MARK 4 YOU OF LITTLE FAITH

July 19

MARK 4

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” – Mark 4:35-40

MARK 4 YOU OF LITTLE FAITH

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

Where do you turn to when you are fearful?

Do you tend to isolate or run to the Almighty?

If you have little faith, you will be overcome by fear

Believe that the Lord has all control and all power

Grow your faith consistently and trust God even with little things

You will eventually begin to give up unbelief and start believing

Even if your faith is as little as a mustard seed, nurture it

For the Lord will be the one to grow your smallest act of trust.

We witness in this account the fear that overcame the disciples as a great storm arose and their boats were being tossed and turned. They feared for their lives. It is human nature to experience the same feelings they had when we experience great natural calamities and disasters. What is interesting in this story is the irony between their panic and Jesus’ calm as he slept. When they woke Jesus up and said to him “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” That is the statement of unbelief. The audacity of these disciples to ask Jesus such a question after seeing all his miracles right in front of their very own eyes. You think that after the number of years they have been following Jesus that they would have grown their faith, but it just exposed how little their knowledge of him was. When Jesus asked them “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” It is not like Jesus didn’t know the answer to that. He was challenging them to reflect how much trust they have grown since the time they were chosen to be his disciples. If their intimacy with Jesus was mature, they would know that Jesus has power over the wind and the seas. Because of their shallow relationship with their Lord, they feared for their lives not knowing that Jesus is life itself. Jesus felt sad that after those years of being with him, they still have not grown their trust in him.

In Mark 11:23, we hear ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.’ We should be able to visualize what we are hoping for and believe that it has already happened so we can receive it.

REFLECTION

  • Who should you have little faith in and who should you give all your trust to? Why?

PROVERBS 29 FEARING MAN LAYS A SNARE

July 18

PROVERBS 29

23 One’s pride will bring him low,
      but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
24 The partner of a thief hates his own life;
       he hears the curse, but discloses nothing.
25 The fear of man lays a snare,
    but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
26 Many seek the face of a ruler,
      but it is from the Lord that a man gets justice.
27 An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous,
       but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked.

                                                                                        – Proverbs 29:23-27

PROVERBS 29 FEARING MAN LAYS A SNARE

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

If you are afraid of what wicked people can do to you

You have been enslaved by the state of being fearful

Whoever gets terrorized by someone do not trust God

If you know the Lord your God, you will live in love

The perfect love of God casts out fear, so trust the Lord

When you do not know God, you will be overcome by the world.

When was the last time you were manipulated, bullied or terrorized by someone? It is not a pleasant experience when you become intimidated by someone who controls you because you are in desperate need to be loved. I remember that feeling while I was growing up and being dismissed and neglected by my own mother. It was a very painful rejection of my existence. At a very young age of seven, I remember being so confused after I was showed a gesture of love and care for my mother when she got home from work. I offered her slippers as she came into the house, wanting to connect with her. She is always busy at work and never finds time to spend with me and my brother. She delegated her parenting role to her two sisters who lived with us. I was always living in fear that she is never ever going to find time to see me or be heard. But as I offered her the slippers as an opening for connection, she tossed the slippers and yelled that she doesn’t have time for me. How would a seven-year-old deal with that kind of rejection from her own mother? When I learned about Jesus in school, I began to have conversations and also wrote him letters as I learned to read and write at that age. The pain of rejection wasn’t that much anymore after I began having a relationship with Jesus. I felt relieved and at peace each time I talked and conversed with my Lord.  I felt that I had a confidant, a friend who’ll not reject me.

In this book of Proverbs, Solomon exhorts us to never allow humans to intimidate us and cause fear in us. When we fear man, we are going to be in bondage, but if we fear the Lord and trust in him, nothing will ever make us tremble in fear anymore. Instead of fearing man, let us trust and fear the Lord instead.

REFLECTION

·       Share a time when you were freed from the bondage of being afraid of someone or something.

PSALM 60 TRUST GOD AND YOU’LL DO VALIANTLY

July 17

PSALM 60

4 You have set up a banner for those who fear you,
    that they may flee to it from the bow. Selah
5 That your beloved ones may be delivered,
    give salvation by your right hand and answer us!
9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
    Who will lead me to Edom?10 Have you not rejected us, O God?
    You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.
11 Oh, grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man!
12 With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.

                                                                                  – Psalm 60:4-5 & 9-12

PSALM 60 TRUST GOD AND YOU’LL DO VALIANTLY

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

If your Master is the Lord God, you will pledge allegiance to him

As you trust the Almighty God, you will start to hate and resist sin

Those who rely on God alone will find much courage and insight

But all those who rely on their own strength remain foolish

Bring your weaknesses to him and you will do valiantly

He is your deliverer and will fight for you and defeat your enemy

Trust in the rock of your salvation and you will overcome your foes

If you trust your own, you will surely be fearful and eventually fail.

