Sometimes we forget how powerful God really is. Here is a great activity from the Hands-On Bible that goes along with 1 Kings 18. Read it together and then try this activity.
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“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. The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ Jesus responded, ‘Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!’ Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm. The disciples were amazed. ‘Who is this man?’ they asked. ‘Even the winds and waves obey him!’ Matthew 8:23-17, NLT
Notes from the Illustrated Study Bible
Sudden squalls are common on the Sea of Galilee, which is among mountains. The episode at sea extends the theme of what true discipleship involves. The storm challenged the disciples to entrust their very lives to Jesus for protection and deliverance. Jesus even has authority over dangerous weather and the sea (see Job 38:8-11; Pss 29; 65:1-13;
89:9; 107:23-32).
Who is this man? Salvation requires a proper answer to this question and active faith in him. Jesus’ disciples had still failed to understand.
“One day Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.’ So they got into a boat and started out. As they sailed across, Jesus settled down for a nap. But soon a fierce storm came down on the lake. The boat was filling with water, and they were in real danger. The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, ‘Master, Master, we’re going to drown!’ When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm. Then he asked them, ‘Where is your faith?’ The disciples were terrified and amazed. ‘Who is this man?’ they asked each other. ‘When he gives a command, even the wind and waves obey him!’ Luke 8:22-25, NLT
Notes from the Life Application Study Bible
Luke includes this event to help us see the enormity of the Creator’s power. When caught in the storms of life, how quickly we can think that God has lost control and that we’re at the mercy of the winds of fate. In reality, God is sovereign. He controls the history of the world as well as our personal destinies. Just as Jesus calmed the waves, he can calm whatever storms you may face.
The Sea of Galilee (actually a large lake) is still the scene of fierce storms, sometimes with waves as high as 20 feet. Jesus’ disciples had good reason to be terrified. Even though several of them were expert fishermen and knew this sea and how to handle a boat, their peril was real.
Here is a great way to help the kids in your life engage with Psalm 23. Read through the Psalm together and then try this activity from the Hands-On Bible.
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“Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to the Jews near and far, throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes, calling on them to celebrate an annual festival on these two days. He told them to celebrate these days with feasting and gladness and by giving gifts of food to each other and presents to the poor. This would commemorate a time when the Jews gained relief from their enemies, when their sorrow was turned into gladness and their mourning into joy. ” Esther 9:20-22, NLT
Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates when God saved his people from the evil Haman. I’m not Jewish, but growing up my parents always had special ways for us to remember the story of Esther during this time of year.
Here are a few ideas of how to celebrate:
Looking for more ways to engage in the Bible as a family. Check out the Hands-On Bible.
Serenity Prayer Devotional from the Life Recovery Bible
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” Amen
“The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!’ ‘Sir,’ Gideon replied, ‘if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.’ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!’ ‘But Lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!’ The Lord said to him, ‘I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.’” Judges 6:12-16.
We may begin to believe that we are destined to bondage, poverty, and failure. When we persist in this view of our life, we give up the possibility of change. We settle for just trying to survive. We live in fear and shame, filling up with resentment as our life remains in the pit. We need to overcome these kinds of negative assumptions about ourselves.
Our first impression of Gideon is of a discouraged young man with little self-respect. His family was the poorest in a small tribe, and he was the least in his family. We first see him as he was threshing wheat in a winepress, hiding the little grain he had from his Midianite oppressors. An angel appeared and called to him, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” (Judges 6:12). Gideon didn’t look or feel like a mighty hero, but God could see his potential. By the end of the story, Gideon had become the deliverer of his people (Judges 6–8). His first step toward success was to see himself as God saw him—a mighty warrior. Then he was able to hope in the possibility of freedom.
We, too, must begin by finding the courage to see ourselves in a new light and to summon up hope for a better life. Then as God gives us the strength, we can set about pursuing freedom from the bondage that surrounds us and our family.
