October 18, 2022

Episode 45 - Facing the Storms of Life in Real Life

36 minutes

Keys to facing the storms of life. Hurricane Ian landed as a category 4 Hurricane (sustained winds of 150 mph) on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, in Lee County. When the storms of life hit you you have to have some foundational truths that you can lean on. Today we will talk about what perspective to have as we face the storm.

Understand that storms come to everyone.

1. Jesus tells us to build our house in the word of God to prepare for when the storms come. This way we don't suffer eternal loss. Matthew 7:24-27

2. When storms and we are afraid look to Jesus for peace and salvation. Matthew 8:24-27 The disciples and Jesus were in the storm.

Disciples were afraid, but Jesus was in the Boat

Jesus spoke to winds and waves and the sea stopped.

Disciples marveled

3. Jesus will never desert us in the storm.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me,” declares Psalm 23:4.

Jesus told His disciples, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). That was not an empty promise. Jesus knew that His disciples would face trials and hardships, so His final words addressed that coming reality with a promise to walk through each trial.

“Where can I go from your Spirit?” David ponders in Psalm 139:7-10. “Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.”

4. Suffering Creates Intimacy

As Paul came to terms with the realization that God did not intend to relieve his thorn in the flesh, he also heard God telling him, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:8). In his pain, Paul needed God’s strength and comfort. He would never have known the magnificence and magnitude of God’s grace without that thorn.

2 Cor 12:8 - 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

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