“So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.
“Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. But He said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’ So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” (John 6:15-21 NASB1995)
I am not going to go into all the history behind this, for I am going to use this more like a parable to be applied spiritually to our lives and to our circumstances today. For I imagine that most of us who believe in Jesus have had these times in our lives that seemed dark to us, or that were dark (difficult, troublesome, depressing, sorrowful, and/or miserable). And we at least felt as though our Lord was not with us, that he had not come to us, or we could not feel his presence and/or we could not hear him in our minds.
He seemed far away to us at times when we needed him most. And we may have even been frightened at the thought of him not being near and/or of the particular dark circumstances which we were up against. Or we may have been frightened by the solution that he provided for us, for we thought it way beyond possible, or over our heads, or beyond our means or gifts or talents. For sometimes he will lead us to do things which we know we cannot do within ourselves, but he shows us the way, in his power and strength.
Let me give you an example, and I will try to make it short. In 1981 my husband and I and our four children were part of a church fellowship. The pastor was speaking on Spiritual gifts, and he was having us fill out a form where we listed what we believed were our spiritual gifts. And the intention appeared to be so he would know where to place us in ministry. A long time passed and I never heard from him, so I called him. And he came to our house. And so I asked him about ministry opportunities for myself.
But then he began falsely accusing me of what was not me, and he and I had never had any kind of a relationship or talks prior to this. And then he asked me if I would say I had been crucified with Christ. I answered, “Yes,” and he said, “I would say you haven’t!” Wow! That just killed my heart! And after that I just withdrew, and I didn’t try anymore. But then I was reading the story of Jonah to my children, and the Lord spoke to me that I was like Jonah in the sense that I was running away from what God had for me.
And the Lord spoke to me that I was to go back to that pastor and to try to talk this through with him. My response to God was, “But Lord, you don’t understand!” Truly I was the one who did not understand, for me to say that, but because of the abuse I had faced as a child, I had believed that man had power over me that God could do nothing about. God was my comforter, but not my rescuer. But I listened to the Lord, and he gave me the courage to speak to the pastor. And to make a long story short, it all worked out for good in the end, and the pastor and I were united in Christian fellowship.
So, no matter what we are up against, God can do in us and through us what we cannot do on our own. And when Jesus comes to us with a solution to our problems, we should not shut him out just because his solution, we believe, is beyond our own abilities. So if God leads us in a particular direction, and it is truly of God, and the direction is not against God, but we fear our own inadequacy, we need to trust the Lord and believe that he can do in us and through us what we cannot do in our flesh. And then we just need to follow his lead. But please be those who obey God’s commands.
Body of Christ, Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Ministries
[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 28:18-20; John 4:31-38; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:42-47; Acts 26:18; Romans 10:14-15; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:11-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20; 1 Peter 2:9,21; 1 John 2:6]
Why Are You Afraid?
Based off Various Scriptures
An Original Work / December 5, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Do not be afraid.
Your Lord is always by your side.
Serve the Lord in righteousness
Before Him all your days.
Those who hate the light
Will not come to the Lord.
They fear their deeds
Might be noticed.
So, they hate the light,
And they embrace the night.
Do not be afraid,
Although your enemy attacks.
Dare to share your testimony
Of God’s saving grace.
Do not fear their threats,
But honor Christ, your Lord.
Be prepared to give an answer
For the hope you have,
With gentleness; respect.
Why are you afraid?
For all that’s hidden will be shown.
What I tell you, speak in daylight.
Let the truth be known.
Do not be afraid
Of those who’ll take your life.
Fear the Lord with understanding.
Trust Him with your life,
And give not up to strife.
Do not be afraid.
Take courage, it is I, your Lord.
Bow before Me; now adore Me.
Oh, why do you doubt?
Listen to the Lord.
Get up and bear His name!
Run and tell the world He loves them.
Jesus came to save.
Give Him your all today.
And They Were Frightened
An Original Work / August 28, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
