The Purpose Of Storms In Our Lives
So, since we’re talking about storms today, here’s a little storm humor to start out with......
A new pastor made his way to his rural church in the middle of a terrible storm on Sunday morning, arriving with only five minutes to spare, before service. He entered, turned on the lights, and took a look around. No one had come for service. An old farmer, wind blown from the storm, and wet from the rain, strolled in just as he was ready to turn everything off and go home.
The preacher said, “Hello, Joe. Nobody else appears to be able to make it. I don’t think there will be a service today.”
“Well, Reverend, I know I’m only an old farmer, but I can tell you this: if I take a load of hay out to the field to feed my cattle and only one cow comes up, I still feed it”.
Embarrassed, the pastor answered “Without a doubt. You are correct. I’m going to get ready.”
So the pastor began the service and, inspired by the farmer’s faith and dedication, he preached for an hour and a half.
After the service, the pastor approached the farmer and said, “So Joe… I hope you enjoyed today’s sermon.”
The old farmer looked at him, shook his head, and said, “Reverend, if I go out to feed the cattle and only one cow shows up, I still feed it, but I don’t give it the whole blessed load of hay.”
Well, get ready for the whole load, and hopefully we make it for lunch.
Our storm scripture is....Mark 4:35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Cross over to the other side of the lake.” 36 So they took the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.
Did Jesus know this storm was coming? Absolutely. This storm was part of the day’s applied truth for the disciples. Jesus was going to use it to teach them some things about Himself and some things about themselves.
May the Lord bring His truth, home to our hearts, in a personal and penetrating way today, in Jesus Name....
Every person here has what I call “Storm theology.” Storm theology is what you believe about God when things seem to be going horribly wrong. Listen carefully..... storms penetrate the veneer and probe beneath the exterior of our lives and get to the heart of the matter.....
Storms in life have the ability to bring to the surface what’s really inside of you.
Storms will reveal to you whether you live by fear or by faith?
Storms will reveal to you if your heart is full of trust or doubt.
The way we react to God during a storm reveals the truth about ourselves, whether we want it to or not.
Storms have a way of revealing the truth about you’re real motives.
So, in those times when you follow Jesus, and you end up right in the heart of a storm, you learn some things about Jesus, some things about yourself, and some things about storm theology.
Mark 4:35 begins with the words, “As Evening came”... so we know that it had been a full day of ministry.....
Jesus started the day in a religious storm, as He was confronted with some Pharisees (the religious leaders of the day) who said that He was possessed by Satan and that this is where He got His power to do all the miracles. They also accused Him of blasphemy which was punishable by death. This was intense stuff and an adrenaline pumping confrontation.
Then there was the storm of family tension, as Jesus’ brothers came to see him and try to take Him away because they thought He had lost his mind. They thought He was delusional, so Now you have the added strife with the family, as they questioned His credibility.
Then you have a storm called physical weariness and exhaustion. If Satan can’t get you to sin, he’ll try to just wear you out and wear you down.... It had been a long day, as Jesusand the disciples spent the day under the hot sun, and Jesus taught the crowds in parables and then He had to privately explain them to His disciples. He taught about the parable of the farmer scattering seed, the parable of the lamp, the parable of the seed cast into different soils, the parable of the mustard seed and a host of others. This continued throughout the day under the heat of the sun.
But now Jesus would give them a practical storm of testing, to see how much they had really learned as they get in the boat to cross over.
God’s Word is intended to produce faith and faith must always be tested. It’s not enough for us merely to learn a lesson or be able to repeat a teaching. We must also be able to apply that lesson by faith, and that is one reason why God uses “Storm Theology”...
Rom. 10:17 faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Notice the words Jesus had used, as this all begins to unfold....Jesus said in verse 35, “Let’s cross to the other side”. Jesus told them He was staying behind, but He said “Let’s cross to the other side”....
He will never send you where He is not with you.....
