DEALING WITH THE STORMS OF LIFE
DEALING WITH STORMS OF LIFE
Luk 8:22-25 KJV 22 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. 23 But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. 24 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.
Mar 4:36-40 KJV 36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. 37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. 38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? 39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
This event happened on the evening of the day he told them the parable of the sower. He told His disciples that they should all go to the other side of the lake.
A lake is a stagnant body of water with little or no movement surrounded by land. Jesus said let us cross over to the other side. I pray that as many that are on this side of the stagnant lake shall cross over to a better area in Jesus name.
As they boarded the boat and launched forth, He fell into deep sleep. This shows His humanity side. But the Bible says something in Luke 8: 23 But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.
No 1 lesson I learnt here is that it doesn’t matter who we are, none of us is exempted from the storms of life. Whether you are a Christian or not. There was a time when the disciples were alone on the sea a storm arose against them Mk 6: 48. We need to be ready and prepared. But the good news is that there is an advantage for a child of God on how to deal with the storms of life.
No 2 lesson is that the storm that came was unannounced. There was no indication from the sky, of course they didn’t even have a navigational or geographical positioning system or weather forecasting equipment in those days. The point is some storms come unpredictable and unannounced. In Mk 6 and here it arose suddenly.
Every sudden attack upon our lives and destiny catches fire now in Jesus name.
Just read slowly and see the series of events. They boarded, he fell asleep and then a great storm of wind. Where did it come from? For what purpose?
Things don’t just happen they are made to happen. I believe Satan caused the wind to arise vigorously in order to either destroy Jesus and His disciples or prevent them from getting to their destination, the other side. There was someone that the devil had been tormenting for years and was due for deliverance but the devil wanted to abort the mission. I pray for someone, that the agenda and mission of the devil is terminated now in Jesus name.
Why did it come at the time Jesus was asleep? You see we are more prone to Satan attack at our vulnerable time. In the garden, the Lord told the disciples to watch and pray lest they fall into temptation.
Many of us are asleep in our prayer life, Bible study life, evangelism, etc. May the Lord rekindle that fire in our heart again.
The great storm of wind came from somewhere; either from the mountain side, valley but it came on the sea from somewhere and caused the sea waves to fill the boat thereby making their lives in jeopardy.
Every source of our challenge and difficulty be destroyed in Jesus name.
They went to awake Him and to accuse Him of sleeping when He ought to be helping them to bail out water from the ship. They said carest not thou that we perish? It’s the same with us today. Whenever we face life challenges, we begin to question God; why me? Why did God allow this to happen to us? And we will conclude that He did not care for us.
But Peter said something
1Pe 5:7 KJV Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
He cares for us and has made provisions already for any eventualities that may befall us through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension .
The disciples of Jesus could make do with additional helping hands but they were labouring in vain. They were trying to bail out water from the boat and expected Jesus to join them in that foolishness. Many times we labour in prayer in vain. Jesus. What did Jesus do?
Jesus knew better that it would amount to effort in futility in trying to vigorously bail out water when what was bringing the water into the boat is not attended to.
He arose, gentlemen. We need to rise from our despondency, state of lukewarmness and spiritual coldness if we must deal with storms of life.
Isa 60:1 KJV Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
Deu 2:24 KJV Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.
Then the Lord rebuked the wind and spoke to the sea. It was the sea that was bringing the water inside the boat, i expected the Lord to rebuke the Sea rather it was the wind that He rebuked. Why? Remember verse 23 again, there came a great storm of wind on the lake. The wind was responsible for the agitation of the sea. It was the cause of the trouble. It was responsible. The sea was at rest and peaceful before they embarked on the journey.
So rather than Jesus helping the disciples to bail water which was the consequent effect of the wind, He rebuked the wind.
The Greek word for “rebuke” is “epitimao” it means to tax with fault, rate, chide, rebuke, reprove, censure severely.
When Jesus rebuked the wind, and spoke to the sea to be still and stop agitating, the Bible says there was a great calm.
Another lesson I learnt is that we must attack, come against the source of our trouble and challenges in life if we must enjoy tranquility and peace. It was the influence of the wind that caused the sea to agitate and once the cause was broken, the sea had no reason to agitate any longer.
Speak to the source of your trouble, speak to the challenge.
Lastly another lesson is that everything that was created by the word hears and obeys the word.
The apostles marvelled at what happened saying what manner of man was Jesus that even the sea obeyed Him.
Therefore whatever we speak to in as much as it was created by the word of God will definitely obey. The sea obeyed. Jesus spoke to the dead body of the only son of a woman in Nain, He spoke to Lazarus, He spoke to the fig tree, Moses spoke to the rock.
This tell me that you can speak to anything: your bank account, children, CV,
Most Christian would prefer to talk to God about their problems but that is not scriptural. Especially under the new Testament. There is no place in the New Testament where we are told to pray unto God to do something about the devil or about our problems. Mk 11:23
Mar 11:23 KJV For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Luk 17:6 KJV And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Both plucking and planting are in passive voice which means when we speak, some extraterrestrial forces are deployed to carry out our imperative command
The principle of dealing with the storm is to speak to the source of the storm and not to the storm.
Most of us will rather ask God to fight for us just the way He fought for Moses and Israel at the Red sea.
We are supposed to talk to our problems about God and not talk to God about our problems or mountains.
Jas 4:7 KJV Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Prayers:
Every root of my problem or this problem, dries up in Jesus name.
Every evil wind of great storm over my finances and family break in Jesus name.