07 should awaken us to the “obvious” that 

Jesus is in control of both the “physical” and the “spiritual” worlds

 and that He also has control over the natural world in which we 

live our day-to-day lives. 

If we also look at His Resurrection  we will see that 

He has control over our eternity as well so “Why are we fearful 

of the world and death” when all we have to do is to have 

FAITH in the ONE who died for our sins, 

rose the third day, sits at the right hand of God

 and makes intercession for us?    

Jesus gave us all the resources we need to build our

 “Faith in God” 

but He wants us to hammer a nail or two ourselves!!!