Maybe you are going through a storm in your life. Difficult times can come upon us quickly. Personally we have been through hurricanes and great flooding as well, seeing people left destitute, broken emotionally and financially, and wondering what they were going to do. We have been there too.

How does God want us to view the storms of life we face?  The followers of Jesus faced a real storm that could have killed them, but Jesus! Look what happened and what we can learn.

Mark 4:35–41  As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” ³⁶ So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). ³⁷ But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. ³⁸ 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?” ³⁹ When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Peace! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹ The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”

(1)  Life is full of storms that come upon us suddenly.

Someone has said either you are going into a storm, in a storm, or coming out of a storm. Life is full of storms. The suddenness and ferociousness of this storm threw this professional fishing team into a tailspin. They were fearing for their lives.

“People are born for trouble as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.” Job 5:7 (NLT)

(2)  God cares you are in a storm, no matter what you think!

Jesus, God in human form, had been teaching all day. Imagine a high school teacher during finals dealing with extremely emotional teens, teaching all day, and then having to have grades entered. But even more than this, Jesus had been helping people through the worst situations and helping them carry each of their emotional loads – things we are not capable of doing. Physically and emotionally, He was exhausted. So He went to sleep in the driest and most comfortable part of the boat.

v³⁸ 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?”

Don’t you care God that this storm is killing me? Isn’t that what we say when things get so rough?  I believe our problem is the same as the disciples. They said… “Teacher.”  They had only known Jesus as a lecturer and as someone who was a good man, but not fully for Who He really is, God Almighty, the Lord of all Creation.

I’ve learned, storms reveal what we really believe about God. Our thoughts and words reveal our deeply held beliefs. He cares and understands, no matter what you think!

(3) Jesus will bring Peace to your storm at the right time.

^v39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Peace! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.

The disciples sought him, called him, cried out to Him! It is like us praying and crying out to Him in the middle of the night. He said to the storm, “Peace! Be Still!”  Instantly the storm stopped and the sea was like a mountain lake early in the morning without a ripple, like glass. He can stop your storm in an instant too!

(4)  Don’t give up in your storm! Keep seeking Christ’s intervention!

⁴⁰ Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Keep calling out to Him and seeking Him! He rewards those who seek Him!  Faith moves the heart and hand of God upon your situation!

(5)  Jesus wants us to know Him more deeply than that of a Teacher and a good person.

⁴¹ The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”

Who is this man?  Jesus is no ordinary man, He is the God-Man. The only God-Man to ever live and ever will live. He is God who created the universe and all that is within it, who stepped out of Heaven to fix our messed up lives and reveal the amazing love of the Father toward each of us. No matter what you have done God loves you!

(6) Some storms are providential and meant for us to more deeply understand who God really is.

Mark 4:35–36  As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” ³⁶ So they took Jesus in the boat and started out

These men were followers of Jesus and had followed Him in His teaching circuit. They had followed His instruction to get into the boat and go to the other side. I’ve learned more personally about who God really in the storms I have faced than I have in any classroom. I am thankful for the classroom studies, but somethings can only be learned by experiencing them.

(7) God wants you to have peace in your storm.

We faced a hurricane that came right over our house in south Louisiana. It destroyed so much, but when the eye of the storm came over our house – it was eerily peaceful. We knew we were in a storm, but we were in the place of peace.

Jesus never let the fear of the storm fill His life, He was full of peace. He brought peace to the storm by just His words. The disciples had let the storm inside their lives and fear was controlling them. They did not have peace.

I’ve learned that God wants to give you peace in the middle of your storms!  Let Him speak peace to your fearful heart today!  He can bring peace to your storm but more importantly, He can give you peace in the middle of your storm.

Bill Stevens

September 9, 2018

Have you ever cried so much you couldn’t cry any longer?  Have you ever been so sad that you couldn’t move your thoughts from the bad things going on in your life? Crushed, despair, and heart-broken are words that you use to describe your situation?  Jeremiah did. He was a spokesman for God, a prophet, and an author of some books in the Bible. 