“I was so excited when I got my Bible. I’ve spent the whole day reading it along with some other girls and I already feel closer to Jesus.” – Crystal
Crystal’s words challenge me. I love the Bible, but when was the last time I spent the whole day reading it? Am I still excited when I go to open God’s Word, or has it become a mundane routine? Crystal’s words challenge me because we have very different lives. I wake up each morning and choose what to wear, what to have for breakfast, and when to open the door and walk outside. As a prisoner, Crystal doesn’t have those or many other choices. But the choice we both have is to follow Christ and grow in our relationship with him through his Word.
Through our partnership with Prison Fellowship we have been able to get The Life Recovery Bible into the hands of thousands of prisoners like Crystal who are in prison but hunger for the hope in God’s Word. At no charge to the prisoner they are able to receive a special edition Life Recovery Bible in English or Spanish through the Prison Fellowship ministry. Many of these men and women have been enslaved by addiction. Whether it’s an illegal substance, power, money, or something else, that desire is overwhelming and they’ve risked everything while in its deadly grip.
But God’s Word is a bondage breaker! Through his grace and saving blood we are no longer slaves. The Bible is filled with stories of people who needed second chances. We all have times when we have struggled and needed God to forgive us and allow us to start again.
“Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God” (Romans 6:13, NLT).
Here are some examples of people who have found new life while reading The Life Recovery Bible and are living out the transforming power of God’s Word.
Delivered from the Sting of Spiritual Death
Bound by sin, my life
a mess.
Taken by trials, I failed the test.
A slave to drugs that
kept me in chains.
Smoking and shooting was burning my brain.
That list hit of dope
should have been the final blow.
But because of God’s love, mercy said “No!”
I ended up in prison.
It should have been the end.
Then God sent me Jesus, my heart He will mend.
I found true love
from my Creator and Lord.
So I walk with him, my Helmet, Breastplate, and Sword
This might sound
strange but take it from me.
I had to come to prison so I could be free.
“I was in a long, deep prayer to God. It was a very difficult day, and I was praying for comfort, for strength, just crying out to my Abba Father. I asked him to fill me with his Holy Spirit. With my eyes still puffy and red from crying, my heart still bleeding and aching, I saw an officer come to my cell door and place a new Life Recovery Bible in my hands. God heard me. He came to me. He held me. He showered me with His great, powerful, sovereign love. God always knows what we need when we need it.” –Melody
“I put my Bible to good use every day. I spread the seeds of God’s Word and even started a small group of believers. We get together and love to read God’s Word daily. Thanks to the powerful notes and information in The Life Recovery Bible,we’re able to have a better understanding of the Bible.” –Tylor
Article from the New Believer’s Bible
“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. John 1:1-5, NLT
Eventually every child gets around to asking the question, “Where did God come from?” And there is no easy answer for that, except to say, God has always existed. He is self-existent. He already existed in the beginning. God has no beginning, nor does he have an end.
It is worth noting that the Bible never tries to prove the existence of God. It just says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). You can’t go back any further than that! Now, certain people would like to eliminate the major player here. They’d rather the verse read, “In the beginning, the heavens and the earth . . .” But if we eliminate God, then we have a big problem. In the beginning . . . what?
Some would say, “In the beginning, a mass of gases was floating in space.” But that’s not the beginning. Where did the mass of gases come from? Where did space come from? The Bible simply says, “In the beginning God.”
The Bible doesn’t tell us when the beginning was; it just says God was already there. And here, John tells us that the Word, Jesus Christ, already existed in the beginning with God ( John 1:2). He was with God, he was God, and God created everything through him ( John 1:1, 3).
