Tuesday, February 26,
2013, 8:00 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with this song:
Sing Praises / An
Original Work / November 30, 2012
Based off Psalms 6-9
Sing praises to the
Lord! Tell of His wondrous works.
Afflicted, they cry
out; The Lord will not forget;
The needy, not desert.
The Lord’s our refuge
now; A stronghold when we fear.
The Lord will ne’er
forsake the ones, who Him pursue!
Sing praises to the
Lord! With all my heart I sing.
I will rejoice in Him;
Sing praises to His name;
Tell of His wondrous
works.
My shield is God Most
High.
He saves those who
believe in Jesus Christ, God’s Son.
His grace has pardoned
you!
The Lord accepts my
prayer! The Lord has heard my cries.
He is so merciful. He
heals my anguished soul.
The Lord has made me
whole.
Give thanks unto the
Lord. Give praise unto His name.
Our Lord is righteousness.
Sing praises to the Lord!
Sing praises to the
Lord!
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 14 (quoting vv. 22-33 NASB):
Immediately He made
the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He
sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the
mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But
the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for
the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them,
walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were
terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But
immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage,
it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter said to Him,
“Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on
the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and
beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched
out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You
of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the
wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are
certainly God’s Son!”
Death of John (Matthew
14:1-12)
Herod had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison
because John had said that it was not lawful for him to have his brother’s
wife. Herod wanted to put John to death, but he feared the crowd, because the
people regarded John as a prophet sent from God. Yet, Herod was tricked into
beheading John and to serving up his head to his wife’s daughter, who then took
the head to her mother. John’s disciples buried his body, and then they
reported John’s death to Jesus.
The Crowds (Matthew
14:13-21)
When Jesus heard about John’s death, he withdrew from there
in a boat to a private place by himself, I assume to commune with his Father
and to grieve John’s death and the manner in which John was killed, i.e. to
grieve over the sins of mankind that brought about the death of a righteous one;
the one sent to prepare the way for the Lord; and his cousin.
For any of us who have lost a loved one, who have been
wounded in spirit, and/or who have known affliction, hardship, persecution,
rejection, difficult circumstances, loss of health, job, and/or home, et al, we
know that it is during those times when the news hits, or when the situation
reaches its peak in difficulty, that we, or perhaps most people, want to just
be alone with our own thoughts and/or to pray to our Father in heaven. So, I
think we can empathize with Jesus’ situation.
When the people heard of this, they followed Jesus on foot.
When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd of people, he had compassion on them,
and he healed their sick. How many of us would have done the same? Our God is
awesome! He is always there for us. Although he was hurting himself, and he
really just wanted to be alone, he demonstrated such love, mercy and compassion
for the people that is beyond our human comprehension. He is so selfless. “Oh, to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer, this
is my constant longing and prayer…” (Chisholm).
When it was getting late, he did not send the people away to
get food, as the disciples had suggested, but he fed over 5,000 people with
just five loaves of bread and two fish, and there were even leftovers!
Take Courage! (Matthew
14:22-33)
Jesus then made the disciples get into a boat and to go on
ahead of him to the other side of the lake. He sent the crowds away. Then he
went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Now, he had his time alone with the
Father – a time that had been delayed due to him having compassion on the
people. It was evening. The boat was a long distance from land. It was being
battered by the waves, for the wind was against it.
The Lord Jesus has often given me a picture of this boat as
representing our lives individually or as symbolizing the church corporately. The
wind, in this case, represents circumstances, people and/or Satan opposed to
(against) the gospel of Jesus Christ, or just life’s circumstances, in general,
seemingly working hard against us. The wind could also represent winds of
doctrine coming against the church to defeat it and to destroy it.
The wind is the motivating force behind the waves beating
against the boat. The winds of false teaching can move people to reject the true
gospel and its messengers. The winds of opposition to the gospel can move
people to join in the opposition and to beat up on those who are genuinely
following the Lord Jesus Christ in sharing the truths of God’s word. These
attacks against the true gospel and its messengers may come in many forms, such
as accusing tongues, false accusations, lies, deception and manipulations of
truth to try to undo the truth and the truth-tellers. Or, it can come in severe
persecution and even death of those who are Christ’s ambassadors for the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
Jesus came to his disciples somewhere between 3:00 a.m. and
6:00 a.m. (the fourth watch of the night). He was walking on the water. When
his disciples saw him, they were afraid, for they thought they were seeing a
ghost. They cried out in fear. Immediately Jesus spoke words of comfort and
encouragement to their hearts. He said, “Take courage, it is I; do not be
afraid.”
And, that is his message to us in all of our circumstances,
too, even when we are facing opposition, rejection and persecution for our
testimony and witness for Jesus Christ and his gospel. Nothing can happen to us
but what our God allows it and he allows it for a purpose, so we never have
reason to be afraid, because he is always there, and he is in control, even
when we can’t see him and everything around us seems dark. And, sometimes all
we can say is “Help!” and he is there with just the right words when we need
them most.
Peter had doubts, but he was willing to step out in faith,
and he asked if he could come to the Lord. Jesus said “Come!” Peter walked to
Jesus on the water, and he came toward Jesus, but then he got his eyes off
Jesus and on to the waves, and he began to sink. Yet, he had the sense to cry
out, “Lord, save me!” And, Jesus immediately reached out his hand to him, took
hold of him, but yet gently scolded him, too, for his lack of faith.
Sometimes encouragement comes in the form of exhortation,
but it is still what we need to hear. What an awesome picture this gives us of
how, when we get our eyes off Jesus, and on to our circumstances, and we begin
to doubt and fear, that if we just cry out the Lord, he will take hold of us
and he will restore us and heal us. And, then when we allow him to step back
into our lives (in the boat with us), he calms the wind and the waves. He may
not remove the difficulties, but he will give us his peace within that he is
present, that he loves us, cares about us, and that he is absolutely in
control, no matter what may come our way.
Awaken the Dawn /
An Original Work / January 15, 2013
Based off Psalm 57 (NIV 1984)
O my God, have mercy
on me!
In the Lord, my soul
takes refuge.
In the shadow of Your
wings, Lord,
I find shelter till
the storms pass.
I cry out to my God
Most High.
He fulfills His
purpose for me.
He sent His Son to die
for me,
So I could be saved.
I am in the midst of
lions;
Men whose teeth are
spears and arrows;
Whose tongues are
sharp; words accusing.
They spread a net, my
feet to catch.
They dug a pit, in hopes
I’d fall.
O God, be exalted o’er
all.
Let Your glory shine
to all men,
So they may be saved.
Steadfast is my heart,
O my God;
I will sing of all
Your wonders.
Awake, my soul! Sing
praise to God!
Early I will rise and
praise Him!
I’ll praise God among the
nations;
I will sing among the
peoples.
God’s love reaches to
the heavens,
So we may be saved.
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