This is not about clinical depression and the need for medical attention, but deep sadness, despair, and hopelessness. Sometimes medicine and medical attention is needed. This however is how we connect with God in our hard times.

As he was reviewing his feelings he remembers One Ray of Hope and it changes everything for him!  

I want you to see this One Ray of Hope and it may encourage you like it did Jeremiah and begin to bring you out of your dark place.

Yes, God understands your pain and suffering. He knows your depression and deep sadness, and He wants to help. He moved on Jeremiah to write the little book of Lamentations, a lament, a story of overcoming sadness.

Jeremiah was a spokesman for God, a prophet, who lived 586 years before Christ.  Why such a specific number?  That was the time his home, Jerusalem, was destroyed by Babylon (historical facts), and it left him devastated, homeless, broken, looking for foot, and emotionally crushed and depressed beyond belief. Many of his friends had been killed and others were carried off into captivity. And his home was razed to the ground. And he blamed it all on God!

Listen to what he said…

“I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the Lord’s anger. He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light. He has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones. He has besieged and surrounded me with anguish and distress. He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead. He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains. And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers. He has blocked my way with a high stone wall; he has made my road crooked. He has hidden like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me. He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces, leaving me helpless and devastated. He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows. He shot his arrows deep into my heart. My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs. He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink. He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust. Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is. I cry out, “My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!” The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:” (Lamentations 3:1–21, NLT)

His words describe weeping and sadness because his entire life and way of life was gone.

No peace. No rest. Feeling hopeless. Heart broken. Broken financially and his spirits are crushed. He is in despair. Homeless, wandering, dazed by life’s circumstances and unable to think of anything else but his pain. He thoughts were a broken record, that kept skipping back to the bad part. The DJ kept rewinding the song to the bad part of the story. As you read that passage, there may be other words that describe your pain and distress. Maybe you fee targeted, singled out, and even laughed at by others. God knows what you are going through!

He was stuck in his grief, but at the end of telling how bad it was, he is struck with One Ray of Hope!

I was in my seat on the airplane and it was raining and dark outside. A dreadful day but occasionally you would see a single ray of sunshine beaming through the dark clouds, as if the Sun was saying, I am here. Then we took off and jetting through the sky, through the darkness, and we burst above the clouds to see the Sun and blue skies in all of its glory! We were free from the dark, depressing, dreadful day. I had hope to make it there because of one ray of hope!

He had One Ray of Hope in all of the dark dreadful things that had happened to him.

Look at his One Ray of Hope!

Lamentations 3:20–24 (NLT) ²⁰I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. ²¹Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: ²²The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. ²³Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. ²⁴I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”

He “dared to hope” in One Ray of Hope about God!!!  God is good!

I was taught a prayer as a child that is still the most powerful thing I know about God:

“God is great, God is good, let us thank Him!”

When the circumstances of life are all seemingly against you and you cannot see God’s hand with you because of the painful darkness, trust in the character of God.  God is good and He is faithful.  This was Jeremiah’s One Ray of Hope that shattered his dark days with hope for a new future!

Look at these Three Rays of Hope in verses 20-24 say:

Ray of Hope #1.  God loves you! He is loving toward you. 

Lamentations 3:22  The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.

God is Faithful in His Love toward you. He is not fickle. His love is unconditional. We all need unconditional love and God is the Only One who can give us the pure unconditional love we all need. He is not fault finding but forgiving.

God’s love toward you never ends!  You cannot make Him stop loving you. When your bad situation began, His love for you didn’t stop!  But you may be saying, you don’t know what I’ve done. But God does and do you know what, verse 22 says “His mercies never cease!”  By His great mercy in Christ we have forgiveness!

“He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.” (Ephesians 1:7, NLT)

Yes, we are fallen, broken, and far from perfect! We are not fully the people or the person god wants us to be. His work in our lives is a work in progress!  But because He is our loving Heavenly Father, His picks us up when we stumble and He mercifully does not give us what we deserve, but in mercy He blesses us. You cannot exhaust the mercies of God!

