Voices of Advent: 4 Famous Encounters With JesusSample

For a lot of people, the Christmas story begins at the manger and their first glimpse of Jesus is as a sweet little baby.

The first time The Man Who Overcame the Wind encountered Jesus, the Messiah terrified him. To this famous man from Gennesaret, Jesus wasn’t a sweet babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in the straw. He was a grown man with eyes that blazed like fire, wrapped in the power of God.

The man actually screamed out Jesus' name in terror. During his first encounter with Jesus, a legion of evil spirits were cast out from him. This man had lived for years without a sound mind, trapped in his own body as though howling winds raged within. He was like a hurricane of anger in my community, so dangerous that his family had to put him in chains. 

Can you imagine? Putting your own boy or your own brother into shackles because he's such a danger to you? How many years did his mother pray for him? How many times did she have to avoid him just to be safe? The only place he and the community could find solace from his condition was when he slept in the graveyard. He rested in tombs, among the dead. 

And then Jesus appeared on his shore. Jesus was completely unafraid of him. Jesus arrived after a night when there was a terrible storm that raged across the Sea of Galilee. He calmed that storm and then he commanded Legion out of the man.

For the first time in a long time, The Man Who Overcame the Wind experienced the quiet that comes after a storm and that quiet remained.  It was shalom: true peace of body, soul, mind, and spirit.

That was his first Christmas, right there on those shores, the advent of Jesus into his life. He was naked and Jesus wrapped him in clothes as an infant newly born. He was hungry, starving for purpose and peace, and Jesus fed him with the bread of life. He was shrouded in fear and darkness, and Jesus shone the light of truth and cast out all fear. What an incredible story to reflect on at Christmas. How important to pause and to remember the advent of the Savior of the world who came to bring us peace!

Like this man, you may need the peace of Christ to rule in your body or mind today.  To command and calm your inner world, the storm inside of you that rages. Like him, you need the peace of Christ to quiet your mind, restore your soul and transform your circumstances.

Receive the peace of God today!

Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, that you came into the world to calm the raging storm and to give your peace. I humbly ask that the peace of God would clothe and cover me today.