Jesus Calms the Storm

Passage: Matthew 8:23-27

Jesus Calms the Storm
²³ Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. ²⁴ Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

²⁶ He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Thoughts
Holy. cow. I can't say how many times I've probably read this passage but it's still pretty bonkers to me. This Jesus guy just wakes up from his nap and makes a storm go away...who does that!? One second a furious storm, the next second, completely calm. At his word, at his command.

I think the most common connections or applications people like to make here with this passage is that Jesus will calm the storms in our hearts. Absolutely true...but today my thoughts are bit different..

First of all, I wonder why it is that I don't connect the Jesus of the New Testament -- the one who calmed storms and raised the dead -- with the one I talk to on a daily basis...The Bible says something to the effect of "those who believe without seeing" are really blessed. But I'm not so sure that when I pray to Jesus everyday, I pray how I would talk to him if I was on that boat as well. I don't think I have that much intimacy with my Lord. I don't think I have anything close to that kind of faith. Sigh. Faith is hard to have. I want it though!

Hmm...

Secondly...well actually that's pretty much it.

Prayer
Father I pray for more faith. I want to have the kind of intimacy with you that the disciples did. I don't want to talk about you like you're not in the room. I want to look right at you, I want to sing right to you. I want to talk right to you. No barriers. No hindrances and no restrictions. I want a constant stream of dialogue between us. Am I praying wrong? Am I praying too little?

I don't know Lord. All I know is that I seek greater fellowship with you. Please Lord, show me the way. I don't want to waste my life, or even a single day not being in relationship with you. Everyday Lord, may it be!

I honestly don't even know where to begin or how else to pray about this or how to put it into words. I just want you Lord. More of you. I want more and more and more and more. I feel like I've plateaued. I look around me and people have the same kind of faith life as I do. But I want more than that. I want to be as close to you as possible.

I pray you would rekindle the fire that once burned after you, after your heart, and your presence. Bring it back God. I want to want you.

In Jesus Name,

Amen.

Jesus Heals Many + The Cost of Following Jesus

Passage: Matthew 8:14-22

Jesus Heals Many
14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.”[a]

The Cost of Following Jesus
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Thoughts
As I was reading through these passages, I saw that I had highlighted the words "and she rose and began to serve him". It occured to me then, and occurs to me now, what a noteworthy scene this is. Jesus walks in, holds her hand, and her fever, which had made her bed-ridden, disappears. Her response? Service. She begins to immediately serve him, the passage says. Her response was one of joy and gratitude, no doubt. I think about this, and try to put it into the context of my own life...I would say that it rings pretty true for me, and for any believer. God heals us and makes a profound impact on our live, and our response is the desire to serve and to follow him. Super cool. It's also really amazing that all he does is touch her hand. But on the other hand, why does he even do that? He shows in other cases that he doesn't even need to be in the same room to heal someone...he can do that remotely. I believe that Jesus likes to touch and be close to those he heals to demonstrate his love and his compassion. Super cool.

As for the second passage, this really puts a lead weight in my heart. Many people come up to him, astounded at his sign and miracles, saying "I want to follow you! Let me follow you!" This to me feels a lot like when I meet a successful entrepreneur or business person and I have to introduce myself and try to get myself involved with them somehow. It must have been a lot crazier with Jesus walking around healing people left and right. Anyway, the part that's hard for me to swallow is when Jesus talks about how hard it will be to follow him...how you literally have to drop everything in your life and surrender your destiny to him...

I'm not sure if he was trying to deliver a point, or if he was actually serious. And I'm also unsure how this should be interpreted in this day and age. How do I really and truly honor God with my life and passions and gifts? How do I do it with my career?

I still feel as though I'm more occupied with my dreams and my hunger for success, for myself, than for God. Of course I want to glorify God with my passions, but my motivation is still not entirely Jesus. I can admit to that much. Tough. What would God say? Hmmm...

Prayer
Father, I pray that you would give me clarity in my heart and mind. Am I doing okay with the way I'm following you? Am I not giving all of me yet? What do I need to do? How can I be a fully committed follower? What do I need to sacrifice, if anything?

