Do you ever read stories in the Bible and wonder why they sound so similar but have distinct differences that at times seem irreconcilable? I had one of those moments this morning and then the Holy Spirit spoke with such clarity it broke through the seeming discrepancy and brought crystal clear clarity. The Bible says in 1 John 2, you do not need anyone to teach you for my spirit will teach you all things. The Holy Spirit is a Master Teacher, He has access to knowledge, wisdom and revelation about everything. If you will sit as a student, He would love to be your Teacher and the things you will learn cannot be learned in seminary, university, or even church. They are learned at the feet of Jesus with ears open to the Holy Spirit.

In Mark 14:41-42 it says, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough; the hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!” This is Jesus speaking to Peter, James and John in the Garden of Gethsemane. As I read this I said to the Holy Spirit, Jesus was asleep in a storm and the disciples woke Him up and were told they had little faith, now the are asleep in a garden and are told to wake up so they do not fall into temptation. On first glance it can feel like they can’t win for losing. But the issue is not the sleeping, it is the when they are sleeping and why.

Jesus slept in the boat during a storm because He knew He had authority over the weather, over creation. The disciples were shocked by His authority over creation. What they didn’t know is that Jesus does not have authority over any person, unless they give Him authority over them, so when they were in the Garden of Gethsemane they needed to stay awake because the betrayer was coming. Many people don’t realize Jesus only has authority over our lives if we yield our authority to Him. Judas did not want Jesus to have authority over him, so Judas excercised his authority over Jesus because Jesus yielded it to him for Jesus knew this was the will of God for Him to die for the sins of the world. Remember Jesus said, “The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” (Matthew 26:24) Jesus knew His Father’s will so surrendered His authority to whom the Father chose to betray Him.

I know this is deep for a Monday morning, but we must understand we have noT been given authority over any human being. We can influence people if they will allow us to, but we cannot control what any other human being does. Jesus stayed awake in the garden but slept in the boat because He knew what He had control over. This is something we need to understand, for people who have not given their authority over to Jesus, are capable of many things, including betrayal. Our job is to surrender our authority to Jesus so He can lay His head down in our lives, knowing we are submitted to Him. Then if the storm comes, we just call upon the one in our life who has power over the storm, until we realize the power He has given us to calm those very storms.