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Authors: Casey Treat
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the name of Jesus, we will sail on by. If physical storms of sickness and disease rise up, and we speak to them, “In the name of Jesus, get off my kids, get off my family, get out of my house,” it will quickly dissipate. Jesus said to speak to the mountain to be removed and cast into the sea, to not doubt it in our hearts, and what we say will come to pass. Some storms will be chased away merely by the sound of our voices, as the life residing in that sound chases off the death and destruction.
Some storms we walk through.
In the last chapter, we read about the account in Matthew 14 where Jesus was walking on the water while the disciples were trying to keep their boat afloat amid a storm. In the middle of the sea, the men in the boat were rowing fervently but going nowhere. This is when they noticed Jesus walking toward them through the storm. In this storm, Jesus didn’t speak to it, didn’t stop it, didn’t change His mind about where He was going, and didn’t tell it to do anything different. He just kept walking. Why did Jesus speak to one storm, making it cease, and to another, just walk through it?
I’d love to make up a really provocative answer because it would make this chapter much more profound, but it would probably be wrong anyway. The truth is I don’t know why He spoke to one storm and walked through another. I guess sometimes we must walk through the storms of life by faith. When I was diagnosed with hepatitis C, I wish I could’ve simply spoken to the disease and not have had to walk through the eleven months of chemotherapy. It would have been awesome to immediately have that thing be healed, but it didn’t happen that way. I had to walk through it—step by grueling step.
These are the times we cannot lean on our own understanding, and we must put all our trust in God. During these long storm walks, we cannot allow our minds to be consumed with the “whys” and the “what ifs.” Rather, we must focus our minds on God’s promises, match the intensity of the problem, and believe greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. And when we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4)—don’t stop and set up camp! Let’s keep our faith alive and keep on walking.
Some storms, we grab a board and hang on!
The last storm I want to talk about is in the book of Acts, chapter 27. Because this account is so lengthy, I’m going to summarize, but when you have a moment, read the story in its entirety, because it has the makings of an action movie. In this storm, the apostle Paul is on a ship (as a prisoner) on his way to Rome. At one point during the journey, Paul sensed they would face grave danger if they continued their voyage, and he warned the captain they would encounter terrible storms. But being a prisoner, Paul’s opinion didn’t matter much, so the ship left the port. Sure enough, they were met with a tempestuous head wind, and the ship was being rocked to the point where they were forced to throw their cargo overboard in order to lighten the ship and prevent it from sinking.
In Acts 27:18-44, an angel appeared to Paul and assured him that he need not worry, he would make it to Rome alive, and the Lord would save all the lives of the people on the ship. Now it seems to me, if God can send an angel to manifest and talk to Paul, and promise to save the men’s lives, all because of Paul’s prayers, then why couldn’t He just have stopped the storm? Again, I don’t know. Maybe it was God’s way of getting Paul to Malta where he started a revival that spread throughout the entire island. But maybe the Lord just wanted to have a nail-biter story at the end of the book of Acts. Who knows?
What I do know is that God sent an angel to prophesy to Paul and to instruct him about how to handle the storm. Throughout the terrible journey, Paul gives the crew advice on how to survive, and luckily, they all listen. Finally, the ship runs aground, and all the
Some storms we walk through.
In the last chapter, we read about the account in Matthew 14 where Jesus was walking on the water while the disciples were trying to keep their boat afloat amid a storm. In the middle of the sea, the men in the boat were rowing fervently but going nowhere. This is when they noticed Jesus walking toward them through the storm. In this storm, Jesus didn’t speak to it, didn’t stop it, didn’t change His mind about where He was going, and didn’t tell it to do anything different. He just kept walking. Why did Jesus speak to one storm, making it cease, and to another, just walk through it?
I’d love to make up a really provocative answer because it would make this chapter much more profound, but it would probably be wrong anyway. The truth is I don’t know why He spoke to one storm and walked through another. I guess sometimes we must walk through the storms of life by faith. When I was diagnosed with hepatitis C, I wish I could’ve simply spoken to the disease and not have had to walk through the eleven months of chemotherapy. It would have been awesome to immediately have that thing be healed, but it didn’t happen that way. I had to walk through it—step by grueling step.
These are the times we cannot lean on our own understanding, and we must put all our trust in God. During these long storm walks, we cannot allow our minds to be consumed with the “whys” and the “what ifs.” Rather, we must focus our minds on God’s promises, match the intensity of the problem, and believe greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. And when we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4)—don’t stop and set up camp! Let’s keep our faith alive and keep on walking.
Some storms, we grab a board and hang on!
The last storm I want to talk about is in the book of Acts, chapter 27. Because this account is so lengthy, I’m going to summarize, but when you have a moment, read the story in its entirety, because it has the makings of an action movie. In this storm, the apostle Paul is on a ship (as a prisoner) on his way to Rome. At one point during the journey, Paul sensed they would face grave danger if they continued their voyage, and he warned the captain they would encounter terrible storms. But being a prisoner, Paul’s opinion didn’t matter much, so the ship left the port. Sure enough, they were met with a tempestuous head wind, and the ship was being rocked to the point where they were forced to throw their cargo overboard in order to lighten the ship and prevent it from sinking.
In Acts 27:18-44, an angel appeared to Paul and assured him that he need not worry, he would make it to Rome alive, and the Lord would save all the lives of the people on the ship. Now it seems to me, if God can send an angel to manifest and talk to Paul, and promise to save the men’s lives, all because of Paul’s prayers, then why couldn’t He just have stopped the storm? Again, I don’t know. Maybe it was God’s way of getting Paul to Malta where he started a revival that spread throughout the entire island. But maybe the Lord just wanted to have a nail-biter story at the end of the book of Acts. Who knows?
What I do know is that God sent an angel to prophesy to Paul and to instruct him about how to handle the storm. Throughout the terrible journey, Paul gives the crew advice on how to survive, and luckily, they all listen. Finally, the ship runs aground, and all the
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