When I read the Bible, I imagine the scene taking place.  I try to put myself in the story just as if I’m watching a movie unfold.  That’s what I did when I read the first “wind and waves” story of this message series, called InterFEARence. By doing that it led me to questions that maybe I would have never asked of Scripture.

For instance, here is the beginning of the scene where Jesus and Peter walk on water:

²²Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

When I visualized this, I wondered about Jesus praying up on the mountainside.  This passage is more than just information, you know.  I thought about what Jesus must have seen up there.  He would have had a great vantage point for watching the storm, obviously.  So, why did He do what He did…

Think about Him high up overlooking the boat.  And now imagine that Jesus looks up and sees the start of a massive storm on the horizon. Rather than run, Jesus prays.  He doesn’t leave just.  He stays until the storm arrives.

As the storm buids He may have been tempted to go quickly back to the disciples on a rescue mission, but He didn’t.  Jesus stays put and prays harder.  If Jesus can walk on water (which we know He can), then Jesus could have come to the disciple’s boat at any moment.  So, why is the moment He left theperfect moment in the storm?

Well, hopefully you have some intriguing questions too as you read God’s Word.  For me, I believe this exercise brought some good thoughts such as the fact that Jesus purposefully wanted these men to encounter what they did alone.  It was a sort of test.  I believe Jesus was up on that mountainside praying for their faith to be strengthened through the test.  Jesus told Peter at another time that Satan wanted to sift him like wheat, but Jesus was praying for Him.  So,  prayer is obviously a key to facing the scary things in our lives.  I noticed that when things got rough, Jesus didn’t bail, He prayed, and then He prayed harder.  Jesus didn’t just fly down to the boat like Superman, even though He certainly could.  Jesus knew it was good for the disciples to go through this test of faith.  Jesus doesn’t save us from every hard situation.  Only our God could know the perfect time to bring deliverance through the storms of life.

So from this passage, I am reminded that prayer,intercession and patience is a key to trusting God to come through when I’m facing a test.  Try visualizing the Scriptures as you read.  It could mean so much more as you immerse yourself in the story God is telling you.

A couple of years ago I went to a conference center when I was feeling especially down.  I don’t even remember what the conference was about, but it gave me a getaway experience where I could reconnect with God and sort out some serious issues.  One thing I will never forget is that God told me that I should ask for Him to take away my fear.

I couldn’t even tell you exactly what I was so afraid of.  I wasn’t staying indoors, afraid of what may be lurking around the corner.  In fact, I don’t think it hindered me much from doing the sort of things I always do, but … God pegged it.  I did have a deep sense of fear underneath the surface.

I think maybe I was afraid that I didn’t have what it takes to be a success.  I was afraid that everyone would find out how nonspiritual I was.  I was afraid that I had failed to be the father and husband my family deserved.  Each week I was afraid that I had wasted the time I had, and afraid that time would run out before I could do what I needed to do.

Fear had settled in and bound me up on the inside.  And God wanted to deliver me from that.  So, I asked.  I can’t really explain it, but when I asked, He took my fear away.   For days and months afterward, I felt free.  Unbound.

I believe fear has come back from time to time, but I’m trying to give it less and less power over me.  One verse of Scripture that I continue to think about is 2 Timothy 1:7

⁷For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

God did not make the human spirit to be bound in fear.  And He cares if your spirit is troubled.  Ask him to reveal what has a choke hold on you, and then ask him to free you.

We had a great start to the InterFEARence series, and I hope after thinking through the frightening wind and waves experience Peter had with Jesus, you’ll be ready to return next week to consider your own life hindered by inner fear.  See you Sunday!

I don’t know if you keep any sort of journal.  I have kept something like a journal off and on since before I was married.  The interesting thing is that I typically don’t write a single thing until I’m upset, disappointed or completely depressed.  That means my journal for some extremely dismal reading!  If you were to read my journal, you would probably plunge into depression yourself since everything seems horrible.

If you did journal, flashforward to December 31st 2010… Remember this is a flashforward to the end of this year some 11 months from now.  Now imagine you writing an end-of-year wrap-up in your journal.

Could you see yourself writing something like this:

Today is dec. 31st, Man, what a year 2010 has been!

my marriage has never been better than it has over the past 7 months.  Even though I lost my job this year, we made through with faith.  And as for my new job, it doesn’t pay as much, but my family seems happier than ever, and we’ve got all that we need.

This year I overcame many problems and addictions that I have struggled with year after year.  But not this year.  My church is great, and we were able to do incredible things.  I can see a lot has come out of me and some others getting  more serious about God than ever before. We’ve seen families like ours experiencing awesome change.

2010 was also the year that I took my health seriously.  I guess getting rid of fear and stress really was better for my heart after all.  And now I see the difference all this is making in my kids and my spouse since I adjusted my priorities and became the Christian I never was before.

2010 was like no year before.

Play around with this idea of flashforwarding what you would like to see by the end of 2010.  I hope this series of messages about the future has motivated you to make your spiritual and family goals a reality by this time next year.  Share some of your thought about what you saw when you flashed-forward.  And remember it’s not just what you see in the future…it’s what you do now with what you see.

Today I reached my goal to be “overweight.”  Sounds funny, but it really was my goal.  I know, I know…you’re outraged too.  But I’ve accepted it, and moved on.  Better yet, I determined to get fitter. You see, according to Wii Fit from Nintendo, I was in the “obese” category.   So, my first goal was to go from obese to overweight.  And if it sticks past today, you can give me a big fat checkmark on that one!

Others may think that becoming overweight is the opposite of hardwork, but for me it took a lot of initiative.  It takes determination to get where you’re going, even if your goal is a little odd.

The Bible commends us to have goals and to work hard to achieve them.  It also tells us how wrong it is to procrastinate and make excuses. Here’s another seemingly backward way of saying it…

“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.” (Proverbs13:4)

In other words, the person who isn’t diligent about what he or she wants, ain’t getting it.  However the diligent person will work and be richly rewarded for it.  In this translation of the Bible, it says, that the person gets “fat.”  But that’s just another way of saying that he or she is extremely satisfied with the results…you know, “fat and happy!”

What points will you plot throughout this year?  This weekend will be a motivational conclusion to the Flashforward message series.  I hope you’re ready for the future that you’re busy working towards.