You cannot exhaust His forgiveness. Your forgiveness is not base on your performance, but based on Christ’s perfect sacrifice for you on the cross.

Ray of Hope #2.  God’s Faithfulness is Great! v23

²³Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

God doesn’t give up on you! He will never give up on you! He keeps being faithful and loving toward to you no matter how much you screw up. No matter how unfaithful you have been to Him, He is faithful to you. You cannot mess up so bad that He will kick you out!

Ray of Hope #3.  God’s mercies are new every morning! v23

²³Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

I love the way some other translations says it:  “His mercies are new every morning.”  Songs are written about these verses! God looks for ways to be merciful to you each day. He will hunt you down to bless you and encourage you. Whatever God has promised to do for you and through you, He will make it happen! You cannot mess up so bad that He cannot fulfill what He began in and through you.

God wants to bring you through your sadness to a place where you are…

• full of His joy! He sings over His children with songs of joy!
• restored fully and more! God is in the restoration businesses!
• out of your sad dark situation.
• looking forward to the future.

Here are some Spiritual Jet Engine Darkness busters! 

These Spiritual Exercises and principles will get you into a place where you can grab hold of those Rays of Hope and burst through your dark clouds to get to a place of hope and joy once again. These are principles we learn from Jeremiah in his dark day and encounter with God. These are Jet Engine darkness busters!

Darkness buster #1.  Remember what God has done in your life!

You may or may not have a close relationship with God. This guy did and bad things still fell his way. He began to dig down and remember things about God he had been taught and experienced. You may have never been taught anything about God at all, and if that is the case, then let this be your first understanding about Him. God is good!

Remembering is powerful. He began to remember all of the good things God had done. It began to awaken the possibilities for the future because of the kinds of things God had done in the past. This brought Jeremiah hope! And it will bring you hope too!

Remembering the good about God will cause you to dare to hope in the darkest times of your life! Remembering who God is and what He has done will let the light of hope break into your darkness.

Darkness buster#2.  Spend some time Reflecting upon what the Bible says about God and His faithfulness.

God doesn’t change. He has been faithful in the past and He is faithful in the present. He is the same God in the Bible times and the same God today. You can count on Him.  Here is how you do this. Just like we looked at this passage and listed what happened to Jeremiah and then listed what the Bible said about God, do the same thing with other passages. Biblical meditation is not emptying your mind of things, but filling your mind with Scripture until it begins pushing out the bad stuff and overflowing with the Good God stuff from it’s pages!

Darkness buster #3.   Expect God’s help!  His mercies are new at every turn! 

Look expectantly in faith knowing that what He has for you is right around the corner! It may happen this evening or tomorrow morning! God honors expectant faith! He rewards it!

Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)  “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”

Darkness buster #4.   Get your eyes off of your problems and get them focused on our great God, the Lord Jesus!

²⁴I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”   I love the way the ESV translation says it, “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

If you could have anything that you believe would fix your problem, what would it be?  $1M, $100K, $10K, good health, the right doctor, the right medicine, a better place to live, the right partner, or even to go back in time and fix some mistakes. Jeremiah sees what is a common theme throughout the entire Bible, that His problem was so big only God could fix it. Once he got his eyes off his problems, and on the greatness of God, he knew all he needed was the Lord.

All you need, your portion, your inheritance, the thing you need to fix your problem is not a thing but the Creator Himself, the Lord Jesus. If you have Him and His presence with you, it doesn’t matter what happens to you or what you go through. He is all you need!

Jeremiah is saying, “What do I need to fix this?” and he answers Himself saying, “I need the Lord Himself! God you are all I need!”  Our God is great! Much greater than any problem you will ever face!

Darkness buster #5 Speak words of faith to yourself! 

²⁴I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”   

Stop the negative, defeated, despairing speech! Stop saying, “I will never make it through this,” “I should just give up,” “no one cares,” “I cannot make it,” and “nothing will ever change.”  Stop! Please stop!  Stop talking to your problems! “My God is bigger than you problem!”  “My God is able to deliver me through this!”  “My God is looking out for me and helping me moment by moment! He is able to deliver me and I am trusting Him to help me through it.”