With the rise of psychology in the world of information age, many people rely on understanding their predicaments under this scientific study of the mind and behavior. I am not exempt in this fascination to understand why people behave and act as they do. When I was diagnosed with complex trauma, psychology has helped me understand what I went through and somehow led me to make sense of why I was raised in my family with the absence of love. It took over 12 years of counseling and therapy before I was awakened to know the truth in God’s word. Scripture is what truly healed and saved me from all those lies I believed in for half a century of my life. Those long years of human advice from the world of psychology didn’t include praising God for his truth that actually saves all of humanity. Fourteen years of daily studying the bible has given me such discernment that I never had all my life. Human counsel will never be at par with the wisdom that only comes from the word of the Lord. God’s word healed my mind and heart and exposed every lie that I have been told all those five decades of living. The truth has set me free from the bondage of sin and trauma.

In this psalm, the author is showing us that if we trust in the Lord alone, we will do valiantly. We will be able to see and discern what God has already given us authority over. There is no weapon formed against God’s people that will prosper. Trust only the divine power that comes from God and his word.

REFLECTION

  • What is usually the source of fear and anxiety in our lives? What’s the remedy to it?

PSALM 146 IF YOU TRUST GOD & NOT MAN

July 16

PSALM 146

3 Put not your trust in princes,    in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;  on that very day his plans perish.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,  whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,    the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever;
7     who executes justice for the oppressed,   who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free; 8    the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the sojourners;   he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. – Psalm 146:3-9

PSALM 146 IF YOU TRUST GOD & NOT MAN

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

Do you run to God or to yourself and others when in trouble?

Do you think that humans rather than God will have all the answers?

Remember that the Lord God sees and knows all things

Because he made everything, he sees all your difficulties

Why would you trust man and leaders who are finite like you

If you trust God and not man, you’ll be blessed and have wisdom

Blessed are you who run to the Lord for help, you’ll be hopeful

If you trust man and not God, you’ll be frustrated and anxious.

In this psalm, the writer who is unidentified cautions man not to put their trust in anyone. He mentions princes here which we could also think of those who are in authority over us. Most rulers and kings of the world do not necessarily know God, so they would be operating and leading under the world system which is usually corrupt and ungodly. Man is fallible while God is perfect. Why would anyone want to rely on someone who is imperfect? Wouldn’t you want to be anchored to someone stable? Matthew 7:34-37 says this “24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been found on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” The Lord is our rock and our salvation. Man is not dependable because he is weak and easily tempted to sin.

The psalmist continues to point out all the benefits of trusting God and not in man. God rescues man and lifts up those who are bowed down. God is faithful, he will never let you down unlike man who is so ambivalent and unstable. The Lord never forsakes or leaves us. He is full of wisdom and good counsel and his love is unconditional.

REFLECTION

·       Share a time that you trusted man more than God and they failed to deliver.

PSALM 37 COMMIT YOUR WAY AND TRUST GOD

July 15

PSALM 37

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
   fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
   over the man who carries out evil devices! – Psalm 37:1-7

PSALM 37 COMMIT YOUR WAY AND TRUST GOD

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When you live as servants of God, you ought to trust in him

Never do things in your own strength or you will definitely sin

When you face trials, consult the Lord for good counsel

If you have plans, seek the Lord’s advice and you will prosper

Trust in God alone even if you don’t see results as you expect it

If you commit your way to him, he will act but you need to be patient.

The psalmist advises us to avoid envy. He assures them that the wicked may seem to be prosperous but there is no reason for the people of God to be envious of such because their riches or success will be momentary only. In verse 3, he exhorts them to trust God and continue to live in faithful devotion to him. In verse 4, he reminds them that loving the Lord is something to be rejoicing about. He used the phrase “Delight yourself in the Lord”- translated from the Hebrew root verb עָנַג (anag). It means to find soft, exquisite pleasure or luxury in God. In other words, to delight would involve a love for that person. God wants his people not just to follow or do what he says because he says so, but to reciprocate the love that he bestows on all his people. When couples are newly married, they are so delighted in each other during the honeymoon phase of their relationship. As time flies, some marriages become duty bound responsibility and the delight dies out. Just like the charge of Jesus against the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:4, they have forsaken the love you had at first. They have become lukewarm and no longer delighted in Jesus. It would be wise for all believers to never forget the first time they committed their lives to the Lord. In verse 5, we are encouraged to bring all our plans, dreams and wishes to the Lord so that we will do what is right in his eyes and not in our own eyes. In James 4:14-15 he reiterates this concept of committing your way to God when he says “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. To leave God out of your life is purely “boasting.”

