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*WORDS TO REMEMBER:  Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?  “We have this hope as an anchor of the soul, firm and secure…”

 

THEME:  Accessing Our Anchor to Calm Our Fears

SCRIPTURES: Mark 4:40 and Hebrews 6:19

 

DAILY LIFE SITUATION: Dealing With the Turbulence Within

In chapter 4, verse 40 in the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus’ disciples got scared because there was a storm on the sea and Jesus was in the boat sleeping. They awoke Jesus and ask Him how could He be sleeping at a time when they are about to perish? First, Jesus said to the wind, “Peace, be still” and the wind ceased. Then he asked them: “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” From these questions, Jesus sounded a bit bewildered, and from examining the Scriptural account of what had just taken place, we can understand why.

In earlier chapters, Jesus had been quite busy healing sick people (Mk. 3:10), even restoring body parts (Mk. 3:5); cleansing people of unclean spirits (Whenever they [the unclean spirits] saw Him, they fell down before Him and cried out, saying, “You are the son of God”) (Mk. 3:11); and preaching to great multitudes. When the people heard of the things He was doing, they came to Him in great numbers. So much so, that He told His disciples to prepare a small boat for Him in case He needed to escape the crowd to avoid being crushed (Mk. 3:9). Now, after witnessing all these manifestations of the power of God through Him (Jesus the Christ), when a storm rose up on the sea, the disciples became delusional. They seemed to have made no connection between Jesus’ demonstration of the power of God from earlier that day and the current situation. Instead, they sounded as if they were convinced that they were going to perish and that Jesus did not care because He was sleeping through the storm.

 

Relationship to Everyday Life:

This is the way many of us Christians demonstrate our faith during the storms of life. When it seems that we no longer have control of our circumstances, or when the outcomes from certain effects appear to be disastrous, even fatal, we become fearful. It seems that we have a hard time holding on to our faith in times like these.

In life, we are constantly bombarded with adverse or turbulent situations. These circumstances may come to us as an act of nature such as in the example of Jesus’ disciples caught up in a storm on a boat; from other people around us playing the role of the devil’s minions, either willingly or through ignorance; or from within ourselves because of our various weaknesses. When we are met with these kinds of situations, we need to ask ourselves the same questions Jesus asked His disciples: Why am I so fearful? How is it that I have no faith?

 

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?: Why are we so fearful? How is it that we have no faith?

When we look at the two questions Jesus asked His disciples, it seems possible that Jesus answered the first question with the second one. In other words, the answer to “Why are you so fearful?” could be because you “have no faith”. So why is it we have no faith?

The writer of the book of Hebrews answers this question by saying that we have “no faith” because we are immature in our spiritual growth ( Heb. 5:13). We should know and understand that faith comes by degree and is directly related to the degree of our relationship with God — how much do we love and trust Him. We should also know that as our faith increases, our fears decrease. Therefore, if our fear is great, then our faith is weak.

The writer says that we know the basic foundation of things related to the gospel of Christ (elementary principles), which are: “…the repentance from dead works and of faith toward God; of the doctrine of baptisms and laying on of hands; and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment” (Heb. 6:1-2). But do we know and understand what these things — the works of Jesus on the cross — mean to us in our daily lives? Because of the works of Christ, we should be walking in the ”newness of life” (See previous post: Are You Saved?) and applying our belief in that “unsurpassing” power of God (See previous post: Why Do I Need To Be Saved?) to issues in our daily lives. We are referring to that special power that comes as a result of our new conversational partnership with God — the partnership we gained as a result of our rebirth.

The writer is saying that we are stuck in that initial level of growth — the recognition or “knowing” stage; however, we need to move on toward perfection (Heb. 6:1). He is saying that the ones who are able to be steadfast during turbulent times are the ones that are mature in Christ — “…those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14). Therefore, knowing things is one thing, but using what you know is something else. It is time for us to move toward perfection by using what we know.

We should understand that even though it is natural for us to experience fear when we sense threatening situations, we should not let fear overtake us and cause us to become paranoid. God knows His creation and has provided a way to prevent us from allowing our emotions to run wild during these times of turbulence. Hebrews 6:19 says: “We have this hope as an anchor of the soul, firm and secure…” Let us clarify this statement to better understand what it is saying by inserting Biblical definitions of key words in the statement. The statement would read thusly:

We have this hope (trustful expectation, particularly with reference to the fulfillment of God’s promises) as an anchor (a spiritual support in times of trial) for the soul (the inner part of the person, the non-physical aspect of each human being), firm (unyielding – will not disappoint) and secure (safe and sound). This anchor is the hope we have in the promises of God, which are also the promises of Jesus. It will keep our emotions calm during turbulence and will therefore prevent fear from over powering us.