Jeremiah said…. “I say to myself”  …. He was speaking words of faith and encouragement to himself. God has done it before and will do it again! Say this, “I am expecting my Lord Jesus to deliver me through this completely! I will trust Him day by day!”

Darkness buster #6:  You need friends to walk with you through this who are believing God’s best for you! 

This is who Jeremiah was writing this too. He understood their pain – he had faced it himself. They walked through this together and God led them through it!

Dear friends, remember God is good! God is great! Let us be thankful for what we have and the things He does for us. This is one way we can be faithful to Him in return for His faithfulness toward us.

by Bill Stevens

September 8, 2018

Bill and Stephanie Stevens are starting a church in Loveland, Colorado. This month there will be two interest meetings. Email us for more information.  Bill@TheWellLoveland.com

How good do you really have to be to get Eternal Life and go to Heaven? I mean we all really screw up pretty bad sometimes.  I know I do! How does God provide a fix for us and what can we do to get it?  The following is a more detailed explanation of what the Bible teaches about forgiveness, Heaven, and how to know for certain that we have Eternal Life.

Blessings

Bill Stevens

Just what is Eternal Life? 

The Bible describes Eternal Life as a future hope of being with Christ Jesus in Heaven when we die, but also as a quality of life to be possessed here and now. Eternal Life is Heaven in the future, but also knowing now that you are forgiven by God, in His family, He is working on your behalf, having peace with God, and possessing real joy and real love in your life on this side of Heaven.

Jesus said here is how we can possess Eternal Life on our own…

“But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”  Matthew 5:48

Ouch!!!  Our favorite excuse when we all make mistakes, sin,  and do very regretful things is, “No one’s perfect.”  Yes that is the truth and it is the problem as well. Only Christ Jesus is worthy of entering Heaven on His own merit. He is the only one worthy.

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Romans 3:23, NLT)

Look at this scale:

Christ Jesus is 10 – the Perfect One, God’s standard. So where would you put Mother Teresa?  She served the extreme poor in the worst situations imaginable for her entire life. She did things before breakfast that would make us sick all day. This was a good woman. So where would you place her? She is still not Jesus, but she is an extremely good person. Maybe a 9?  Now where would you place yourself? I shared this with one friend and he said… -2! I said, no, that’s my spot! If Mother Teresa isn’t good enough to get to Heaven on her own, then where are we?

So obviously God has a plan for us to be able to receive Eternal Life, otherwise the Bible would only be a couple pages long, ending with “Sucks to be you.”  So here is what the Bible says about Eternal Life.

God is not evil, He is Love!

““For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16–17, NLT)

We all are sinners. 

Sinners is the Bible word for those who are human beings, who have chosen to be the boss of their life instead of Christ. It describes all of our behavior from generally misspeaking to blatant evil.

So what is the big deal about Sin?

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, NLT)

What we ALL earn for our sin is death. The Bible describes death as eternal separation from God. Eternal death in a place called Hell. It is not God’s will or desire for anyone to go to Hell!

No one could keep God’s laws and rules perfectly except Jesus, but God’s grace toward us is Amazing!

Everyone has broken God’s laws, the Ten Commandments. Imagine finding a person who has never told a lie.

“God saves (rescues) you by his grace when you believe. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Notice these two things in these verses

• Following Rules cannot get you Eternal Life.
• Being a good person, or even being the best person cannot get you Eternal Life.

God’s salvation is by Grace – not works by keeping laws/rules.

Grace is this amazing, unearned, unmerited love toward each of us. It is not based on our performance, it is not conditional upon how we behave or fail, but is based solely upon the goodness and character of God Himself. God loves you no matter what!

So why did God give us a list of rules (Ten Commandments) that no one could keep? 

God wants us to understand that He is holy, totally different than we are, and we desperately need Him to make us worthy of receiving Eternal Life.