On this side of the lake Jesus had performed miracles, confronted the Pharisees, taught about the Kingdom of God, the crowds are growing and everything is looking good. On this side, the disciples faith and trust in Jesus has been easy, exciting and fun, but on the way to the “other side” they are about to be tested. Like it or not, there are storms on the way to the other side waiting for every true hearted believer... Just reading the many personal stories in scripture, it is safe to say that a storm is headed our way...
On the way to the “other side” of good health, there may besickness and disease. How will you respond? Your faith is going to be tested on the way to the “other side.”
On the way to the “other side” of the dream marriage may bea broken relationship. How will you respond on the way to your break through to the other side? Your faith is going to be tested as you move to the “other side.” On your way to the other side, of every need supplied, may be a time of insufficiency and lack. How will you respond? Your faithfulness is going to be tested on your way to the “other side”.
On your way to the “Other Side” of confidence and peace, youmay feel inadequate, intimidated, and fearful at the task before you. How will you respond on your way to the other side?
On your way to the “Other Side”, you may lose the job which you counted on for the future, and you’re feeling the financial pressure, and you wonder how you’ll be able to even give God His 10%, How will you respond as you pass through the storm to the other side”..
We are told that other boats started out with them, but they turned back before they reached the other side. They never made it through the storm. They lost sight of the Other side...
One moment you are doing fine and the next the bottom falls out. One phone call and you find yourself in the middle of a storm.
One doctor’s visit and you are in a storm. One conversation and you are in a storm.
There is no way I can explain the specific reasons behind all the storms we will experience, or that we are now experiencing. Only God holds the answers to our questions and each situation is unique and has its own “Storm Theology.” However, we can learn from the storms that others have gone through. Understanding the purpose behind their storms will help us find a purpose in our own personal storms.
For Ezekiel, the other side was through a bone yard.....
Ezekiel 37:7 “So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise , and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. v8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.
v9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy breath (RO-USH spirit wind), into them. 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army”.
There is one word that made all the difference….That word is Covenant! Even though all hope was gone, and the valley was filled with dead things....God saw the other side, and imparted that vision to Ezekiel.
Friend, when you can’t stand on anything else, STAND ONGOD’S COVENANT FOR THE OTHER SIDE…. When faith is gone and hope is zero, STAND ON WHAT GOD SAID WASON THE OTHER SIDE… When it all looks dead and over, YOU CAN BELIEVE WHAT IS WAITING ON THE OTHER SIDE….
When Noah entered the ark, it was about WHAT WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOD and that beautiful rainbow God put up in the sky was His covenant contract signature, that they would make it..
When Abraham had no children, he had covenant (scripture says his body and Sarah’s body were dead) yet he dared to believe that he would be the “father of many nations” and his descendants would find a city whose builder and maker was God ON THE OTHER SIDE….
If you saw someone having a conversation with a skeleton, you might think he’s on drugs, drunk, or needs some time at the funny farm…. But God tells us to preach and prophesy to SKELETONS….. Some of you talk to your spouse, your kids, your co-worker, to your finances, your health, or to your situation in life, and it’s like talking to a skeleton!
Ezekiel was prophesying to folks who WERE DEAD…..THAT’S D….E…..A…..D!!!!! DEAD, Pushing up daisies, expired, done, over with!!!
Our Covenant mandate given us from God, is to Speak life into dead things. Speaking the God breathed word. What Ezekiel discovered is that … the word of God we speak and prophesy with, that we declare and decree with…contains the very “RO-ASH” or breath of God… That breath can do what you could never do…. I believe this dry bone valley is declaring to us that God delights in taking broken, poured out and used up things and demonstrating how He can take it, bless it and restore and resurrect it so that it is better than before ON THE OTHER SIDE!!. LORD DO IT AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN!!!