Lord, more than anything, I pray simply that you would change my motivations. Change my heart. Help me to want you. Put in me the desire to honor and to love you above all. I really ask that you would reset my sights on life, with you at the center, and with everything else really being built around that and looking up to that.

Thank you Father, for being good to me. I pray you would reveal to me my purpose.

In Jesus name I pray,

Amen.

The Faith of a Centurion

Passage: Matthew 8:5-13

⁵ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶ “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

⁸ The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.¹² But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³ Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.

Thoughts
This passage is an interesting one that puts many questions in my mind. Maybe even some doubts. What I found really amazing was that when Jesus said "Alright, I will go to where your servant is and heal him", the Centurion responds with a correction. He doesn't tell Jesus what to do or how to do it or question him...instead he says with total humility, "I'm not worthy to have you come into my house. I know that you are in command so just say the word and I know he will be healed." To which Jesus is blown away.

This whole scene provokes a lot of questions. Why was Jesus blown away and marveling? Why was he so wowed? It was as if he didn't expect it...whereas in other places in scripture, Jesus already knows how people will respond. Nevertheless, even Jesus is pretty shocked, and he says that this man's faith exceeds that of any other in the land.

Another question, whatever became of this Centurion? And where did this Centurion's faith come from? How did he have such faith? How was it so simple, cut and dry, FACT to him? He had no doubts whatsoever. Which confuses me because as far as I know, this Centurion doesn't really know who Jesus is. Where is his skepticism? Where is his second thought? Where is his testing eye and his wariness? How did he know with such absolute confidence that Jesus was who everyone was saying He was? I don't get it.

Anyway, this guy's faith really is something, for all the reasons and doubts I just listed out above. I guess my takeaway here is that I would have such a faith. Where I know with such certainty that God is who he says he is, and that he loves me and looks out for me, that whatever I ask for he will give. I hope that my skepticism and doubt will go away. I'd imagine that God would say to me, "Oh you of little faith" quite a bit.

Prayer
Lord give me the faith of the Centurion. Lord, I pray that you would gift me with such a faith that I could move mountains. I pray that your Holy Spirit would live in me and abide in me in such a way that I can have this kind of faith. Lord, I want to not doubt you or second guess you. I want that absolute confidence and that absolute faith. Zero doubts, zero skepticism. Remove that from me. I don't know where that comes from. Maybe it's because I don't want to be disappointed? I think that's part of it. Like, what if I ask you and you don't give me what I ask for?

It's still all very cloudy to me how to really have faith. I pray that you would help me to be more daring and to have more boldness in my life. To do things in faith. To walk by faith and not by sight.

Lord, give me more faith. I want to really believe in you. Seriously seriously seriously.

In Jesus name I pray,

Amen.

LOVE LIFE 16: Facebook Status of Love!

- 16 of 31 -

So if you are on Facebook, you have probably seen people setting their statuses to something like "If you like this status, I will post something I like about you on your wall".

I thought it was another kind of stupid Facebook fad at first, but then I thought about it more and I concluded that it was something quite positive.

Especially when I said, "why not?, and "liked" my friend Amanda's status. She posted on my wall several days later some of the things she likes about me, and I was actually pretty touched and happy because of it. Probably because its been a while since I've talked to her and she recounted some of our good memories.

So for my act of love today, I decided to do my own "love" Facebook status! I posted: "If you like this status, I will comment you with just some of the many things I like about you :D"

I intend to give people more time to "like" it and then I'm going to comment everyone with what I like about them, compliment them, and encourage them.

Woo hoo!

Challenge: You already know what I want you to do. Change your Facebook status!!!

LOVE LIFE 15: Being a Loving Customer

- 15 of 31 -
I really like this post. I hope you do too.

It struck me the other week when I was at a bagel shop how much good customer service can really affect your day.

The guy working there (I can't remember his name! It's at the tip of my tongue! AH!) was REALLY friendly, took good care of us, and left such an impression that I was praising the guy on my way out to my friend.

Although its something I try to do regularly, today I made an extra effort to be a great customer.

I think that just like how great customer service can really make you feel pretty great, an excellent, friendly, and caring customer should make the employee feel pretty great too.

