Do you live fearfully or faithfully? In this passage where we see Jesus walk on water and proclaim His divinity, we all so Peter step on in faith only to be overcome with fear because he lost his focus. Perhaps you find yourself in the midst of a storm, overwhelmed by fear, or in over your head, hear of how your focus can help you overcome your fears so that you can live in faith.

When we are hurting or in need, the needs of others can be overwhelming. But in Jesus' life when He is at His lowest moments, we find Him still filled with compassion and finding a way to provide for others. We find in Jesus' reaction in the midst of His great need an example of both who God is for us and who we should be for each other.

What price have paid to become a part of the Kingdom of God? In Jesus' parables, he describes His kingdom as priceless and something we should eb willing to give up everything to be a part of. Why is the kingdom worth everything and what is it that we actually have to give up? It might cost you everything, but you will gain what can never be lost.

Bearing fruit is the anaolgy used throughout Scripture to speak to what maturity and growth in our faith looks like. In the parable of the sower, Jesus reveals that the condition of the soil is the most important aspect in spiritual fruitfulness. What kind of soil represents your heart? What is preventing you from producing in your life the fruit that God has intended for us to produce?

Jesus tells us in this passage that he spoke in parables to reveal the secrets of the kingdom of God, but that only some would understand. What kept peple from understanding these simple stories? Perhaps it is the same thigns tht are keeping you from understanding more about God and what He has for your life. May this challenge you to find a greater understanding of God, His will, and your purpose in the coming year!

Whether we realize it or not, we have all made demands of God. In this passage from Matthew 12, we see the negative impacts of that and how it leaves us empty - even if we do get what we ant. Hear of what we need to be fulfilled with the joy we can only find in Jesus.

We can often feel like we are at war with life. There is strife in our family, our relationships, our workplace, and all around us. Jesus speaks to the war that wages between 2 kingdoms all around us in this passage in Matthew 12, and we see in the end how those who stand with Him and His Kingdom can be filled with peace in the midst of this war and what that should look like in our hearts.

"You cannot live without hope" Hope keeps us alive. And we've all had hope in the the wrong things for the wrong reasons, so we must learn why Jesus is the only real hope we have and how that hope fulfills us in the here and now.

Are people more valuable than sheep? That's a question Jesus actually asked! In this passage we see the circumstances that caused Jesus to ask such a wild question and how it speaks to us about how we value things - even good things - more than the people in our lives.

What are you thankful for? That's the question we normally ask at Thanksgiving time. But this prayer of Jesus in Matthew 11 helps us to reframe that question in a way that illuminates for us what (or rather whom) we have to be thankful for in all seasons of life and then shows us the great promise that realization opens our lives up to. Hear of how you can can truly know God and of the peace that knowledge can bring to your hearts and lives.