HOW TO KEEP THE FAITH

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE

STORM ?

Paano panatilihin ang

pananampalataya sa gitna ng bagyo?
 TEXT: MATEO 8:23-26 MBB05
Sumakay si Jesus sa bangka, kasama ng kanyang mga
alagad. Habang sila'y naglalayag sa lawa, si Jesus ay
natutulog. Biglang bumugso ang isang malakas na unos
at halos matabunan ng mga alon ang bangka. Dahil sa
labis na takot, si Jesus ay nilapitan at ginising ng mga
alagad. “Panginoon, tulungan ninyo kami! Lulubog
tayo!” sabi nila. Ngunit sinabi niya sa kanila, “Bakit kayo
natatakot? Napakaliit naman ng inyong
pananampalataya!” Bumangon siya, pinatigil ang hangin
at ang mga alon, at bumuti ang panahon.
 INTRODUCTION:
 One begins to think: if the men and women who were with Jesus,
who walked with him, who heard his words in their original form
and who were amazed when he performed miracles, Jesus often
called them, as in the previous verse, "men of little faith", what
could we expect him to say to the men and women of S-XXl?
Well, let me tell you that we, the believers of this century, have
believed without seeing - by faith, and this factor is precisely what
makes the difference; God has called us to believe - to have faith -
and to live by faith; by faith we are Children of God, rich in love
and good works, healthy and prosper as our soul prospers.
Meditating on these words of Jesus, I would like to find
the deep meaning that these words could have in our days
and I am sure that what Jesus would have expected his
disciples to do is - take action - first, let him rest and
secondly.
 To have ordered the winds and the storm to calm down;
when one follows a leader, what one does is essentially -
imitate, approve- that leader and Jesus was and continues
to be, precisely that, the Leaden, Teacher and Guide,
Lord and Savior and it would be logical that he expected
his disciples to do the same. what they saw him do.
And it is that - Faith - Means: Trust - Believe - Obedience
and Security.
All these are the components of faith and if any fail, faith
fails; It's like a chain, if a link breaks, the chain no longer
works, you have to glue it back on and repair it; We have
taken that first step of believing, but we need more, such
as - how - to keep the faith, even in the midst of the
storm, in the midst of the crisis, in the midst of the
problem, of illness, of disappointment, of betrayal,
uncertainty, doubt? This is what this Devotional is about.
The first thing we need to recognize is faith, like God and
his word, they have in common an enemy that, unable to
attack God directly, attacks his children, believers and
converts in Christ and I don't need to tell you who it is our
enemy, because you already know it, but yes, how and
where it acts, so that knowing its strategies and attacks,
we can fight it with our two-edged sword that is the Truth.
The enemy, father of lies (John 8:44) and deceit, is always
attentive and ready to attack, tempt, confuse and destroy
and the ground where he attacks - is the mind - Yes, beloved,
the mind is a true battlefield, where he is fighting for
conserve and recover that land that previously belonged to
him, but that now belongs to our Lord and the way he does it
is through your thoughts, feelings and will, so from now on,
it is our duty to observe these functions of our being, to be
able to discern what comes from God (is in accordance with
His word) and what comes from the enemy or from ourselves
(the ego) and begin to identify its traps and attacks, as well
as the way in which we are going to defend ourselves.
 1. BELIEVE THE LIE MORE THAN THE
TRUTH.
 When we ''accept" something, we are believing and symbolically we are
''eating that forbidden fruit that will intoxicate us and contaminate our
mind;
 Examples: believing that you are not a child of God, that what you have
done is so serious that God is not going to forgive you, that God does not love
you, that you cannot or are not capable, that he will not give you what you
ask for, etc. . When you accept the lie, the enemy leaves the seed of doubt and
heartbreak in your mind and can take you out of the way.
 Solution: Seek the Word of God, there is always comfort and solution for all
situations, pray, cry out to God and He will answer you; discard the lie and
welcome in your mind and your heart, The Truth; Jesus said: You will know
the truth and the truth will set you free.
 2. FEAR (TAKOT)
 Fear. This is a very effective weapon of the enemy and with it he can
literally paralyze you; make you give up, discourage you and make
you abandon the purpose that God put in your heart; in the path
offaith, as in the paths of life, you have to evaluate, analyze and take
risks, fear is nothing, it is not from God and all it does is put a brake
on your dreams and dreams of God.
 Solution: Love. Yes, love, incredible as it may seem, love can do
everything, God is love and we remain in his love and most
importantly, perfect love casts out all fear. (lst John 4:8 ) And love
helps you to forgive, because love covers all faults, out of love God sent
his Son and Christ died for us and his love has been poured out in our
hearts and that love is the one who forgives us, heals us, restores us,
 3. LAZINESS – (KATAMARAN)
 Inconstancy. Many people never manage to complete any project
simply because they do not persevere, they are not constant, they
give up at the first obstacles, they give up at the first criticism,
they change their minds every day or they simply never finish
what they start or they are always blaming others for their
failures, be they people, situations, family, friends and
circumstances.
 If you want to be a man or woman of faith, you must train daily,
in the same way that an athlete who wants to win a race, runs a
little every day, goes to the gym and takes care of his body, so we,
if we want to grow in faith, we must strive daily, believe, take steps
of faith and exercise ourselves in love, justice and oeace.
 SOLUTION:
 One of the secrets of successful people is this:
perseverance(tiyaga)and perseverance become stubborn, do not
accept failure and do not rest until they achieve success; our
Heavenly Father also still works and does not rest, his objective is
our salvation and his goal is that we all come to the knowledge of
God and to the height of his Son Jesus Christ; from Him we learn
that what begins ends. How to achieve it? Set eyes on Jesus, author
and finisher of faith. (Hebrews 12:2), but our attention and
concentration have too many external enemies that steal our
attention (situations, problems, circumstances, etc.) and we must
learn to focus, to maintain our attention, to focus on our objective
(Jesus) holding our whole life to Him.
 4. APATHY. (KAWALANG-
INTERES)
 It is a weapon of the enemy, it is identified with listlessness (kawalan-ingat),
demotivation, fatigue, inactivity, inertia (kawalang-kilos), lack of
enthusiasm, depression, sadness, boredom, and when we allow apathy to
gain ground, we begin to decay. our faith and therefore in our spiritual life.
 Solution: Action. Run to fear and they are the wheels of our dreams,
contrary to fear that are the brakes; action defeats laziness and inconstancy
and - it is the only thing that produces results - therefore, it leads us to be
responsible for our actions and for the consequences of our actions. You have
to think and evaluate before speaking or acting and measure the risk, before
making an important decision. If you work you get paid, if you sow crops, if
you study you learn, everything we do has consequences and everything you
tie up on earth,
 5. CHECKOUT.
(TIGNANMO/PAGSISIYASAT)
 When our feelings are affected by what we hear, see or
circumstances and other external factors, then we
identify with the situation and lose sight of our objective
and it is as if we were walking without protection, words
hurt us, actions offend us and damage us. our ability to
observe and analyze neutrally.
 Solution: Take care of and strengthen our inner man,
dressing ourselves in the armor of God, so that we can
stand firm against the snares of the enemy.