So night one in Chimaltenago we experienced an 8.1 magnitude earthquake… and I had no idea. Apparently the house was shaking and lights were swaying and squadmates were running past my ‘hallway turned bedroom.’ And i slept. I was really confused when I woke up and squadmates were watching the news. I could tell that something was different but I never would’ve guessed that there had been an earthquake, my first earthquake, and I was completely unaware.
My reaction (or complete lack thereof) reminded me of the story of when Jesus calmed the storm (Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, Luke 8:22-25). Every time I’ve heard the story the focus has been on the disciples lack of faith. Jesus was sleeping during this huge storm and the disciples were terrified. So they woke Him up, He calmed the storm and asked them “where is your faith?” I think there’s a lot of value and a lot to learn from this perspective but when you look at the stories surrounding this one I think a new story comes to light.
This is one of the things that one of our coaches (shoutout to Keith) talked about at debrief and it was really eye opening for me.
Right before this happened Jesus had been preaching to crowds. He just told His disciples that it was time to go across the lake to the other side. No further instruction. While they were crossing the lake the storm came and tralala… When they got to the other side of the lake, Jesus healed a demon possessed man. And right after He finished with that He went right back across the lake.
So two main points came of this story in context for me.
One, Jesus crossed a lake to go deliver one man from two thousand demons. He crossed it, and then went right back. His only aim in going across the lake was to save this guy who was completely outcasted from society. I mean, he literally had TWO THOUSAND DEMONS inside of him- talk about hopeless. But Jesus left the crowds He was teaching for this one guy. Super cool! Jesus is personal!
Two, the Devil did NOT want Jesus crossing that lake to go save this guy. He had two thousand of his best friends just comfortably chillin’ in this guy. He was watching Jesus come over on this boat to mess it all up. When Jesus rebuked the storm He was also rebuking the source of the storm. The source of the distraction. The person who was trying to derail His mission.
The topic of spiritual warfare has come up multiple times already this month and we’ve barely begun our time in Guatemala. The devil is mad that we’re here. He’s mad that our squad is united. He’s fearful of the impact we can have on Chimaltenango. And he’s going to do whatever he can to slow us down and keep us off mission. The good news is we’re already on the winning side. We have the Holy Spirit. We have the same power that rose Jesus from the grave (Rom. 8:11). We just have to own that power and use it. Declare it.
Keep our squad in your prayers this month. A ton of kingdom stuff is about to happen and the Devil’s going to come after us. I can feel it.
Dad, I’m fine (:
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