We can all be encouraged that Jesus clearly stated that THEY WERE GOING TO GET TO THE OTHER SIDE, because He was the one who sent them to the other side. If He has predetermined an “Other Side” for each of us, then we can be confident, that no matter how intense or severe the storm, when we are under His authority and command, WE TOO WILL GET TO THE OTHER SIDE!
Hurricane Andrew, hit Homestead, Florida, 31 years ago, as a category 5. It was one of the most expensive such disasters in U.S. history. The killer storm left thousands of families, without homes. Nearly 85 percent of the town of 31,000 wasdestroyed. Homestead Air Force Base was wiped out. In total,Andrew destroyed more than 63,500 houses, and damaged more than 124,000 others, caused $27.3 billion in damage, and left 65 people dead, from Coral Gables to Homestead. Many of the survivors were asked the question: “How has this storm changed you life?” Almost without exception, each of them responded with a similar basic answer: “I have learned what is really important in life!” Storms have a way of clarifying what is important. They sift through all the clutter and debris in our lives and clarify our goals and priorities. Storms are designed to give us a new direction. The disciples’ storm came because they were trying to follow God with too little faith in God. You may remember that Jesus rebuked them for having such “little faith”.... In each case the storm came to activate personal faith.
Storms will activate our personal faith that has been tucked away for a more convenient season. People begin to turn to God when there is nothing else to turn to.
Jonah’s storm came because he was running away from God. God told Jonah to go preach salvation to Nineveh, but Jonah didn’t think they deserved grace and mercy so he caught a ship to Tarshish. He had faith in judgment but not in grace. That’s like I’ll let Satan have this one, and I’ll choose God’s side later, If I happen to agree with God....Have you been in a storm, because you didn’t agree with God....
Jonah caught a ship to Tarshish to get away from God’s purpose for him. So his storm came to give him new directionand put him back on track...Just like He did for Jonah, God will send a storm to renew our sense of purpose and direction.
Storms can teach you about yourself.
In one of the storms, the disciples encountered they cried out....“Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” That is a very revealing question....They asked, “Teacher, don’t you care…?” They called Jesus “teacher” not Lord. So their understanding of Him was not where it needed to be and instead of asking, “Lord, can you help us?” They questioned His love and concern for them. This is the temptation when we become afraid. Because we see the storm in our life as so large and powerful, and we see God as less than He is and we doubt His love and care for us. That’s like asking God if He is still God!!
That’s exactly what the devil wants you to do. Their fear blinded them to who Jesus really was, and needed to be to them. What will we exalt in the storm? SHOUT IT WITH ME.... “JESUS IS LORD”!! (Repeat it again)
John 6:66-67 Tells us that at one point in Jesus’ ministry many of his disciples began turning their backs on Him—they walked away, and no longer followed him. Jesus turned to the inner core of His disciples, those twelve he had hand-picked to follow him, and said, “Will You leave me too?”.....
I don’t want Jesus to ever wonder if I’m going to stay with Him.... I don’t want Jesus, after watching my actions, or hearing how I talk, and how I think, to wonder if I’m going to stay true... I want to have Him turn to the Father, and say what He said about Job, “He will never deny me”... Or about David, “He’s a man after my own heart”... Or about Abraham, “I can trust Him with generations yet to come”.... I want Jesus to brag on me, no matter what people say.....
Mark 9:23-24 A father was facing a demonic storm, and brought his demon possessed son to Jesus inquiring if Jesus could cast the demon out. The father pleaded with Jesus, requesting Jesus to have pity on them and cast out the demon if He could. Jesus said, “’Everything is possible for him who believes.’ Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’.
When the storms begin to blow in...How do you respond, when Satan is telling you, “What difference does it make, serving and following Jesus faithfully”. “Where has it gotten you.” Or “Think about yourself, your needs, your enjoyment, do it your way”....
Notice Peter’s answer: John 6:68 "Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life. 69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God”.
HE STILL SPEAKS TO STORMS!
