POWER AGAINST THE STORMS OF LIFE
Let us read the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:24-27: Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
We are presented with two kinds of houses built on two kinds of foundations. Let us read the third Scripture. Matthew 14:24-27: But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. “And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. “And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
It is a common knowledge that there are lots of’situations of life which can be classified as storms of life.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STORMS OF LIFE
The storms of life come upon everyone. There is no escape for any mortal born of a woman. Whether you expect it or not, storms of life will come.
The storms of life do not give prior warning to anyone before they come.
The storms of life differ with individuals. The manner in which the storms manifest themselves in the lives of men want you to pay attention to this interesting story.
And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. “And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. “And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow! and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? “And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:35-39
The wind and the sea had no option but to obey Jesus because He is the creator of all the forces of nature.
May I assure you and speak to you by the Spirit of God, at the beginning of this chapter, that the same voice which spoke against the storm will speak against your own storms and calm all of them, in the name of Jesus.
and women differ from one person to the other People and attacked in different ways by different kinds of storms.
The storms of life do not discriminate between the rich and the poor or the illiterate and the literate. I have come face to face with a man who had 150,000,000.00 (One hundred and Fifty Million naira) in his account on a Monday, and all his properties were auctioned and his bank account confiscated on the Tuesday of the same week. His wealth and opulence vanished into thin air within 24 hours.
I know a particular doctor who was one of the best surgeons in Nigeria. His private clinic was the talk of the town. Most blue chip companies were using his clinic and his medical services were retained by the high and the mighty in many parts of the country. He was actually swimming in money. In one word, he was a celebrity.
However, out of the 40 companies using his clinic, 39 withdrew or cancel their retain-ship within a very short time. That was the beginning of his travails. The doctors, the nurses and all the medical staff that were working for him began to leave one after the other. He was left with only one nursing sister who also decided to leave after working for some months without earning any salary. That was how the medical doctor had no other option than to close the clinic.
I also know of a university lecturer who was extremely brilliant and highly respected in academic circles. The storms of life came against him suddenly. Everything was going on smoothly until his wife brought a young lady from the village for the sole purpose of taking care of their young kids. The lecturer noticed that a strong force drew him towards the house girl every night. He battled with that force every day. He kept on saying: “It’s impossible; I can’t do that sort of a thing. After all, I have a PhD degree. I am highly educated so I can’t bring myself low to that level”.
The force was so strong on him until, one day, he went and had carnal knowledge of the illiterate house girl. The house girl became pregnant. The parents of the house girl came to the professor and told him: “Sir, you have just married a second wife”.
The lecturers wife flared up: it’s impossible. She can’t live in the same house with me”.
The parents of the young girl said: “If she can’t live in the same house with you, you must leave the house for her”.
It became a scandal in the university. The news came up in the university magazine. and the lecturers career was almost destroyed.
I remember another person who invested his life savings in a cement deal hoping that he was going to make double the amount he invested. He woke up early one morning and headed to the place where he had always met those who were supposed to supply the cement only to discover that there was not a single soul in the entire building. That was how he was duped of his entire life savings.
When the storms of life come against you, friends will become helpless and may even make your case worse. When the storms of life came to the life of Job, he discovered that his bosom friends were ‘miserable comforters’.
Storms of life can make you bitter.
They often take a heavy toll upon the lives of their victims. Those who manage to survive such storms often discover that they make them the worst characters anyone can find.
Age or experience cannot shield you from the storms of life. Young people as well as old men and women have their own share of the storms of life.
KINDS OF STORMS
Generally speaking, there are two kinds of storms:
Invited or self-inflicted storms.
Many of us are responsible for inviting storms into our lives. Most storms are self-inflicted.
General storms. General storms come upon all men and women.Jesus had His own share of the storms. The Jews arrested Him with all kinds of weapons. He told them, “This is your hour and the power of darkness’.
ORIGIN OF THE STORMS OF LIFE
What is the origin of the storms of life? The Bible tells us that “the curse causeless shall not come”.
Troubles which started before birth or unconscious memory. The Bible says, “And he shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink”. It also says, “He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb of his mother”. It is also possible to be filled with demonic spirits from ones mother’s womb. We have come across several examples of these kinds of children. One of our members who happen to be a midwife told me of a particular mysterious case. The stomach of a pregnant woman who came to the hospital where she was working was very big one day and very small another day. The baby generally disappeared at exactly 1.00 a.m. The midwife would ask the pregnant woman.
