Nothing To Fear - Jesus

Soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. 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?”

Mark 4:37-38

A military governor once met with General George Patton in Sicily at the height of World War II. When the man praised Patton for his courage, the general replied, “Sir, I am not a brave man. . . . The truth is, I am an utter, craven coward. I have never been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole life that I wasn’t so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands.”

Years later, Patton wrote in his autobiography, “I learned very early in my life never to take counsel of my fears.”

Few things in life test a man’s mettle like fear. During times of fear, a man’s faith is put to its sternest test.

Jesus’ disciples faced such a test.

As Jesus and his disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee, a storm came up that deeply worried even the experienced fishermen onboard. With their nerves jangling and their faith shaken, they felt sure the end had come.

As the disciples did everything they could to keep their boat from sinking, Jesus remained so calm that he slept through the worst that the Sea of Galilee could deliver. The disciples, by now gripped with utter terror, wondered how anyone could possibly sleep through it all.

The disciples didn’t yet have Jesus’ sense of a God-ordained destiny. He knew that he had a purpose for coming to earth and that nothing could keep him from fulfilling it.

Jesus calmed the storm by speaking to it. Still wide-eyed with fear and amazement, the disciples learned something that is still true today: When Jesus accompanies you, you have nothing to fear.

Fear is an unavoidable aspect of life, but you don’t have to allow your fears to rule you or keep you from enjoying all that God has for you. When you put your focus on Jesus instead of on the storms of life, you can triumph over fear time after time.