The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Mark 5:1-20 (day five). And He did not let him, but He *said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”
How long had this new believer been saved?  Minutes? Hours? At the most, a day. There was no training or handbook or scripture memory. There was no system for “sharing the gospel”. He hadn’t been to Sunday School or even heard one sermon. Hasn’t been baptized. All he had (all he needed) was his newly found faith and his story. Yet, Jesus gave him the assignment to stay and faithfully tell his story. The story of God’s grace, and a changed heart and a new life. “And everyone was amazed.”

What is the story of your faith?  How you met and encountered Christ?  How your life and heart have changed because of Him?  That’s YOUR story that YOU get to tell. It’s enough. It’s powerful. It’s what people need to see and hear!!  Maybe the Christian faith is more about biography than theology. 

Re:Verse passage – Mark 5:1-20 (day four)

“Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

Mark’s account of the trip across the sea takes all of 27 verses (Mark 4:35-5:20) and the overall trip doesn’t seem to be a long one. Jesus took the disciples across the sea, calmed a storm, healed a man, then went back across. The seemingly short trip for Jesus and the disciples showed Jesus’ power and sovereignty over the physical and spiritual realms. But it also gives us a glimpse of Jesus “leaving the ninety-nine” to go rescue the “one sheep” that was lost. Jesus sought this man out to rescue him and then tell him, “Now, go tell of God’s mercy and goodness.” It was a rescue mission! Jesus went directly to the darkness where no one else would go, seeking the man out to give him new life (reminds me of a bigger rescue mission!).

If you are a Christ-follower, you were, at one time, a lost sheep. Jesus sought us out, too, and He now commands us to “go, and tell of God’s mercy and goodness.” So, what have you been rescued from? Who are you telling your rescue story to? Is anything stopping you?

This week, I have been reminded often of the song, “Here I Go Again” by Casting Crowns. If you are unfamiliar with the song, give it a listen. The song talks about the fear we may feel in sharing the Gospel with somebody. May you be encouraged this week by this weirdly, wild, beautiful account of Jesus’ love to tell your story boldly and without fear, sharing the mercy and goodness that you have been given so freely!

Re:Verse passage – Mark 5:1-20 (day three)

“No one was strong enough to subdue him.”

It might be tempting read the above passage and think, “…except Jesus. Jesus was strong enough to subdue him.” But Jesus doesn’t subdue the man – not in the sense of vanquishing him anyway. Even the unclean spirits aren’t presented as opponents in a cage match won by Jesus. Instead, this remark seems to point out that everyone who had tried to intervene in the man’s life approached the circumstance as a power struggle, not as a redemptive moment. Jesus wasn’t interested in shutting him down, but in raising him up. This man was made (by the very Lord who encountered him that day) to laugh and to know beauty and to love and to work and to rest. Jesus knew the man’s true identity – not a weirdo, but a wonder.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 5:1-20 (day two) They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. v. 1

As I re-read this passage today, it struck me that this was just following Jesus calming the storm. That may seem obvious, but we don’t often follow a strict timeline with some of the narrative readings. The last words of chapter four must still be ringing in the disciple’s ears. What sort of man is this? Did they go back to sleep? Were they up the rest of the night trying to grasp the sovereignty of Jesus? They had seen miracles prior to the night on the sea, but how did that night inform their reverence for Jesus with the miracles that followed. They didn’t have long to ponder these thoughts. As soon as they reached the shore Jesus was approached by the demon-possessed man. This must have been a turning point in the understanding of Christ’s divinity. Every wonder and sign they witnessed from here on out must have had a different significance and weight. Is that different from us? When you met Jesus in a dark place where he removed the burden of sin its penalty, didn’t that change your lip service devotion to him to a complete trust in his Lordship over your life. You may not see him stop a hurricane in the ocean, but he can speak peace to whatever consumes your heart. Everything that follows should be in service to a God who holds it all in his hands.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:35-41 (day seven)

He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” Jonah 1:14

Jesus and Jonah both found themselves in a storm. Both of them slept through it. Both were awakened by distraught sailors chastising their sleep and asking for help. Both were able to calm the storm with divine intervention. So is the Mark passage comparing Jesus and Jonah? Yes, but I think the better answer is that Mark was showing us that Jesus is the true Jonah as Jesus foretold about himself in Matthew 12:38-45.