What happened to the baby in your womb’?”
The woman would say, “Madam, don’t worry about that. That’s how the baby does. She goes to attend a meeting Ovary day. She would come back at 3 a.m.”
Whorl the mid-wife saw her around 3.00 a.m. She discovered that the stomach was very big. That was an example of a child filled with an evil spirit right from the Muffler’s womb.
This shows us that it is possible for somebody to be possessed of evil spirit right from her mother’s womb and be ‘tailed by the evil spirit until she goes to the grave. As soon as that kind of demonic personality goes to the grave it would seek an entry into another person’s womb to begin another evil cycle.
Let us look at another instance which shows that babies in the womb are capable of being possessed by evil or by the spirit of God.
Luke 1:14: And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and ‘any shall rejoice at his birth.
John the Baptist leaped in Elizabeths womb when she heard the voice of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
A baby in the womb can feel rejection, anxiety or can be afflicted with serious sickness before he is born. A mother who happens to be a smoker can pass some sicknesses to the unborn child. An alcoholic mother can pass alcohol to the unborn child through her blood stream. In the same vein, when a mother chooses to be a cocaine addict, she can pass its effect to the baby in the womb.
The Bible tells us that life is in the blood. Many things can hide in your blood until they explode to serious sickness at maturity. Just as you can inherit the colour of your hair and your skin from your parents, through their genes, also inherit spiritual liabilities from your Parents you can.
Do you know that what happens to the mother in the physical realm can be transferred to the unborn baby spiritually in the womb? For example, a woman can inherit an anointing of multiple husbands from her mother. There people to have concubines.
are some tribes in Nigeria where it is the order of the day for It is also possible to pick up the anointing for sickness and diseases from one’s parents. Strange enough, it is also possible to pick up, the anointing for poverty, untimely death, ill-luck and failure from ones parents.
We have also come across men and women who drew anointing for over-sleeping, non-achievement and hatred from their parents or ancestors. Those who have these kinds of problems really have stubborn storms of life. Whenever people come for counseling on discovering that they have stubborn problems, we often tell them that the storms have been hidden in their lives for a very long time. Some men and women tell us, I am a very likeable person. There is something in me which everyone cherishes. It appears my body and my life are made up of the luck of likeness and attraction to the opposite sex. I have never done anything to make people like me. Being loved and appreciated has been an effortless attribute which has continued to follow me wherever I go.
Many Christians go about with cleverly concealed sins. It is very dangerous to conceal your sins and go ahead to sing “Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered”. To live as an enemy of God in secret and pray that God should scatter your enemies publicly is to invite a very stubborn storm into your life. What will you do if God arises and begins to scatter His enemies? Can you stand such a heavy divine judgment? The Bible tells us that God is a consuming fire. If you turn yourself into Gods enemy He will consume you.
A man was referred to me by someone from France because he had a serious problem. The man who directed him to me assured him that God was going to solve his problem. He decided to come even when it appeared that his condition was hopeless. He said: “Man of God, I need your help. I have one problem. My wife always beat me up”.
I asked him to explain why he was always beaten up by his wife. He simply said, “I don’t know”.
The man was so hefty that everyone who heard his story would be wondering how a woman could ever beat up such a man. He made me to know that his wife was so powerful that she decided what happened in the home. Whenever the husbands relatives came to challenge her, the woman pounced on them and beats them up. That was how the husbands relatives vowed never to visit him again.
I told him that God was surely going to solve his problem provided he was ready to pray the prayer points I would give him. He told me he was ready and accepted the prayer points joyfully. He took a flight back to Jos where he was residing. By the time the plane landed at Jos airport, he decided to bring out the prayer points, but it had disappeared. The man was so embarrassed that he sat
down at the airport and wept like a baby. It became clear to him that the woman had actually followed him.
Do you know that the woman was a member of a church?
What do you think will happen if such a woman joins other members of her church to sing. “Let God arise and His enemies be scattered”? Of course, she would be scattered unto desolation. It is very clear. Therefore, those Christians who are living in any concealed sin are preparing a violent storm for themselves.
