Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, ¡°Jesus Made the Winds and the Waves Completely Calm.¡±
Once Jesus was crossing the lake of Galilee by boat with His disciples. To cross the lake at night is very dangerous, it gets restless. While His disciples were rowing the boat, Jesus slept peacefully in the stern. Then a strong wind suddenly started to blow and the boat was about to sink. As the disciples looked for Jesus, they found Him sleeping in the stern. He might have been snoring softly. They shouted, ¡°Lord, save us! We¡¯re going to drown!"
They woke up Jesus who was sleeping in the stern. Jesus woke up, rebuked the winds, and said to the sea, ¡°Be calm. Be still.¡± As they were mere wind and waves, not human beings, Jesus rebuked them, ¡°Be calm. Be still.¡± So the winds immediately stopped, and it was calm.
It must have been unpleasant to cross the raging sea, with a strong wind blowing, by boat at night. However, the boat that Jesus was on could not be disturbed; even though His disciples thought that they were going to drown, Jesus did not fear at all!
Nowadays many people are hugely impacted by stress which can be compared to crossing the sea at night. A few days ago, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that according to 2016 national nutrition survey one in three adults suffer from stress in their daily lives. Furthermore, the stress of the youth grows rapidly every year so it becomes one of our serious social problems. Almost all the people, adults and youth, are suffering in the midst of the stressful raging waves in their daily lives.

Jesus and His disciples were crossing the night sea andfelt severe stress.

Matthew 8:23-25 says, ¡°Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, ¡®Lord, save us! We're going to drown!¡¯"

There were Satan and demons behind the scenes of the disciples who were struggling hard while fearing the waves. Even though they were so fearful and stunned, Jesus did not fear at all, but was sleeping peacefully. You know, the wind in the Bible means a spiritual being. Jesus said to Nicodemus, ¡°The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." Whosoever is born of the Holy Spirit and born again and our Advocate Holy Spirit all indicate spiritual beings. The Bible describes a spiritual being as the wind. Then once calm waves suddenly surged into raging waves as the mighty wind blew showed that the devil determined to cause serious trouble.
Waves do not surge naturally. When the wind blows, waves begin to surge. In our life, waves surge as the wind blows. If there is no wind, waves are still and calm. Therefore, anyone who does not know the source of the wind comes to fear it.

Matthew 8:26 says, ¡°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.¡±

As Jesus did not fear the devil, He wasn¡¯t afraid of the high waves caused by the wind of the devil. Jesus was teaching His disciples not to fear the waves of the world. However, if we want Jesus to rebuke the wind and the waves, we must wake Jesus up through our prayer. It is our prayer that is most effective! Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind and the waves! The wind was caused by the devil, but he was stopped by Jesus¡¯ rebuke so the raging waves also became calm. We must resist the wind of the devil! Even if it is invisible and inaudible, we should resist it.

Ephesians 6:11-12 says, ¡°Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.¡±


To take our stand against the devil¡¯s schemes, we must put on the full armor of God and resist him by the power of God.

¡°For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark worldand against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.¡±

When the wind calms down, waves also subside.

¡°Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.¡±(James 1:2-4)

While we are living in the world, more often than not, we come across the many waves of life. Whether high or low, they are all caused by the devil. Therefore, we must not complain against anyone or our circumstances, but resist the devil! We should resist him, saying, ¡°You enemy devil, I command you in the name of Jesus the Nazarene, go away!¡± God regards this very important!

Jesus rebuked His disciples as they could not resist the devil with faith. ¡°And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.¡±(John 14:13-14)
Jesus promises many times that He will listen to our prayer. However, we hesitate to believe His promise or not; our hearts do not fix. Jesus rather challenges us who suffer from the devil¡¯s raging waves in our individual life, home, society, country, and the world to practice our faith. He urges us, ¡°Don¡¯t struggle on your own, but practice your faith and resist the wind by faith! Let it calm down! Then waves will subside.¡± We should not try to calm down the raging waves by our human strength. Jesus rebuked trials and tribulations that made His disciples and the world fearful and also rebuked His disciples because they did not believe that there was God Himself beside them who could rebuke those trials and tribulations. Not only strong wind and high waves but also Jesus is always with us. So we can resist the high waves with faith in Jesus!