The question now is “How do we grab hold of this anchor — how do we access it?” Our ability to access this anchor is directly dependent on the degree of our faith, and the degree of faith we have in God is directly linked to the closeness of our relationship with Him. So the main question now is: How can we improve our relationship with God?

 

HOW CAN WE IMPROVE OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD?

Improving our relationship with God should be our daily mission. As believers in God, through Jesus Christ, we should be growing daily in the image of Christ. The closer we get to Him, the more we abandon ourselves and the more we recognize Him for who He is. But not only that, the closer we get to Him, the more we are able to share in His power — the power that enables us to grab on to that safe and secure anchor we need during turbulent times.

Sometimes, however, after our initial entry into the Kingdom, we simply become sluggish in the growth process. It is as if this entry is our final destination aside from when we move on from this world and go to share with God in His glory. Hebrews 6:9-12 tells us that there are better things for us that accompany salvation. It tells us that God will remember all the works of labor and love that we have shown in His name towards others, but “We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. (Heb.  6:11 NIV). This means we should continue to grow in God if we are to realize the full benefits of Christ’s works on the cross. And as our spiritual growth becomes evident to others, they will be motivated to do likewise.

It is true that our growth comes through the mediation of the Holy Spirit, but we have a responsibility to obey the spirit (e.g. DT. 7:9; 1 Ki. 8:23). So we should remember what the writer said in Hebrews 3:15: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Also, to fully realize what we hope for, it is important that we truly believe that this hope can in fact be realized. Again, Hebrews 11:6 reminds us that “… without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”. Without these understandings, anything else is a waste of time.

There are some practices we can include in our daily lives that will help improve our relationship with God — grow closer in the image of God; however, before we begin this discussion, it is important that we understand that in the interest of time, this will not be a thorough discussion on of these individual practices. The discussion will be limited to show the significance of these practices as related to the immediate concern being discussed here. We will do a richer discussion in subsequent posts as we move into Part II of “The Series: Between the Beginning and the End” that was started earlier.

In this discussion, we will talk about the following practices: The Practice of Acknowledging the Presence of God, The Practice of Prayer, The Practice of Immersing Oneself in Reading and Meditating on Scripture, and The Practice of Imitating Biblical Heroes of Faith. All these practices are recognized by Theologian and Religious Leaders as being instrumental in aiding spiritual growth.

 

1. The Practice of Acknowledging the Presence of God:

When we speak of acknowledging the presence of God here, we are referring specifically to the recognition of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the part of the Trinity (the three persons of God — the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) whose function is to lead Christian believers in all truths. He is the bond (the connecting source) by which Christ effectually unites us to himself (Chan, Spiritual Theology, 1998, p 81). We could think of Him as the cable that connects us to Jesus, our anchor. He intercedes for us by communicating to God the concerns of our human spirit in ways in which we are unable to do. He is the Spirit of God who searches our hearts to know the mind of our human spirit. He is the Spirit that teaches us and leads us in ways to help bring our human spirits into conformity with the will of God. The Holy Spirit is actively engaged in any Spiritual growth practice in which we engage ourselves.

There is no communication with God outside the Holy Spirit, and it is imperative that we acknowledge His presence. By this, we do not mean just to recognize Him (I know you are here), because He does dwell within each true believer, but we are expected to listen to and submit our human spirits to His teachings, His leadership and His guidance. If we humble ourselves before the LORD, He will lift us up higher (James 4:10; 1 Peter 5:6). This humble and submissive attitude will result in an improved relationship with God, because a humble spirit is a teachable spirit — a sign of someone willing to learn. Psalm 25:9 says, “The humble He guides in Justice, And the humble He teaches His way.” This improved relationship will also help us gain access to our anchor during turbulent times.

 

2. The Practice of Prayer:

 Prayer is the first act linking doctrine to practice, and all the other exercises are simply elaborations of this primal act (Chan, p. 125). Walter Conner (Christian Doctrine, 1937, p. 233) described prayer as a process whereby our souls enter into communion with God. It is “…the conscious outgoing of the soul in spiritual fellowship with God. The soul reaches out in thought and aspiration after God and usually in spoken word, expresses itself to Him.” The soul also waits attentively and receptively on God for spiritual light, strength and guidance.

