Stuck In A Shuttle

Be Fruitful

Genesis  1:28  New  Living Translation  (NLT) 28  Then  God blessed them  and said, “Be  fruitful  and multiply. Fill the  earth  and govern  it. Reign  over the  fish in  the  sea, the  birds  in  the  sky, and all  the  animals that scurry along the  ground.”

God’s plan is for  all  of us  to be fruitful. God blessed them. Before  Adam and  Eve  are  ever to multiply,  they  are told to be fruitful. A few  pages ago, we  learnt that we  are like  trees that need  to keep studying  the word of God in order that we  grow, right?  Trees produce  fruit. An  orange tree  will  always produce  oranges.  It will never produce apples. A  banana  tree, will  always produce  bananas. Never will  it  produce  guavas.  

In the same way, God created  you with a unique  set of abilities and talents.  If  you are  called to sing, that then becomes  your  area  of dominion.  Your  goal then  would be to develop  yourself as the  singer that God created  you to be.  In others, there’s  gifts  of writing. Some playing instruments. Some are  gifted in areas of being  sportsmen. So what does the  world do?  It makes us seem as though our gifts aren’t as important  as others. The  world begins to weigh in  and divide  the  good from the bad. We  forget that God wanted us to function as He  created  us  to function.

When we  let the world dictate  what we  should do and who we  should be,  we  stunt  the growth of  our own gifts. God  gave  you what  you have  for  a  reason. Use  it. Develop it. And in doing  so, involve others and create a synergy  that overpowers  the work of the  enemy.

We need to know that God loves and never forgets us, especially  in times of  trouble. We  forget how  God has been  good to us.  How  He  seems to always provide. Sometimes we  forget.  It  happened to the  disciples. We learnt earlier that the  disciples saw  everything  Jesus did. They  were  eyewitnesses  to the  awesome power that operated in Jesus.  

In mark chapter  six, after  the feeding  of the multitude. Something  happened. Jesus sent the  multitudes away. While  He  did so,  He  made  His disciples sail  the sea. They  were  to meet in Bethsaida. The  Bible  tells us, He went away  to pray  and  when He  finished,  evening had come. While  He  prayed,  the disciples faced challenges that they  had never experienced before.  

The  Bible  says, the  winds were  against  them. The winds of life  almost pulled them off the  boat.  It was scary. It was lonely.  It was devastating. These  guys saw firsthand what Jesus could do, and now He  wasn’t there.  You know how sometimes  you  get serious with God and the  ministry, or finally  you  give  up on  whatever made  your  relationship with God sour, then this happens.  Life  almost sucks  you up.  

Ever notice  how sometimes as growing  Christians, we  seem to be  dodging  bullets from all angles. How sometimes we  get the  worst of experiences.  How  could we get sick or  fail  exams?  When we  have  Jesus our master.  If we  had a  room where  we  could meet God face  to face. What would be the  first questions that we’d ask Him?  Like if  you had an interview  with God for an hour,  what would you  say  to Him?   

How would  you  address Him?  What would be the first thing  you said?  How  would  you feel after having  an uninterrupted time  with God, just  you and Him and no one else?  Just  you seated on  a  table  and Him on the  other side in a black suit and a  red tie with  His  neatly  shaven  hair. Can  you imagine how  that experience  would be like? 

Do  you know  you  wouldn’t be  the first to ask for God’s active  presence?  Moses. Yes, Moses. He  wanted to see  God face  to face. He  prayed  and  asked  and finally  God told  Him  He  could see  Him  but only  His back because  no man would ever live  after seeing  the face  of God.  

I  keep telling  you that even great leaders in the Bible  faced situations that made  them question the existence  of God.  If people like those  anointed men, sometimes doubted, who are  we  that we  shouldn’t  doubt? The  disciples were  terrified. How could Jesus do this to them?  Where  was He?  Where  had  He  gone?  What  was He doing?  Had He  seen it  coming?  Was there  a  trailer  He  had seen before  the occurrence  of such  an epic scene  as the one recorded in Mark 6?  

Sometimes life  becomes  so hard that we  just  want to escape. We  desperately  want answers.  It  got so  hard. The disciples couldn’t bear  with the magnitude  of the  situation. They  seemed to be  out of  options. They  cried  out.  They yelled. Screamed. Got more  terrified.

Then Jesus got into the  boat, no sooner had He gotten into the boat, than  the weather normalized.  Jesus makes everything  calm  down. Sometimes it  feels like He’s too late. He  should have  come earlier. He  should have  done things a  different way.  He  comes in and settled  in  the boat. While  everyone  is still  panicking, He  opens His mouth and says,  ‘Be  of good cheer!  It is I;  do not be afraid. As a  way of closing  that one  hard  case  that remained unsolved. As a way  of putting  to death the  very  thing  that troubled  His young  followers.

Jesus does the very  thing for  us. He  is always doing things for  us. Things that  we  may  never see. Yet  He  does them anyway. We  should trust Him. We  should love  Him and continue  to worship  Him. Sure  His ways aren’t as easy to follow, but hey, they  work.  We  can have  assurance  and faith and hope  that God has placed us just where  we  need to be.  Where  we  are  stretching  and becoming  more  of who we were  created to be!