Sometimes we speak of God by describing his attributes: omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, sovereignty, truth, righteousness, holiness, and love. While these descriptions can help, if you really want to know what God is like, then look at Jesus—God in human form. Jesus did not represent God as a glorified man; he was God himself among us, the Messiah in human flesh, God with skin on. God has a face. Jesus, who embodied all of God’s attributes, walked our planet as a man and breathed our air and felt our pain. He was so knowledgeable he could predict future events, so humble he could get on his knees and wash a friend’s dirty feet, so powerful he could calm the wind and waves with just a word, so approachable that children laughingly climbed into his arms. In Jesus, God spelled himself out in language that every one of us can understand.
Article from the NLT Study Bible
“Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name! For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? And also, ‘If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?’ So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.” 1 Peter 4:12-19, NLT
First Peter is focused almost exclusively on Christian suffering, especially unjust persecution at the hands of people hostile to the faith. The several themes about suffering that are woven throughout the letter find their climactic expression in 1 Peter 4:12-19. Peter makes the following points about suffering:
1.We should not be surprised when suffering comes (4:12). Christians who live a countercultural lifestyle in obedience to God should expect the culture to respond with hostility. We should expect mockery, discrimination, trumped-up charges, and even violence.
2. God has a purpose for us in suffering: It brings us into fellowship with Christ, who suffered before he was glorified (4:13; see also Rom 8:17).
3. By suffering in fellowship with Christ, we can be confident of enjoying the glory that he has already won (4:13; see Rom 8:17).
4. We need to commit ourselves to doing what is right when we face suffering (4:19). Our difficulties can always provide an excuse for sinning, but when difficulties come our way, we must live exemplary Christian lives, characterized by love for others.
5. Our loving response to enemies in the midst of trials can be a powerful opportunity to share our faith. By treating our persecutors with love and kindness, we can make our faith respectable and even attractive to them.
6. We need to remember in our trials that God is both sovereign and faithful (4:19). He controls all the circumstances of life, and we don’t need to fear that a trial will come our way apart from God’s oversight or will.
by Amanda H., Bible Journaler
I love to Bible journal. I find myself these days spending any spare time I have, sitting at my table thirsting for time in his word. Ever since I discovered Bible journaling, I have a hunger for God’s word like I have never had before. I am so thankful for this community and for what it has taught me. I have many journaling Bibles but the one I always reach for these days is my NLT Reflections Bible. I have the hardcover cloth, teal version. This is actually my second one that I’ve had. The first one, I sent off as a Traveling Bible to be journaled in by ladies all over the United States and eventually gifted to a family who lost their daughter to cancer. It was such a special gift!
Bible journaling is a way for me to connect with my Savior. It’s a form of worship for me. It allows me to meditate on his word and grow creatively while I study it. When I begin my journaling process, I pray over the verse I’m journaling and ask the Lord to speak to me. I always have my worship music keyed up as well. This is another way for me to connect with him. With the music going, prayers being said, meditating on the verses, it’s an amazing time to spend being creative!! Whether it’s using stamps, watercolors, printables, acrylic paints, or distress oxides (my absolute favorites), it’s time spent in his word.
I love how the Reflections Bible has white pages because all the colors and designs just seem to pop off the pages and when you highlight the verses, it seems to show up even more. After I am finished with creating, I will usually write a small prayer, date my entry (I hope to pass my Bibles on to my family someday for them to enjoy, that’s why I date them, plus I like to look back on the entries and see where the Lord has brought me from on those days), and close with prayer. If I decide to share that particular page with social media, I’ll snap a picture sometime after. It’s time well spent, I’ve learned a new verse or revisited an old one. I’ve been able to use my creative skills and I’ve had alone time with my Savior all rolled up into one. My heart couldn’t be fuller!
The Reflections Bible has another favorite of mine, it’s in the NLT translation. When I’m reading or listening on audio to the Bible, it’s one of my favorite translations to use. It’s so easy to understand and still holds true to the original text. If you look on Tyndale.com, you can read in detail how they have translated the Bible, what process what used, ancient texts, and much more information is given. I love to read the history and know in detail about the translations I read. This is why NLT is one of my favorites.
For more inspiration from Amanda follow her on Instagram @journalingandgrace
