Unshaken

The storms in our lives reveal what we believe inside. They can either leave us broken and disillusioned or we can find the Prince of Peace in the midst of our storm and learn to live…unshaken.

“I Have So Much More For You”

When we are children, sometimes we experience events that leave us devastated with no means to process or heal through it. God in His mercy, at just the right time, knows how to bring those buried wounds to the surface and apply His truth and healing balm. A few years ago I took Jesus, my Redeemer, back to one such incident. Revisiting that memory, opened a wound and I began to experience the pain all over again as if I were 7 years old. This time, I could see the Father with me. As I beat His chest begging Him to make it stop, do something, or intervene, I realized that all my begging was in vain.  I was swept up in chaos, but He was unmoved. At first, I took it as uncaring, but as I studied His face, I realized He cared a great deal.  He was just unshaken. Unbothered. I was wanting Him to become like me, but He was showing me how to become like Him. At that moment, I realized, if He could be unmoved than so could I. He was there with me as my world was falling apart.  I was not alone. The Creator of the universe, the One Who holds it all together, was unmoved and unshaken in my most chaotic moment and He was modeling for me how I too could be… unshaken.

He turned to me and said, “I have so much more for you than this.” I no longer needed to stand staring at my brokenness trying to fix it or recreate what was stolen, because my Redeemer had so much more. I share this story because my Father taught me how to weather a storm…unshaken. By looking at His face and finding His presence at peace, I don’t need to be caught up in worry, fear, or chaos.  Those things are of the enemy, not of God.

Jesus Invites Us to the Other Side

I heard a message recently that directed me to Mark 4:35-41 when Jesus is found asleep on the boat in the middle of a storm. He was asleep, on a pillow…comfortable and at rest.  What I had never noticed in that account was the fact that Jesus had invited the disciples to cross over to the other side with Him. Jesus invited them on a narrowing journey that few either travel or persevere to completion. Most choose to stay complacent on the shore, never venturing to cross over. Jesus left the multitudes, on a small boat, because He was on a mercy mission to a demoniac on the other side. His disciples followed. The fact is, He had prophesied that they would cross over to the other side… and He was faithful to keep His promises.

The Storms of Life

How many of us, on a journey to the other side, have encountered a storm? There were experienced fisherman on that boat with Jesus, which reminds me that sometimes, even experienced fisherman can become desperately afraid when they encounter a big storm at sea.

I am going through a big storm in my life. The thing I had forgotten, is that Jesus is with me in the middle of my storm, and He has shown me the other side, even though I can’t seem to find my way there. I am guessing the disciples couldn’t find their way out of the storm no matter how experienced they were. They were learning a different lesson that stretched them beyond themselves. We can’t pull heaven to earth in our own strength and we can’t enter the other side thinking our own strength will be of any value to the Kingdom. The things God wants to accomplish through us, we can only do through His power and His ability (grace).

The disciples had accused Jesus of not caring about their lives. They began to doubt even after recently watching the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. What they had just learned through demonstration was being tested on the water. Jesus asks them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

He asks us the same question. It is not to put us down, but to search our hearts for what we truly believe. The truth about my storm is that this is not how I am going to die. He’s “got this”, He said, but I don’t know what “got this” means. I just have to trust His nature. He is unlike any human I have ever known and yet, how easy it is to be tempted to accuse Him of being unfaithful to His promises… when our story is still unfolding. Ultimately, we are still learning to work out and align ourselves with what has already been completed in us and for us at the Cross.

We can’t approach our storms in a state of fear, doubt, or desperately trying to control everything around us to make it happen. We have to surrender and see that His face is unbothered. Unmoved. Unshaken. When we see the waves and the water filling our boat causing us to drown, do we plead with Him in fear or pray in faith? Do we speak out the “It is finished!” that has already been declared over our lives?

Has Jesus given you a word over your life? Did He show you the other side and prophesy His plans for you- plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a future and a hope? What words are you carrying that He wants to bring to pass that you need to come into agreement with in the midst of your storm?

Jesus Rebuked the Wind and Spoke to the Waves

Jesus got up from His rest and He rebuked the wind and spoke to the waves. He spoke out, “Peace, be still.” If the definition of peace, according to my friend Pastor Paul Martini, is “destroying the authority attached to chaos,” then Jesus rebuked the wind, with peace, and He prophesied to the waves to be still. Even the wind and the sea obey Him. When we enter into rest and learn to be unshaken, we carry the same authority and nature to rebuke that which is of the enemy and then speak to that which needs to align with heaven. Jesus had prophesied that they would go to the other side, so they needed to rebuke the plans of the enemy, which were to take them out, and speak in agreement with heaven to calm the storm so they could sail through.

Has the enemy been wreaking havoc in your family? In your finances? In your body? In your sleep? Rebuke the winds of the enemy and speak life; prophesy in agreement with heaven. You have that authority because greater is He who is in you than he who is in this world. You are the very nature of God if you are born again. You will cross over to the other side. I prophesy it over your life.  I rebuke the wind that is coming against what God is doing, and I speak life and abundance and peace over you all.

In everything you do -eat, play, and, love- may it always be Seasoned with Joy!