MORNING CALM

Morning Calm

• Written by  Abi May

The Bible contains a lot of guidance for how to spend our time and energy: We’re to love and help others,¹ share the good news of God’s love,² and apply ourselves in our work,³ to name a few. But the Bible also teaches that sometimes it is best to stay put and let God work on our behalf.
“I’m going fishing,” Simon Peter told his fellow disciples.⁴
“We are going with you also,” they replied.

This was in the weeks following Jesus’ death. The disciples had seen Him twice since His resurrection,⁵ but it seems they were still at a loss as to what to do next. Some of them had been fishermen before Jesus had called them to follow Him,⁶ and perhaps going back to their former occupation seemed like the logical choice—plus it was something they could do.
But sometimes doing doesn’t get us very far.
It didn’t get Simon and his fishing partners very far that day. “They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.”
Many of us can relate. We keep ourselves busy, actively doing things, but not always getting very far or accomplishing much.
Picture the disciples the next morning, tired, discouraged, and hungry. They had worked all night and received nothing for their labors. To top things off, an apparent stranger calls from the shore: “Have you any food?” No, they didn’t have any! It took the stranger’s instruction to “cast the net on the right side of the boat” for any of them to begin to guess that the stranger might be Jesus.
They did as the Master told them, and this time they did land some fish—153, to be exact. However, when they arrived at the shore, they saw fish already roasting over an open fire, and fresh bread. They had not needed to fish all night after all. Their Lord was more than able to satisfy their needs.
The next time you feel like your efforts aren’t getting you anywhere, remember that God doesn’t expect or want us to always be doing something; sometimes He wants us to simply be. A few moments of quiet reflection before starting a busy day can make all the difference to the outcome of that day. Be with God at the start, and He will be with you throughout.

---

1. See John 15:12; Matthew 19:21.
2. See Mark 16:15.
3. See 1 Thessalonians 4:11.
4. Read this story in John 21:3–13.
5. See John 21:14.
6. See Matthew 4:18, 21.

Don't Roll over , Beethoven! Anna Perlini

 

When my father had me listen to Beethoven's 6th Symphony for the first of many times, he was no doubt trying to impart his passion for classical music.
I was only a small child at the time, yet I remember it vividly. The music started off gently depicting a calm, peaceful pastoral scene, as I happily played at my father's feet. Then a little cloud came, and I started feeling a bit apprehensive and huddled closer to him. Along came a rumble of thunder, then lightning, and it kept building up until the storm got so powerful, so huge, so scary, that I ran to my father's arms.

He whispered comforting words, “Don't worry, my child. The storm will pass. See? It's already going away. The music is changing.”
Every so often we would listen again—eventually, I was the one asking for it. We would smile and laugh together when the peaceful tune came back after the climax—the peace and calm after the storm.
Many years passed, that little girl grew, and Beethoven's 6th Symphony was forgotten, replaced by many other soundtracks.
But eventually, the real storms of life arrived. During one particularly troubling time, someone gave me a CD of that symphony, and it happened all over again. I was moved to tears, realizing that my father had known all along what life would hold for me: peaceful days, heavy storms, and then peace again. It was as though he had wanted to prepare me in advance.
My heavenly Father's arms have always been so comforting, reassuring, and present, even when my earthly father wasn't around. They’ve helped me to hold on and keep up hope when all around me was chaos and turmoil, because eventually, every storm ceases, and all is calm again, and often even more beautiful and sparkling clear than before.
To this day, whenever I listen to that particular piece of music, I shed a few tears. I can't help it, really; it's my life's theme song.