If you've ever had to use customer service skills at a job before, you probably know what I'm talk about. Those times when a CUSTOMER was really friendly and nice to you, and YOU hung up the phone with a smile? THAT'S the kind of customer I want to be everywhere I go.

So today when I went to the post office to mail something out, I found myself face to face with a man who looked like he was having the longest day ever and could not wait till he could get off work. I walked up to the counter and greeted him warmly, "Hi, how are you doing?"

His energy was so low. No enthusiasm. Totally flat lining. A walking zombie! Haha

I kept up my energy and kindness throughout the conversation, and when I was walking away from the counter a couple minutes later, he made sure to say "Have a great day".

And boy, if you were there you could hear his tone had changed so much and he had cracked a small smile at the corner of his mouth.

Though my few minutes was insignificant, I wondered what his day would have been like if every single customer was bright, enthusiastic, and nice to him. Perhaps his day would have been nicer.

Perhaps he would have gone home to his wife, who would ask him "How was work?", and he would respond, "You know what, it was really good. Everyone was really really nice today"

:) You know what I'm saying?

Also, the other day this guy at McDonalds was SUPER nice and hooked it up big time with a bunch of Sweet&Sour Sauces. Beyond that, he was just exceptionally friendly. It made me feel good :D

Let's love!

Challenge of the Day: Be a loving customer! Make it your goal to brighten up THEIR day! Flip the idea of customer service upside down, and be super nice to YOUR server.

LOVE LIFE 13 and 14: Praying for My Non-Christian Friends on My Morning Commute + Being Friendly to Edward

-13 and 14 of 31 -

I have a bit of catching up to do.

For #13, I gave my morning commute to prayer for my friends who don't know God. I picked three friends that are really on my heart and prayed fervently for them. I didn't pray for them to be a "Christian" like me, but for them to really know who God is. That's it.

Everybody wants to be loved and God is love, so I think that deep down every single person wants God and just doesn't know it, because they don't know how good God really is!

I prayed for God to really show himself to them and that their hearts would be softened and their minds opened. That, of course, and some other stuff too :D

I know this act of love will manifest great things into their lives.
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#14 involves me, my co-intern, my lunch break, and a man named Edward who had most of his two lungs removed a year ago.

On the way back from grabbing lunch, I was going back to the Plan C office with my co-intern Josephine when Edward asked us if we had a napkin. He was sitting on the ground near the office building next to a bunch of groceries. He told us he needed to blow his nose because he had trouble breathing, especially because of the bad smoggy air in LA and because he had most of his lungs removed because of emphysema.

My act of love was taking interest in his story and being friendly to him. I didn't even have a napkin to give him, but fortunately Josephine did. We could have walked away after giving him the napkin, but I asked him his name and introduced myself, and asked why he had trouble breathing.

After some small talk, I told him I hope to see him around and left.

Hopefully I will see Edward next time and then I'll have a napkin ready and maybe we can even share a bit more time together :)

Challenge of the Day: Instead of listening to music or zoning out while you drive, give that time to something eternally worthwhile. Pray for others! :D

LOVE LIFE 12: Organizing a Surprise Prayer Party for a Sister in Christ

- 12 of 31 -

Today I took my friend Crystal out for her birthday and also to celebrate her recent acceptance into USC.

We went to get some delicious bagels, took a trip to the LACMA, and also got some really amazing crepes. For my act of love, though, I organized a new tradition where we celebrate our friends' birthdays and other celebrations by praying over them and encouraging them.

So I messaged all of our mutual friends on Facebook and got together a surprise prayer party planned. We decided to meet at my friend James' backyard prayer room.

When we came in, everyone inside started singing "Happy Birthday" and surprised her :)

Afterwards, we all gathered around her and prayer for her, encouraged her, and prophesied into her life. We spoke about her future career, her relationship with God, and

I didn't get to talk to her about how it was, but I could tell she felt encouraged, uplifted, and believed in :)

Challenge: Celebrate your brother/sister-in-Christ's birthday with prayer and encouragement!

Bible Verse of the Day: Psalm 71 (this is the verse God gave me to give to Crystal)