James 1:6-7 says, ¡°But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.¡±

¡°And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.¡±(Hebrews 11:6)

In our Christian life, faith has absolute power! The Lord wants us to live a life that starts from faith and ends with faith and that we practice our faith in our daily lives. When the high waves swept over the boats, Jesus¡¯ disciples began to bail water out. As some of them were fishermen, they resisted the storm at sea with their best methods and knowledge. However, their human strength could not calm the storm. It is only the Lord who makes the raging waves subside. Therefore, when we happen to confront a storm of life, the only thing we have to do is wake the Lord up. Through prayer we should wake Him up to work for us. As the Lord rebuked the wind and the waves, they all became calm and quiet immediately!

I still remember that there were so many spider webs on the roof of my childhood house. As spiders wove many webs, we swept them with a broom, but right away we found other spider webs! Why should other spider webs appear even though we cleaned them? It was because we did not catch the spiders that made webs around us so they continued to weave many webs. Why should we have problems one after another? As we do not cast away the devil who keeps on causing problems, we have to meet problems without ceasing. Problems are not bad in themselves, but the devil causes problems! Therefore, the Lord emphasized to His twelve disciples and 70 disciples, ¡°Cast out the demons!¡± We must drive out demons that are the main source of problems.

Many people mock it as superstition when we say that we should cast out the devil and demons in this 21st century of cutting-edge science and technology. Not only unbelievers but also even Christians ignore and ridicule us. However, in the Bible, throughout His public ministry, Jesus cast out the devil and demons and set free those who were oppressedby them.
Jesus never let alone those who were possessed by demons. The Lord always said to His disciples, ¡°Cast out demons!¡± He not only drove out demons but also gave power and authority to His disciples to cast out the devil and his demons.

Mark 6:7 says, ¡°Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.¡±

¡°I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.¡±(Luke 10:19) The Lord commands us His disciples to scatter across our society and to calm down the wind as it brings waves to our life. Those waves become diseases or problems so we must cast out the wind that causes raging waves wherever we go. Jesus now commands us to calm the wind and to subside the waves in our life. As we are saved by believing in Jesus, our salvation comes from God¡¯s choice of us before the beginning of the world. God chose us and called us and made us to realize the salvation of Jesus through the Holy Spirit to become the children of God. We are not saved because we are excellent, wonderful, or have wisdom, understanding, counsel and power. We are saved because God chose us already. When we are chosen by God to learn the word of the Bible and obey what God commands us to do, there are so many things for us to resist the devil. We are unable to get out of the devil completely in our lives. Therefore, the Lord always orders us to drive out the devil. There is a power to cast out the devil in the name of Jesus and a mighty power in the Holy Spirit so in His name we will drive out demons; we will speak in new tongues;
we will pick up snakes with our hands; and when we drink deadly poison, it will not hurt us at all; we will place our hands on sick people, and they will get well. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven will be established in our life and developed! Why are there so many waves? We Christians should do our best to stop the wind from blowing. We must hold the wind and resist the waves to calm them and to make quiet and peaceful surroundings!

4. Jesus rebuked his disciples for their lack of faith
1) Jesus heard His disciples¡¯ request and calmed the winds and the sea. If we move forward by prayer when we encounter storms in life, the Lord calms the storms. (James 5:13)
2) Jesus rebuked his disciples for their lack of faith. Even when storms come in our life, we must believe that God is with us and boldly move forward. (James 1:6~7)

Conclusion
In the world where we live, there are many tests and tribulations. In these situations, Jesus is with us. When we encounter the storms in life, do not be discouraged or fear. When we fervently pray with faith, the Lord who governs all things will calm the storms in life.