Don’t let the storm cause you to end up like the five foolish maids in Matthew 25:1 five of them, allowed the cares of life to catch them unprepared, they lived only for this life and not for eternity, but five of them stayed prayed up, they kept their testimony effective, they lived the life, they talked the walk and they walked the talk...
“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. v2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. v3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, v4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. v5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
v6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ v7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. v8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
v9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ v10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut”.
When the storms of life come upon you, where do you turn? Do you turn to Jesus, or do you jump overboard. Do you seek to deepen your faith in God, or do you run from God? Your past is not your past if it’s still showing up in your present, and you will never run fast enough to run from yourself....
It’s a humbling experience to turn to God and say, “God I’m not sure about what you’re needing to work in me, but I need some relief—rescue me, save me, get me to the place you need me to be.”
If you’re hearing from the master at all, then you’re trying to get to the promise, the vision, the goal or destination, that He put in your heart. But you need to know that you’re going to have to go through some things to get to some things.....and know that your blessing is still waiting if you push through to the “other side”.... The other side that He promised is waiting as you move through this storm....
Have you walked on water lately?.. Maybe it’s because His voice has been drowned out, and you can’t hear his words, because you’ve let the storm have a voice in your Spirit...
Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me”.
Sometimes the storm comes to blow open and expose the secrets we’ve been hiding in the closet of denial.....It’s not the past if it’s still showing up in your present....
The anointing can’t rest on what you’re hiding. The blessing cannot rest on what you’re running from. The Holy Spirit already knows all our secrets... If you’re praying for power in your life, start with your closet...You cannot be spiritually mature or emotionally healthy, if your past secrets are still showing up in your present reality....What an incredible release comes, when the weight of all the secrets is gone...Lay it all down, and if you think you have... then why does it keep showing up, and cycling through your life....
Listen to Him speak now what He spoke to the disciples in the storm.....
Matthew 14:27 “Be of good courage, it is I, be not afraid”.
What does that look like?....Jesus had just fed up to 20,000 people with a “Happy Meal”.... but that didn’t cause them to fall down and worship...But when He stilled the storm, they all fell down and worshiped Him... The storm caused them to worship Him... What if He’s looking for your worship in the storm?.... Just to get on your face before Him, and recognize that you are nothing without Him, and with Him, you have everything....
Our courage comes from the unchanging Lord and master, who said He would be the same yesterday, today and forever. Everything else may be changing, but He remains faithful, and His word is ever the same....Hallelujah, He’s there in our storms....to give us courage...
I am often reminded of the plaque hanging at the foot of my bed, which glowed in the dark. Hanging there on the wall, it’smessage, comforted me and gave me courage in the storms of my life... It said, “Forget not in the storm, what God has promised when the sun was shining”....
We become our choices, we are the decisions we make.
And if you can tune out the storm, you will hear what Peter heard, before he walked on the water.....He said Jesus is that you.... And Jesus replied with one word that sums up the entire New Testament, “COME”..... You that are weary, “COME”.... You that are afraid, “COME” .....You that are lost, “Come”.... I am here in your storm.... Before You called, I answered, Before you cried out, I heard you...
When you come out of the storm you won’t be the same person that walked in. That’s what the storm is all about. You will see Jesus differently and you will see yourself differently.
There are some things you can only learn in a storm. So learn them.
Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear a path. Some storms help you to see some things more clearly.
You are either headed into a storm, in the middle of a storm, or you are coming out of one. Learn from your storms. God is teaching you something about Himself, about yourself, and about the storms of life. You have been given a “Storm Theology”, let’s refine it, improve it, and apply it. See the storms of life as an opportunity for God to display who He isand what He can do in your life.
I want you to close your eyes and see Jesus walking toward you in the storm of your life.... whatever that may look like... I want you to hear Him say... “COME”....
(Lyrics) Oh, come unto me, I will give your rest, cast your cares upon me, hear me and be blessed. I am meek and lowly, come and trust My might; Come, My yoke is easy, and My burden’s light.