REFLECTION

·       How is not seeking God’s counsel and his will an act of defiance, pride and mistrust?

PSALM 37 COMMIT YOUR WAY AND TRUST GOD

July 15

PSALM 37

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
   fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
   over the man who carries out evil devices! – Psalm 37:1-7

PSALM 37 COMMIT YOUR WAY AND TRUST GOD

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When you live as servants of God, you ought to trust in him

Never do things in your own strength or you will definitely sin

When you face trials, consult the Lord for good counsel

If you have plans, seek the Lord’s advice and you will prosper

Trust in God alone even if you don’t see results as you expect it

If you commit your way to him, he will act but you need to be patient.

The psalmist advises us to avoid envy. He assures them that the wicked may seem to be prosperous but there is no reason for the people of God to be envious of such because their riches or success will be momentary only. In verse 3, he exhorts them to trust God and continue to live in faithful devotion to him. In verse 4, he reminds them that loving the Lord is something to be rejoicing about. He used the phrase “Delight yourself in the Lord”- translated from the Hebrew root verb עָנַג (anag). It means to find soft, exquisite pleasure or luxury in God. In other words, to delight would involve a love for that person. God wants his people not just to follow or do what he says because he says so, but to reciprocate the love that he bestows on all his people. When couples are newly married, they are so delighted in each other during the honeymoon phase of their relationship. As time flies, some marriages become duty bound responsibility and the delight dies out. Just like the charge of Jesus against the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:4, they have forsaken the love you had at first. They have become lukewarm and no longer delighted in Jesus. It would be wise for all believers to never forget the first time they committed their lives to the Lord. In verse 5, we are encouraged to bring all our plans, dreams and wishes to the Lord so that we will do what is right in his eyes and not in our own eyes. In James 4:14-15 he reiterates this concept of committing your way to God when he says “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. To leave God out of your life is purely “boasting.”

REFLECTION

·       How is not seeking God’s counsel and his will an act of defiance, pride and mistrust?

PSALM 27 TRUST GOD AND WAIT FOR HIM

July 14

PSALM 27

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, “Seek my face. ”My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger,
    O you who have been my help, Cast me not off;

    forsake me not, O God of my salvation!
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
    but the Lord will take me in.11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
    and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.
12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
    for false witnesses have risen against me,
    and they breathe out violence.

13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

                                                                                        – Psalm- 27:7-13

PSALM 27 TRUST GOD AND WAIT FOR HIM

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

Believe that you are a child of God and that he loves you

You will experience a hunger for his love and his truth

Even if your closest relative and friends have all gone

The Lord will always be there and never leave you

Call on him with much fervor and he’ll hear you

Do not forsake your promise since he is faithful.

What is the manifestation of trust in a relationship? It is patience to wait on things that do not seem promising. In many relationships, we often see that many people do not anchor their relations with others based on their relationship with God. If you have had many failed relationships, chances are that you also have not been connecting with the Lord yourself.  I am a testament to this because I have had so many failed relationships all my life. Probably the absence of a Christ-centered life in my family contributed to such failures. How can a child learn about God if their parents never talked to them about the Lord? How can a child survive life without being shown love and affection from their caregivers. It would be impossible for them to navigate and have a healthy view of loving others.

In this account, David exhorts us to trust God and have courage to wait on the Lord. What does “waiting on the Lord” look like? It is to anchor one’s life to Jesus, to seek his presence on a daily and regular basis. It is to know and stand on all the promises of God in all aspects of your life and expect all of it.

REFLECTION

  • How is standing on God’s promises a sure way of trusting him?

PSALM 145 TO ALL WHO CALL ON THE LORD

July 13

PSALM 145

14 The Lord upholds all who are falling  and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,   and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand;  you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways  and kind in all his works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,   to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love him,   but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,   and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

                                                                                        – Psalm 145:14-21

PSALM 145 TO ALL WHO CALL ON THE LORD

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When you call on the Lord your God, he is near you

Don’t despair when you are in trouble, instead pray

The Lord is kind to all those who seek and trust him

He rescues them from all their transgressions and sins

The act of admitting that you don’t have all the answers

Is the embodiment of trusting and relying on our God Almighty.

When you are facing various trials and problems, who do you call? Is it your spouse, your parent, your sibling, your friend that you automatically run to? You may have answered one of those that I mentioned here. What does that reveal about you? We usually run to the closest person we are connected to, don’t we? Most often than not, God is the last person that we go to. This is inherent in all humans. We are stained by the original sin of pride and arrogance. Instead of running to our Maker, we try to solve our problems first, and then seek comfort from all those closest to us.