God’s laws could not fix the human condition – our problem. The law of God condemned us and told us how bad we are. God’s laws could not deliver us from our selfish desires, forgive us, make us spiritually strong, or fill us with love, joy, personal peace, bring us peace with God, and give us assurance of having Eternal Life. Justice would be eternal death, but….

But God sent us a Savior, Christ Jesus, to do what the law could not do.

God Himself stepped out of Heaven in His Son, Christ Jesus to personally rescue the human race from itself.

• He revealed how a true human should be and life, in Christ Jesus.
• He revealed how God the Father really thinks about people, which was amazing love for all people.
• He did something for all humanity that no other human could do, He negotiated peace with humans and God the Father. The price of this peace with God was steep, the sacrifice of Christ Jesus on the cross for the sins of humanity.
• Christ Jesus took the punishment for my sins, your sins, and the entire world’s sins upon Himself to demonstrate His unfailing and amazing love. God the Father treated Jesus the way you and I should be treated, so He could treat us as a son/daugther of His.

“But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5–6, NLT)

 All people have turned their back on God, but God never turned His back on His creation.

Through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, you can have forgiveness, Heaven, Eternal Life, be filled with love, joy, and peace, and have this amazing relationship with God.

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8, NLT)

This is how God can make us worthy of Heaven.

This worthiness is a Gift from God. The Bible uses the terms “made right” or “justified” in God’s eyes.

We are not made right by works or being a good person, but by faith in Christ’s perfect work for each of us on His cross.

Our personal salvation is not based on our performance, but upon Christ’s performance on His cross.

Christ’s blood sacrifice purchased our peace with God, reconciliation with Him.

Christ was condemned for our sins, so we could be forgiven.

“And since we have been made right (justified) in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.” (Romans 5:9, NLT)

What is the difference between Biblical Christianity and Religion?  Look at this picture. 

Religion gives you a list of things to do. Religion says obey these rules, do this, don’t do that. Religion says you are a terrible person if you don’t do these things and should be guilty, ashamed, and you are clearly not worthy.

But Bible reveals clearly that true Christianity is based only upon Christ’s work on the cross. He took your punishment, your condemnation, your guilt, your shame, and your unworthiness. He did this because of His Love for you personally and wants you to know His forgiveness, and amazing gracious love for you. 

The difference between Religion and being a Christ Follower is that a religious person is trusting in themselves and all the things they do to be counted worthy, but a Christ Follower is trusting only in Christ’s perfect work on the cross as their way to the Father. The Bible says, Christ did all you need for Eternal Life. If we could do this ourselves by following a list of rules and being a good person, Christ didn’t need to come and especially did not need to die. He did everything necessary for you to have Eternal Life! 

You can be made right with God by faith in Christ’s sacrifice for you.

• Look to Christ’s sacrifice as your only hope of forgiveness, Heaven, and Eternal Life.
• Place your faith only in what He did there as your hope of approval with God the Father, and not in yourself and the things you have done.
• God’s promise is then that you will absolutely have Eternal Life, forgiveness, Heaven, and this amazing life here and now.

“For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,” (Romans 3:25, NLT)

“Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.” (Romans 3:27–28, NLT)

Is this something you want to do now?

When I chose to make this decision, I prayed a simple prayer saying these few things to God. All you do is…

• Tell Jesus you want Him to be your ruler, leader, boss, your Lord.
• Tell Jesus you are turning from your sinful ways.
• Tell Him you believe in His death as the payment for your sins.
• Ask Him to forgive you from going against His design and to give you His eternal life, so you can become new and experience His design for your life.
• Thank Him for His forgiveness, giving you Eternal Life, and the promise of Heaven!

Is that something you’d like to do? 

• Then just say those things to Jesus in your own words.

Here are God’s promises when you come to Him through Faith in Christ.

• “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”” (Romans 10:9–11, NLT)
• “For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”” (Romans 10:13, NLT)

You are forgiven and not condemned!  

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1–4, NLT)

You are now a friend of God!

“For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.” (Romans 5:10, NLT)