Hello everyone.
Today I just want to talk about prayer when we are going through a storm. I live in Central Louisiana and on August 27 Hurricane Laura happened to us. Today is September 6th and I am currently on day 11 without electricity. We were without water, which means no plumbing, for about 3 days, but mercifully God blessed the public works workers to be able to get the water pumps, generators and leaks fixed so we could have water.
But even in the midst of all that is still going on, God is sooo good and worthy to be praised. I could complain and go on and on about no electricity, about the heat and no air condition, and so forth and so on, BUT I won't complain, and when I am tempted to do so, I think of all the answered prayers God so gracefully blessed me with and I SHUT MY MOUTH.
Let Me Tell You How Our Awesome God Blessed Us Through Answered Prayer.
All the houses in my neighborhood are surrounded by trees. When I heard the Hurricane was going to pass over us, I had to decide if I was going to stay or evacuate. I knew the real danger of trees falling on the house, and so the decision to stay was not done lightly. I prayed and stayed.
Hurricane Laura landed in Southwest Louisiana on August 27 and made its way up towards us. I am an early riser anyway so I was up even earlier around 3 am. That's when the electricity went out. I heard the winds and rains, and then I heard cracking, which I assumed were trees falling. I was on the phone (me and my children have an early morning prayer and devotion each day) and we prayed, Lord please do not let any lives be lost and do not let any trees fall on houses.
Later, my daughter who was watching the weather channel, called and told me the eye of the storm was passing over our location. All of a sudden, at that moment, the rains and winds ceased outside, and all was quiet.
After that, everything tapered off. When daylight came, I went outside to see what had happened. God answered our prayers. About four huge trees had fallen in my back yard, but not on my house. The trees were completely uprooted and could have either fallen on the house, or been picked up and thrown on the house by the winds.
Around the neighborhood there were plenty of trees down, but no loss of life and from what I could see no damage of trees falling on houses.
Prayer kept me focused on Jesus and not on the storm. And just like there was quiet as the eye of the storm passed by, Jesus quieted me and gave me peace in the midst of the storm.
Let’s look at a story in the bible that confirms this and shows us how Jesus calms a storm.
Mark 4:35-41 35 On the evening of that same day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” 36 So they left the crowd; the disciples got into the boat in which Jesus was already sitting, and they took him with them. Other boats were there too. 37 Suddenly a strong wind blew up, and the waves began to spill over into the boat, so that it was about to fill with water. 38 Jesus was in the back of the boat, sleeping with his head on a pillow. The disciples woke him up and said, “Teacher, don't you care that we are about to die?” 39 Jesus stood up and commanded the wind, “Be quiet!” and he said to the waves, “Be still!” The wind died down, and there was a great calm. 40 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Why are you frightened? Do you still have no faith?” 41 But they were terribly afraid and began to say to one another, “Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
There are many jewels of wisdom we can glean from above, but for now I just want to focus on Jesus actions and the disciple actions.
Relationship and Trust
✨Let's look at Jesus's action. Verse 39 tells us that Jesus was in the back of the boat sleeping. He trusted that his father God would see them through the storm and safely to the other side. In verse 35 Jesus says “Let us go across to the other side of the lake”. There you go. We see Jesus knew without a doubt that they would get to the other side. Why, because Jesus had a relationship with the Father. A relationship built on trust.
Jesus tells us in John 12:49 - For I do not speak from myself, but the Father, who sent me, himself commands me what I should say and what I should speak.
Jesus was following what God had commanded Him to do and He trusted that He would get safely to the other side and was able to sleep peacefully through the storm.
✨Let’s look at the disciple's action. These were experienced fishermen who had probably seen rough storms at some point in their fishing career, but they were fearful and panicky of dying. After doing all they could do, to no avail, they woke Jesus up. Jesus got up, calmed the storm, and told them they were fearful because of a lack of faith.
Jesus knew in whom he trusted, his father God. The disciples by their response did not know in whom they trusted; therefore, they had a lack of faith. They were not secure in their relationship with Jesus because in verse 41 they asked the question "Who is this man", showing that they did not fully comprehend who Jesus was, the anointed one, the Messiah.
Sometimes a storm comes into our life, not a storm of nature, but a storm of trials, troubles, temptations, etc., to grow our trust and faith in our relationship with Jesus, or to show us where we need help in increasing our trust and faith in Him. We need to ask the question, is faith in my relationship built on the true foundation Jesus Christ, or on sand i.e. something else?
Matthew 7:24-27 - 24 “So then, anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, and the wind blew hard against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock. 26 “But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, the wind blew hard against that house, and it fell. And what a terrible fall that was!”
We see that the storm came to both houses. Christians are not spared the difficulties of life. The house that was left standing was one built on a relationship of faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Yes, possessions may be lost, some things in us that we were holding onto, and should have let go of, may be shaken off and lost, BUT we will be found standing. Our faith and trust in Jesus our Lord and Savior, and in our father God, will be strengthened, and when we have come through the storm we will be able to help others in need and be a witness of the Love of God.
Remember - prayer is an active communication in the relationship with our Father through Jesus our Lord and Savior.
If Hurricane Laura impacted you let me hear about your experience.
What about those of you who have experienced other storms in your life?
Has prayer impacted how you approach these experiences?