Have you ever been in the place where you knew you had to hold on, yet you really wanted to just let go. A place where the storm was coming so hard and so fast against you, you had called out to Jesus over and over again and yet, wondered if He was listening. I have been in that place more often than I would like to say. In fact I believe I have written about it at some time or another in another post. But here I am again, faced with a storm, and really tired of going around this mountain one more time.
I have been working on a bible study about Guarding the Gateways to our Inner Man and have been praying in a prayer ministry at my church about pressing forward through the storm. And where do I find myself, you guessed it in the middle of a storm. The enemy sends his lies into my thoughts saying things like "You might as well give up, lay down and die, it will not get any better" I rebuke and rebuke declare the truth of God's word and yet, inside there is this little part of me who wants to just lay down and die. Have you ever been there? In fact to be very honest, I have been angry. Angry at my situation and angry at Jesus for not changing my situation, when I called out His name. I won't be typing a lot of scriptures but I will be sharing from scriptures that God is showing me on this journey through the storm.
In Matthew 8:23-27 an account is recorded of Jesus telling His disciples that they must go to the other side of the lake. Then He laid down an went to sleep while He was sleeping a storm came up and His disciples were struggling in the storm for they were sinking. Finally they woke up Jesus and He calmed the storm and then rebuked them for their lack of faith.
What I have always seen in this account is that Jesus made a promise in the beginning, His presence was with them, His peace was with them and He displayed his power when He calmed the storm. Yet friends when you find yourself in the middle of a storm; and we all have them, I become like the disciples and begin to scream out JESUS wake up do You not care that I am drowning. Surely I am not the only one who has felt this way.
I recently said, that I thought perhaps God was getting tired of my crying (that was a thought from the pit of Hell). But the Holy Spirit brought a verse in Luke 11:9-10 to my memory. The one that talks about keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. This is persistence and one I will continue to do. I will keep asking, seeking, knocking and will not give up.
In Deuteronomy 2:3 God told Moses: "You have skirted this mountain long enough, turn northward"
I love that verse. I said recently two things I desired to hear from my Lord. First is "Well done good and faithful servant" and the second is "you have skirted this mountain long enough" I understand that in this journey I am on God is teaching me areas that need His touch, areas in my life that are hindering my walk with Jesus, areas that I struggle with and perhaps my faith is weak in these areas or better yet I need to see through God's eyes and not my eyes. I have heard the expression that we need to soar above our storm the way an Eagle soars above storms. I realized apparently I didn't know how to soar above the storm I found myself in. So I inquired of the Lord, "Lord how do I rise above the storm?" He answered me saying "You are looking into the storm, in order to rise above the storm you must see it with My eyes." Can you guess my next question? "Lord how do You see my storm?" His answer "I see it as a place of trust, a place of faith and the place where I will be glorified."
I know all the truths of who I am in Christ. All the quotes to say to you and to myself when troubles arise. But in that moment, when the storm is raging, and the enemy is shooting his darts into your mind, when you are screaming out for Jesus to help and you don't see the help. In these moments you really don't want to hear the encouragement you really want to lay down and die. Yet the Holy Spirit rises up in you and speaks into your spirit and says "Hold on Help is on the way" It is this small still voice that makes you get up and keep going. Recently I was told and will share with you, "get up keep doing what is right and your faith will follow" That is a good word, yet the hardest thing to do is to get up when you want to lay down, keep going when you want to give up and HOLD ON when you want to let go.
So what am I learning on this journey with Jesus? To be content with who I am in Christ Jesus, to understand that Jesus is Enough in spite of the storm, to hold on, Jesus is sending my help. The problem is most of us are looking in the wrong place for our help. We are looking with our natural eyes and they see the impossible, yet we walk by faith and not by sight, so we need to see through the eyes of faith and expect God to take our natural and make it His supernatural. Look for it, Hold on, Help is on the way.
If you are looking for an online bible study check out www.lindagroberts.com
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