December 19 2024

Thursday December 19

“Where is Your Faith?”

Luke 8:22-26

22 Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake." And they launched out. 23 But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. 24 And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 But He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!" 26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.

It appears to me that the main purpose of Luke sharing this experience of the disciples in the boat with Jesus going to the other side is to show us how that Jesus was teaching His disciples to live by faith. If they were going to going to obey His command to go into all the world and “disciple all the nations” (Matthew 28:19), they would need a great faith! And my friend, the same is true for us today!

The source and object of their faith, Jesus, was in the boat with them all along! Did you notice that the storm with the terrible wind and waves had brought great fear upon the disciples! They thought sure they were going to perish! But when Jesus calmed the wind and waves, and He asked them the question, “Where is your faith?”, we read, “And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be”. I believe they were overwhelmed with the fact that they were in the presence of the Omnipotent God and they were afraid!

Think about it! The very God Who spoke the universe into existence, Who created the heavens and the earth, Who spoke and there was light, Who spoke and there was animals, Who spoke and there was plant life, Who spoke and breathe into a hunk of clay and there was a man, the Great I Am, was the same voice that the disciples heard in the boat that day! “And they were afraid” and they said, “Who can this be”. I’m not sure they fully understood who Jesus really was until after His death, burial and resurrection and the Holy Spirit came upon them fully opening their eyes to the deity of Jesus Christ! But after that they were willing to go into all the world sharing His message and die for Him.

They were leaning that they needed the “look of faith”. “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith”. (Hebrews 12:2). “By faith, Moses saw Him who was invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). That they needed the “walk of faith”. “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). That they needed the “work of faith”. “By faith Noah built an ark…” (Hebrews 11:7). “Without works, faith is dead” (James 2:26). This would produce a “life of faith” that would change the world! (2 Corinthians 4:16- 18).

Jesus might be asking you today, “Where is your faith?” We need to remember that, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing from the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). I’m convinced that the Lord primarily uses two things to build and increase our faith. Learning Who Jesus, the Word, really is by hearing, reading, studying, and mediating on the Written Word, the Bible. Then God uses the storms and the trials of life to expose and reveal to us what kind of faith we really have. These will drive us to “wake up” Jesus in our lives and find Him in His Word. These storms will motivate us to spend time every day with Jesus in His Word.

As we are coming to the close of an old year and preparing for the new year, I want to challenge you to “increase your faith” by determining, by God’s grace, to read through your whole Bible from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 in a systematic and consistent way! Jesus said that man does not live by bread alone, but by “every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). 2 Timothy 3:16-17 also teaches us that: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

“Every Word, All Scripture, which means every Word in our Bible is needed for us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and to increase our faith! To help and assist you in fulfilling this challenge to read though your entire Bible in 2025, we have prepared a Bible reading calendar plan that is posted to our website each month.

We have posted two plans. Plan B will take you through the entire Bible once and only take 10 plus minutes a day: https://www.pmiministries.org/bible-reading-calendar-plan-b

Plan A will take you through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice and take about 15 plus minutes a day: https://www.pmiministries.org/daily-bible-reading-calendar

These can be downloaded and printed for your convenience!

Where will your faith be next year? It is up to you!

God bless!