HOW TO PREPARE FOR A HURRICANE BY TAKING AUTHORITY OVER IT

In the last few days those of us in South Florida have experienced a range of emotions. We have slipped in and out of faith, fear and trust, as we've prepared our homes for the worst and hoped for the best. In the midst of the chaos, I found my faith rising to a new level as the Holy Spirit within me continually renounced the negative thought patterns that spoke destruction over our area. His voice kept telling me to gather those with faith at the beach and to speak directly to the storm as Jesus did in Matthew 8:23-27.

 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

As I pondered the scripture the verse that struck me was when the disciples woke him and said,  “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm." They cried out in fear and he challenged their faith, got up and rebuked the winds and the sea. He was teaching them that there was no need to fear because with faith all things are possible. He "got up and rebuked the wind and the sea" teaching them what to do. You see Christian, when destruction comes our way we do not need to bow to the spirit of fear and hand over our power and we don't need to beg Jesus to "save us" because he already has. What we need to do is "get up and rebuked the storm in the name of Jesus" because the same power that raised him from the dead is alive in us (Romans 8:11). Looking closer into the scripture we also see that there is an action that took place before the rebuke. Jesus "got up," he could have stayed curled up, rebuked it and then kept sleeping but he didn't.  When the eye of the storm is facing us dead on maybe we need to take action and couple it with our prayer. For me in this instance, it was asking others to gather at the beach and pray. I could have simply asked them to pray like Jesus did in Matthew and we could have all prayed from home but this enormous storm required action and prayer. We gathered at the Juno Beach Pier, praised God, and rebuked the storm together as one two days in a row. This built our faith, and stretched us out of our comfort zones. The people around us might have thought we were crazy, but hey, the storm obeyed and we were spared destruction. We must grow up in our faith and begin to act like the Apostles did. If we are hungry to see a harvest of souls come into the Kingdom then we must begin to demonstrate the Kingdom of God in power and yes, in public.  
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 4:20,

"For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power."

and again in 2 Corinthians 2:4

"My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power"

I am thankful today that we were spared and praying for those that have been hurt.  Will you join me in a time of worship with the song below in praise, thanksgiving and hope?
To God be the glory forever and ever,
Ivonne

Picture by Rachel Sherman ~ https://soulshinecreativeblog.com/

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