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Why Do We All Face Storms?
1
Pet 1:6-9 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if
need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having
not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the
end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
I have been a Christian since
the last day of January 1970. I played church a few times before that
but that was the day I stopped playing church. I asked the Lord to
forgive me for the way I had lived, come into my heart and show me what
He desired, and give me His strength to do it and I would. He did, and I
found inner peace for the first time in my life. Praise the Lord! A
little while later I asked Him to fill me with the Holy Ghost and fire,
with all the evidence those had in the book of Acts. He did, and that is
when I had a tremendous urge to study the Word of God. When He
called me to teach, at first I refused - it was such a tremendous responsibility! One day all teachers and ministers will stand before
God and give an account of what they have taught His Children!
Soon I realized that if I was going to go on with the Lord
that was my calling. I surrendered.
I had been serving the Lord for several years, when one day I had a
dream. I was in a big parking lot, on a holiday, because there was
no cars in the lot. I looked around and saw a funnel cloud approaching.
I began to turn around and every where I looked there was more
clouds approaching! I woke up, frightened, and prayed, asking the
Lord what the dream was all about. He told me that all the storms were
going to come up in my life! Then He said, "They are not to defeat you
but to establish you!" I didn't understand that; I thought I was
already established!
Well all those storms came into my life, one after the other. I would
barely get past one till another came up. This went on for several
months; I don't remember how long. Then I had another dream. I was
in a football stadium in Miami, Florida; it was also empty, and again I saw a
funnel cloud approaching - but this time, only one. I asked what that meant and He said "This one
will be the last one for a while." Praise the Lord!
The Lord said the storms were to establish me and they did! Before, I
had a faith that was based more on my feelings and what was going on in my
life than it was on the Lord Himself. With that kind of faith, I would be up
part of the time and down part of the time - it was a faith based
on the wrong foundation! Faith must be based on the Lord himself - He is
the same yesterday, today, and forever, not dependent on my feelings! He said all things work
together for my good. Faith takes Him at His Word and refuses to doubt,
even if the storm is raging.
Through these storms, God taught me that even storms are for our good, if we will remain true to
the Lord and learn from them. While the Lord may not bring the storms
to us, He certainly allows them to come! If we will learn to do as He
says and in all things give thanks, we will weather the storm and have a
more stable faith than ever before. Meditate on it!