Simply stated, prayer is essentially talking to or having a conversation with God. This conversation is initiated by man. When we pray, we express our “…human readiness to hear, to follow, to comply so that the utterly basic relationship with God can be more fully realized. This is why prayer is regarded as the heart of religion, the very sword of the saints (Chan, p. 129).”

In prayer, the Holy Spirit is vital to its effectiveness. First, the spirit prompts us to pray. It is with the urging of the Holy Spirit that we decide that we will pray. Next, we do not always know for what to pray, but Romans 8:26-27 says: “…but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” And finally, a response from the Holy Spirit is God’s side of the communication process. The scripture says: The Holy Spirit will not speak of His own authority, but what He hears He will speak. And Jesus said that all things that the Father has is mine: “He [the Holy Spirit] will Glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and declare it to you (John 16:15).”

When we pray to God, we open ourselves up for self-examination, as well as complete disclosure to God of the contents of our hearts by way of the Holy Spirit. We know that God already knows our hearts, after all, “…there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Heb. 4:13)”; but we go before Him to acknowledge the things He already knows about us. In order to have a good relationship with God, we must show our sincerity and honesty before God. Therefore, we cannot hold back anything from Him. This is the time for making personal adjustments in our spirit, so that our spirit might be brought more into alignment with God’s will, making it possible for God to bestow the blessings He desires to bestow on us (Chan, p. 235).

So do not be afraid to open up conversation with God because you feel that you may not have lived up to His expectations. Remember Hebrews tells us that we have a great High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses because He Himself was tempted in all points we are being tempted but without sin. We are therefore urged to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:14-16).”

 

3. The Practice of Immersing Oneself in Reading and Meditating on Scripture:

Earlier, we mentioned that the practice of acknowledging God through His Holy Spirit and practice of prayer are ways to help align our human spirit with the will of God, which will improve our relationship with God and thereby allow us more immediate access to the anchor we need especially in times of turbulence. But how can we know the “Will of God”? Theologians and Religious Leaders believe that the practice of immersing oneself in reading and meditating on Scripture will reveal the will of God.

People for years have followed their instinct to go to the Scripture to discover the will of God. And it is true that we should study diligently so that we can “rightly divide” the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15) and we should meditate on it day and night (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2). It is important, however, to understand in what sense God’s will is revealed in the Scripture. Some folks try to locate chapter and verse that support some idea or belief they may have, and many simply flip “open the Bible at random, taking whatever verse the finger happens to rest on (Chan, Spiritual Theology, p. 148).” This writer says: “While God in His sovereignty may sometimes accommodate himself to the ways of simplistic Christians, playing Russian roulette with the texts of Scripture hardly seems a prudent method of identifying God’s will.”

Theologians believe that God’s will is revealed when we read to understand the whole narrative (the story) of how God is dealing with His world. The Christian narrative is (as described by Chan, p. 149):

… primarily the story of God’s creation, God’s plan and work of salvation, God’s deepest intention and purpose for the world and everything in it.… When we immerse ourselves deeply in the story through reading and listening, memorizing and meditating, we become a part of the story.” We realize that we are not standing outside of Scripture but belong to a living tradition that continues into the present day. It is from this broad understanding of being in God’s will that we can address the more specific question of God’s will for my life and for this world.

Let us not forget that even when we read from this perspective, we cannot leave out prayer and the Holy Spirit. Before we read, we should pray asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will lead our thoughts to recognize and understand the will of God. Remember, Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV) says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

 

4. The Practice of Imitating Biblical Heroes of Faith:

Now that we better understand what it means to immerse ourselves in reading Scripture in an effort to know the will of God, we should now focus on taking this practice to the next level. It is great to know certain things, but what do we do with what we know? This was the concern of the writer of Hebrews when he said we should “not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Heb. 6:12).”  This means that we should not simply read about the “heroes of faith” presented in the Israelites’ narrative, but it would be helpful for us to reflect on, and imitate their behavior whenever we face similar circumstances.