In this psalm, we witness a king who though in position of authority and power, still sought God’s counsel first before anyone else. He is very much aware of what is going on in his life but he never relied on his own understanding and strength. In fact, David acknowledged all his weaknesses and used all troubling occasions to declare his knowledge of his faithful and mighty God. He also humbly admitted his inability to understand how all those whom he loved and trusted were the one who actually betrayed him. He wasn’t running from his feelings and defeated by despair, instead, he ran to God crying out and begging God to do something about his enemies. He always recalls God’s promises and character in most of all his psalms, but in this account, he points out the importance of trusting the Lord and standing on all of his promises to him and his people. Instead of desperation, he gets assurance and consolation knowing that his God will always hear him and is always near him even though he doesn’t see him physically. We could learn such humility, trust and closeness with God from David.

REFLECTION

·       Why do you think not all Christians call on God first but resort to human help instead?

PROVERBS 28 REWARDS FOR TRUSTING GOD

July 12

PROVERBS 28

20 A faithful man will abound with blessings,
    but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.
21 To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.
22 A stingy manhastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will come upon him.
23 Whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with his tongue.
24 Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, “That is no transgression,”
    is a companion to a man who destroys. 25 A greedy man stirs up strife,
    but the one who trusts in the Lord will be enriched.26 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, 

but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.27 Whoever gives to the poor will not want,

 but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.28 When the wicked rise, people hide themselves, but when they perish, the righteous increase. – Proverbs 28:20-28

PROVERBS 28 REWARDS FOR TRUSTING GOD

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

Stay faithful to your God and you will reap blessings

But if you trust your own mind, you’re fooling yourself

If you trust the Lord, you will show mercy to others

Generosity will overflow and manifest to your neighbors

When you trust in God, you will reap rewards of bounty

You’ll have enough for yourself and increase in your knowledge

The righteous discern evil and are bold to expose them in the light

Those who are wicked and unfaithful to God will cower and be defeated.

In this account, Solomon spells out some of the rewards that a righteous person benefits from putting their trust in the Lord. It is interesting how he tells us the symptoms of people who don’t trust God as greedy and unjust or partial. The book of James talks also about the sin of partiality in his book on chapter two. He speaks ill of those who show injustice or preferences to the rich and rebukes those who do these things when they are part of the church. He speaks of the sin in chapter two as this: “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.  But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” James calls it the sin of partiality. But in this book of Proverbs, Solomon points out the cause of such sin which is greed. Those who do not trust in the Lord will definitely rely on their own strength and understanding and strive to get what they think they deserve. Solomon also reminds us of the rewards for trusting God. One of the fruits that we reap from such faithfulness and fidelity to the Lord is that we will abound in grace and mercy. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we will become materially rich, but most likely it is more in the spiritual realm that he blesses us.

REFLECTION

  • How does greed and injustice manifest mistrust in God?

PSALM 32 IF YOU TRUST IN THE LORD

July 11

PSALM 32

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly
    offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
 surely in the rush of great waters,   they shall not reach him.
7 You are a hiding place for me;  you preserve me from trouble;
     you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    which must be curbed with bit and bridle,  or it will not stay near you.

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
    but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
    and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!   – Psalm 32:6-11

PSALM 32 IF YOU TRUST IN THE LORD

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

If you trust in the Lord, your prayers will be heard

God is your refuge and he protects you from trouble

If you trust in him, you will be delivered from enemies

You will discern what is right and what’s true from evil and lies

If you trust in the Lord, you will be guided where to go

He leads all those who love him in the path of the righteous.

In this account, the psalmist enumerates to us the benefits of trusting in the Lord. In verse 6, we are shown that those who are ungodly will not be able to reach the Lord. In other words, they do not have access to God because they weren’t chosen. God didn’t make a promise to them because they do not belong to him. It is interesting to hear how ungodly people say that they pray too. I’m wondering if their prayers are more about speaking out their wishes or dreams to come true. It is probably like praying to Santa Claus to give them what they want if they are good enough. So many unbelievers think this way because they were given lies from a young age that God is transactional and they need to earn the Lord’s approval so they can get what they want from him. Many religions operate this way in which they follow steps and ways to reach their so-called god in order to be approved.

The psalmist also says that God becomes our shield and deliverer when in trouble if we believe and depend on him. In verse 8, we are told that we hear his voice when he directs us where to go and what to do. Only those who love him hear his voice. This verse also mentions that his eyes are on those who trust him. We are the apple of his eyes as spoken in Zechariah 2:8. It means we are very special to him and that he is in the detail of everything that we are going through.

REFLECTION

·       Which among these benefits mentioned here have you noticed present in your life?