5 Secrets to discovering God's will - Daniel Kolenda

Get Moving

Secret #5 - Part 2

This Bible study has been taken from chapter 10 of LIVE BEFORE YOU DIE

In order to fly, an airplane needs “lift.” Lift comes from speed, and speed comes from “thrust.” Thrust is the power that pushes the aircraft forward, and without it nothing else matters. The aerodynamic design, the well-trained pilot in the cockpit, the sophisticated navigational technology, and the tank full of jet fuel are all useless unless the engines come alive and provide forward motion. In your life the only one who can provide the forward motion is you. God will be your pilot. He will provide the wind beneath your wings and the fuel in your tank, but you have to give Him some momentum to work with. You cannot do God’s part, and God will not do your part. Your part is to get into gear, get off your backside, and get moving. Reinhard Bonnke has said, “God will lift you out of the deepest pit, but He won’t lift you out of an easy chair—you have to do that yourself.” So what are you waiting for? How long will you do nothing while you grow old in the wilderness of inaction? It is true that God opens doors, and sometimes particular doors are not opened for a variety of reasons. But it is very unlikely that all the doors are shut. Imagine a man sitting at a red light in the downtown area of a big city. The light in front of him turns green, but when he looks ahead he sees that the next five lights are still red. Should he sit at the green light in front of him and just wait for all the other lights to turn green as well? Of course not! He should move through the green light he has. Yet many people fail to move through the green light God has given them because they foresee obstacles ahead that they don’t know how to handle. In Joshua 3 we read about the children of Israel encountering the obstacle of the Jordan River, which was overflowing and impossible to cross. In obedience to the Lord Joshua told the priests to take the ark of the covenant and go forward into the waters of the Jordan. This surely would have seemed like a ridiculous idea, but look at what happened. And when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water... the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap... So the people crossed opposite Jericho.  Joshua 3:15-16, NAS Now if Joshua had been trained in one of our fine Bible colleges, he probably would have given more mature advice. He would have said, “Gentlemen, we are going to wait right here until the Lord ‘opens a door’ for us.” But if that had been his command, their skeletons would still be decomposing somewhere on the banks of the Jordan River, because the water was not going to part for them until their feet got wet! My friend, sometimes you need to just go ahead and get your feet wet in faith and see what the Lord will do for you! In Matthew 14:22-29 we read the story of how Peter walked on the water. It was early in the morning when Jesus came walking toward the disciples’ boat on the turbulent sea. When the disciples saw Him, they thought it was a ghost and they cried out in fear, but Jesus said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s You,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to You on the water.” “Come,” He said. Notice that Jesus didn’t say, “Peter, come.” He simply said, “Come.” Do you realize what this means? Any of the disciples could have responded to that word and walked on the water. People often criticize Peter for taking his eyes off Jesus and sinking, but I admire him for being the only one willing to get out of the boat. You will never walk on water if you’re not willing to step out of the boat! This secret is so simple and yet underemphasized in the Christian world. Some people seem to think that taking action demonstrates a lack of faith. On the contrary, faith without works is dead! Said another way, faith without action is dead! All of the planning, waiting, and wishing is wasted time if you are not going to take action. If you want to learn to swim, you are going to have to go ahead and take the plunge. We are usually all too aware of our inadequacies and deficiencies. The best way to address these issues is to begin to move forward. Momentum and motion will make everything in your life easier to steer. As you move forward, you’ll discover what really needs your attention, you’ll be incentivized to deal with it urgently, you’ll make the needed adjustments, and you’ll be able to empirically gauge your progress. You’ll discover that many of your previous concerns were nonsense and that you had never even considered many of the real issues you needed to confront. Jack Canfield, the very successful businessman and author, wrote about this secret in his best-selling book The Success Principles: “Successful people have a bias for action. Most successful people I know have a low tolerance for excessive planning and talking about it. They are antsy to get going. They want to get started. They want the games to begin... Planning has its place, but it must be kept in perspective. Some people spend their whole lives waiting for the perfect time to do something. There’s rarely a ‘perfect’ time to do anything. What is important is to just get started. Get into the game. Get on the playing field. Once you do, you will start to get feedback that will help you make the corrections you need to make to be successful.” We will continue this study in Chapter 10 "Five Secrets To Discovering God’s Will" Secret #5 - Part 3 - "Ready Fire Aim " in one week.