JESUS IS ASLEEP!

 I kept asking questions in my heart wanting to know why a situation remained the way it is and what should be done and particularly why it was taking so long. 

As I prayed, the event of Jesus and His disciples in Matthew 8 came alive to me.

Jesus saw the crowd coming for Him and He requested that His disciples go to the other side of the lake. He initiated their crossing to the other side. So, they got on a boat.

“When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake.” Matt 8:18

Afterward, Jesus joined them in the boat. Now, all these happened after He had done many miracles and demonstrated the supernatural before these guys. He had just healed the mother-in-law of Peter; healed many demon-possessed men; healed the servant of the Roman officer without even going there. All these were clear proof that Jesus had control over circumstances. 

Anyway, Jesus got into the boat and slept after a long day of activity. In the beginning, when Jesus wasn’t there, nothing went wrong. The moment He got onboard with them there was a fierce storm. That it is stormy doesn’t mean it is not of God. The presence of God is sometimes the attraction for “storm”.

Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping Matt 8:23-24

Immediately, out of the fear of death, when the storm became fierce, they screamed and wondered why a “God” would be sleeping in that circumstance. Alas! He was sleeping. His response when they woke Him up showed me why sometimes we are faced with certain things we expect God to have handled for us or perhaps not allow to happen. 

“The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm”.

Now, this is the gist, Jesus had an expectation. The storm wasn’t the issue but the faith He believed they should have built from knowing He had power over all circumstances. They had faith but it was little because they still contemplated perishing where the saviour was. 

So, you see, now that the Saviour is in you (by the Spirit), this makes the expectation higher. You are thrown into circumstances Jesus is not expecting you to wake Him up but go ahead and speak to the storm yourself. You are where you are because He is trusting you to take authority. You are now the one to wake up. Thinking of that storm ending you will now be the biggest demonstration of lack of identity. 

Jesus is “asleep”, it is now the reign of the Holy Spirit at work in the believer. Hope you are not waiting for Him to wake up. He is “asleep”! Stand up to it, He is counting on you.

"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."

Be Innovated,

Olufemi Ibitoye