Jonah got in the boat to escape his calling. Jesus got in the boat to fulfill His calling.

Jonah slept to avoid the voice of the Lord. Jesus slept so He could be the voice of the Lord.

Jonah causes the storm. Jesus calms the storm.

Should we keep going?

Jonah was sacrificed because of his disobedience. Jesus was sacrificed because of our disobedience.

Jonah spent three days in a fish. Jesus spent three days in the tomb.

Jonah’s actions redeemed Nineveh. Jesus’ actions redeemed humanity!

Thanks be to God!

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:35-41 (day six)

“Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain? Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct?” —Job 38:34-35

When Job questioned God’s wisdom in his suffering, God didn’t explain—He declared His power over creation. Why? Because knowing who God is changes everything.

The disciples had the same realization after Jesus calmed the storm. Terrified, they asked, “Who is this man? Even the wind and waves obey him!” (Mark 4:41).

Like Job, they stood before the Lord of Creation—the One who commands the storm, the One who holds all things together. And if He has authority over the wind and waves, He certainly has authority over our lives.

To trust Him is wisdom. To doubt Him is foolishness. Because if even the storm obeys Him—why wouldn’t we?

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:35-41 (day five)

And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Harsh words from the disciples (to Jesus) and from Jesus (to the disciples). They accuse Him (falsely) and He rebukes them (correctly). The source of their accusation and subject of His rebuke are the same- fear. The fear Jesus rebukes was causing them to feel helpless, hopeless, forgotten, and unloved. Jesus challenges them to replace this kind of fear with faith. Good for me to remember if/when I experience these same kinds of emotions (whether in a storm or not). Am I filled with fear or with faith. In my mind I wonder what a faith-filled reaction from the disciples would have looked and sounded like?  Would they have woken him up? If so, how would they have spoken to Jesus?  Would they have worshipped (Paul and Silas)?  Would they have prayed (Jesus in Gethsemane)?  Would they have quoted scriptures (Jesus in the wilderness)?  Lord give grace that would replace our fears with faith!!

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:35-41 (day four)

Have you ever had to make a road trip that you weren’t all that excited about? It’s one thing to have to travel somewhere you don’t want to go, but if something upsetting or inconvenient happens on the way, it makes the trip even worse. If you pop a tire or get into a fender bender in the middle of a trip you didn’t want to make, that’s enough to make anyone grumpy.

In Jesus’ day, there were different people groups on each side of the Sea of Galilee. The Jews were on the west side, and Gentiles were on the east. When Jesus and his disciples got on the boat in Capernaum to “get to the other side,” that meant they were traveling to the Gentile-dominated part of the area, an area that many of the disciples had probably avoided in the past. This was probably not a boat ride they were thrilled about. And then, a storm picks up. I’m sure they had plenty of unhappy thoughts running through their minds until they finally burst our in frustration and fear towards Jesus.

But in Christ, nothing happens in vain. The disciples were about to see that even the weather responds to Jesus. Next, and perhaps even more impressively, they’ll see through his ministry on the other side of the sea that even the Gentiles respond to him. Jesus uses miracles in the same way he uses parables – to teach us about who he is and the nature of the kingdom of God. When Jesus calms the storm on the way to minister to pagans, we see that Jesus is truly the king of heaven and earth, and that his kingdom is open to every nation. What will our response to him be?

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:35-41 (day three)

“Jesus himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.”

Jesus’s sleeping in a boat during a storm on the lake was one indication that he found himself at home in his Father’s world. Another indication: entrusting his body’s safety to the skills of those who piloted the boat while he slept. Would you feel at ease sleeping – or even riding at all – in a vehicle operated by certain folks? Jesus lived in the world unconstrained by overarching concerns for his personal safety. Do you think he minded eating a meal in a public place with his back towards the door? Was he reticent to touch someone with a communicable disease? He cared for his body’s basic needs. The rest of his energy he used to listen and laugh and befriend and shepherd. Seeking to live thusly is a holy quest.