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There was a day when Jesus and his disciples were travelling across a lake, this was not the first time they were crossing the lake, but this time was different. Why was this time different? Because their faith were about to be tested.
See my other article on Staying Focus in the midst of a storm
#God will at times will allow the #storms of life to test us, to try our faith and to build our confidence. The storms of life also comes to give us an experience with God so that we may know him at a different level.
“The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”- Luke 8:24
However, many times when we are in the middle of the storm we think we are about to die and so we starts to panicked:
“O Lord what am I going to do, this situation is more than I can handle”
“Lord, these bills are too high, please don’t let me loose my house or starve to death”
Of course there is nothing wrong in crying out to Jesus for help, but do we trust him in the storm? Do we trust him to take us through the different storms of life? Do we keep our eyes on Jesus, or do we start looking at the situation we are in?
This is what Peter did when he had another experience with Jesus. There was a time when Jesus had sent his disciples to go on before him while he stayed in the mountain to pray (Matthew 14:23).
While they were in the boat there came a storm “and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.”- Matthew 14:24
Seeing the distress his disciples were in Jesus went to them, walking on water. When Peter saw Jesus he asked him to allow him to come to him, by walking on the water. Peter started to walk on with his faith, however, when Peter reached at a certain distance he got distracted, and when he got distracted by the boisterous wind he became afraid and started to sink.
“But when [Peter] saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” (Matthew 14:30 NIV)
Many of us are like Peter, we started our journey with the Lord and even though the trials of life comes our faith allows us to overcome these trials, you could say to ‘walk on water’. But along the way we get distracted especially when we think the situation has gone on for too long, or we come upon big storm. It was easy to trust him when the trials were little, but what happened when the situations seems bigger than we are able to handle? We started focusing on the bills, marital and family related issues, problems on the job, financial issues and so on. Very soon we start to sink in doubt, fear, depression and worrying which weighs us down physically, emotional and spiritually.
Focusing on whats happening around us cause us to be afraid, afraid of losing our family, losing our jobs, being broke and not having enough to take care of our needs. We start worrying about what is going to happen next and very soon we starts to sink.
The enemy knows what will happen if he should cause us to get distracted by the cares of life and so he will try everything to get us to take our eyes off Jesus and look at the ‘wind’. As long as Peter’s eyes were on Jesus he was fine, but as soon as he took his eyes off him he became afraid, worrying kicks in, his faith starts to sink and then he starts to sink physically.
When we are going through the storms of life Jesus will always be there for us and he will not allow you to sink. He is using the storms of life for our good, to build us, to make us stronger.
Here are five things God wants you to do if you feel like you’re sinking in a storm.
Keep your eyes on Jesus and stay focus.
The moment you take your eyes off the Lord, you will go under. The reason why the first century #church was able to take new grounds for God was because they remained focus despite the storms they faced. Matthew 14:30 says,“But when [Peter] saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” (NIV) When you focus on the wind and the waves — your circumstances — you’re going to sink, just like Peter. There will be many things happening in the world to get you distracted economies going under, crime and violence on the rise, people losing their jobs, accidents on the rise and so forth. These things will get you distress. However, Jesus assures us that just like he overcame the world, so too we look overcome the world (John 16:33). He also tells us before that when we see these things happening, that is not the time to get sidetrack, but it is the time to look up (Luke 21:28.
See also: Staying Focus in the midst of a storm
Do not be fearful, Jesus is with you in the storm.
When you’re in a storm, it is very easy to become fearful, fearful that you will not get rid of a sickness, fearful that your #marriage will end, fearful that your child will die, fearful that you will not be able to pay off your debts or bills and still have enough money to survive. But when fear comes, and it will come, take authority over it and stand on the promises of God that he will always be with you. Fear comes with torment and that’s why Jesus gives us peace (John 14:27). Peace that will help you to ride out your storms.
Don’t let go of faith.
Faith is like our heavenly currency that we use to draw what we need from the spiritual realm. When you maintain your faith you will receive strength to weather the storms of life. The problems may not go away simple because you have faith, but like Peter you will be able to walk on water.
See also: How Strong is your faith?
Having faith that moves mountains
Don’t doubt.
You don’t need great faith to make it through the storm in your life. You just need faith in the right person, that is Jesus. Peter started to sink when he started to doubt.
See also: Do Not allow fear to cripple you. Learn how to pull down the curtains of fear
Praise God.
Praise is a weapon, a very powerful one. It confuses the enemy as he cannot understand how you able facing your storms but will have a praise. When Jehoshaphat was facing a large army, he did not use swords to fight his battle, he just praised God and his enemies were totally destroyed. Even in the storm, even when you feel like you’re sinking, even when you’re scared to death — praise him all the time.
See also: The Power of Praise and Worship- Learn how powerful your praise can be
What is the storm of life you are facing right now? Whether it is in your finances, job, family, marital issues, hardship, friends etc. Jesus promises you victory. Despite life trials, you can live An Empowered Life. Do not allow the storms of life to sink you, God will never leave you and he is a present help in the time of trouble (Psalms 46:1). If God is a present help that means is always right there with you, he never leaves, even when there is peace in your life.
How do you weather the storms of life? I would love to know. Please leave a comment in the comment section and share this post with friends on Social Media
Responses
1 John 4:4 and knowing that God prayed that the father would keep us from evil in John 15