Focal Passage: Matthew 14:22-33
Words like discouragement, melancholy, depression and spiritual lethargy are cousins — word groupings that speak to the kind of mental and spiritual disposition that warrants our attention. The opposite of discouragement is the word courage without the prefix. Discouragement is the inability to think or act as we ought to. Courage, on the other hand, is the God-enabled ability to think and act in faith.
Jesus alone (Matthew 14:22-26). Good things happen when Jesus is alone. Jesus would often withdraw for time alone with His Father. And when that happened something powerful would often follow. Jesus was alone in prayer after a busy day of ministry. While Jesus was at peace in prayer, the disciples were literally in a boatload of trouble. The boat they were in as they crossed the sea was being tossed and overwhelmed by the stormy waters. [Read more…]