The Bible provides us with several excellent examples of those who demonstrated faith in the promises of God, but in the interest of time, we will only discuss a few of them. One such “hero of faith” to imitate is Abraham, who by faith obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance — not even knowing where he was going (Heb. 11:8), and by faith, Abraham offered up his only begotten son as instructed to do by God, fully convinced that God could raise him up from the dead (Heb. 11:17; Heb. 11:19); And although in Abraham’s lifetime, he could only see partial fulfillment of God’s promise, we know that God is continuing to fulfill His promise of making Abraham the father of many nations. These blessing are continuing to be fulfilled through the works of other heroes of faith and especially through the works of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Another hero of faith is Moses, who by faith, after being raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, refused to be called her son after he grew up, choosing rather to suffer the afflictions of the people of God rather than enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, and who by faith, led the Israelites through the Red Sea by dry land, while the Egyptians drowned trying to cross (Heb. 11:29). When we ask what was Moses’ reward for leading God’s people out of the bondage — from cruel treatment of the people of Egypt, the writer of Hebrews simply says: He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward (Heb. 11:26 ESV). But what would Moses know about the reproach of Christ? Christ was not yet born. As we explore, however, we find that Moses was fully aware of the coming of a divine prophet like unto himself. This is clearly seen in his writings in Deuteronomy 18:15 which says: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers — it is to him you shall listen”. From this we can see that Moses saw himself as a part of a development — a continuing process. In other words, God did not even promise Moses a reward — He just told him what He wanted him to do and He told him He would help him. It was probably understood by Moses that since he was to lead God’s people into the Promised Land, he too would inherit the land, but that was not specifically stated. Moses was divinely motivated to do what was best for God’s people and to do according to God’s will. This is a lesson all believers should learn — we need to learn to obey simply for the “good of the cause”. After all, if we have a true relationship with God, it should not always be about what He can do for us. We should also be concerned about what we can do for Him.

Then there was Jesus. Jesus was sent by God and made to be His Son — a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. When He was in the flesh, He like the other examples, suffered greatly. He offered prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear. Although He was the Son of God, He learned obedience through the things He suffered. After being perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Heb. 5:5-12).

Throughout this epistle, Jesus was recognized for His works that made it possible for us to have this safe and secure anchor. He was the Messiah (the anointed one) who came to the world to give us that “rest” we needed for our souls. He is the quintessence of the image God wants us to imitate. Hebrews reports Him as being superior to all of the biblical heroes that existed before Him: the angels (Heb. 1:14-2:18), the prophets (Heb. 1:1-3), Moses (Heb. 3:1-4:13), and the high priests (Heb. 4:14-10:39).

Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God with all things put into His hands. He is interceding for us through the Holy Spirit which He promised to send to us. Jesus lives in us through His Holy Spirit. His aim is the fulfillment of the new covenant which is to bring us into a true fellowship with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit and hence, with each other (1 John 1:1-4) & (Chan, p. 78). In other words, His purpose (and the purpose of the new covenant) was to give us more immediate access to God. His inherited position makes Him our anchor and the Holy Spirit the cable that connects us to the anchor.

When we look at these three biblical heroes, we see that there is something they all had in common: They believed that God would keep His promise to them. So they went forth in faith, and after enduring for a while, received their promise. They learned through their experiences that God is faithful to His word — a keeper of His promises. This is one reason why our anchor is steadfast and secure — God cannot lie (Heb. 6:18 ).

 

LESSON LEARNED:

In this writing, we have discussed the need to increase our faith by improving our relationship with God, which includes such practices as: acknowledging the presence of God through His Holy Spirit; opening up communication with God through prayer, immersing ourselves in reading and meditating on scripture from the viewpoint of seeing ourselves as participants in the whole Christian narrative; and the need to imitate the Biblical heroes of faith found in the narrative. If we make these practices a part of our daily lives, we should have quick access to our anchor during turbulent times. We should then be able to enjoy the calmness and the peace that comes with it.

So let us start moving from just knowing the elementary teachings concerning the gospel of Christ and start moving toward perfection by becoming skilled in the word of righteousness (Heb. 5:13) and exercising our senses “to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14) as these will lead to an improved relationship with God, hence increasing our faith in Him. Then when the storms of life start raging; when we find ourselves in the midst of turmoil — like a ship being tossed and driven by an angry sea, we will remember that we have this hope which is an anchor for our soul that will keep us steadfast and secure. We will have no reason to fear. We will be able to say to the storm: “In the name of Jesus, ‘Peace, be still’”.

 

*WORDS TO REMEMBER – (florilegium, latin – “flower-sipping” or “flower-culling”): These are short portions of biblical texts and sayings (aphorisms for meditation) that sum up and distill the essential teachings of the whole Scripture.