‘There are some kinds of strange members in most gospel churches. Such people come to the church and participate in church services while they go back into their sins in
secret. Some ladies are so clever that, they can carry out abortions without letting anyone know. They boldly say,
“Why must you monitor my life? Do you know what I’m really passing through? Don’t you know that I’m no longer living with my husband? Even, if what you are saying is true, you can’t blame me for it. Don’t you know that I have feelings? Am I a piece of wood? I don’t want any pastor to continue to accuse me. Nobody is actually perfect. Only God can judge me”. Such statements may sound clever and convincing but one thing is clear, such people are living in the prison today because of their past wickedness.
A man was involved in a very ghastly accident some years ago. The vehicle in which he was raveling somersaulted and he was flung out through the window. The accident happened on top of a bridge; the man fell into the water and began to gulp the water. As he was about to be drowned, a good swimmer rescued him and it took sometime before he reclaimed consciousness. A crowd gathered and everyone was surprised that the man had survived a combination of ghastly motor accident and from drowning. •
A journalist who was around asked the man, “Can you share with us what happened to you when you were in the water?”
The man answered, “As I was drowning, I discovered that every bad thing which I ever did came vividly to my memory. The last evil deed I committed took place last week. I was surprised when I found myself doing the same deed as I was fainting. Do you know what I did? I killed my neighbours dog and buried it. That was what I found myself doing all over again when I was between life and death in
the ocean”. â–
God had mercy on the man and rescued him when he almost slipped into hell fire. He was no longer the same
after that experience.
_Do you know that involvement in secret cults, astrology, palmistry, horoscope, astral travels, consultation with witch doctors, fetish priests and occult practitioners will be brought before Gods judgment? All these things will not only result in eternal punishment in hell, it will also bring
storms into your life here on earth.
Storms can come into your life as a result of the kinds of places you have visited.
Most Africans generally visit fetish priests, occult prayer houses, local diviners, white garment, talisman and amulet specialists and local witch doctors to solve their problems.
Such visits often appear innocent and positive. However, those who visit them discover that storms and troubles are generally experienced years after the visits.
—Storms of life may come directly from the enemy. The devil, the enemy of your soul, may decide to face you directly by bringing the storms against your life. The Bible says, ‘When the enemy shall come like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will rise up a standard against him”(Isaiah 54:19).
The enemy generally comes against people suddenly by bringing storms into their lives. When such sudden storms come, the victims will discover that they are surrounded by storms on all sides.
,Storms may come against you from God. God can sometimes be the source of our problems or storms. He sometimes does this to test our loyalty or faithfulness. He allows storms to come into our lives to punish disobedience. He also brings storms into our lives to refine and purify us. He does this to fulfil His ultimate purpose for our lives; and so that we would conform to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God can decide to cut off any aspect of your life which runs contrary to His perfect will from your life. If you happen to be too fat, God will prune you down. If you are too tall, He will cut you to size. If you are too flabby, God will drain off some excess liquid from your life. If you are too slim, God will add some fat to your life. All these things can come in form of storms.
Let us examine the life of Jonah and find out what caused trouble or storms to come into his life.
Jonah 1:1-4: Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. ‘But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. °But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
You may be wondering and asking a question: Who was responsible for Jonahs storm? Let us read verse 17:Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah decided to disobey God and he bagged violent storm as judgment from the Lord.
I he assignment given to him was not so hard but he tried to avoid it. He paid dearly for his disobedience. He had to do three days fasting in the belly of the fish. God prepared the storm, the winds and the fish. God also compelled him to go into prolong fasting. How true are the words of an old sage, “God’s case has no appeal”. God sponsored Jonahs problems. This is exactly what is happening to many people
today.
I had an experience when I was much younger. The evening meal in the area where I was living at that time was generally pounded-yam. Our method of eating pounded-yam was quite funny in those days. All the children would go to their mother, stretch forth their palms and collect their share of pounded-yam. Okro soup would be poured into it. You would carry it in your hands, settle down and begin to eat it with the other hand. Most children had protruded stomach in those days.
One man came from the blues and gathered our parents together saying that he wanted to teach them health education. He told them that it was wrong for them to give us pounded-yam every night as our dinner. He convinced them that beans was better. He also told them to give us meat. Our parents generally reserved the meat for themselves believing that if they gave us meat, it would induce us into stealing.
A particular family decided to carry out what the health officer advised. The parents told members of the family: Nobody is eating pounded-yam this evening. The health officer told us that we needed protein more than
carbohydrate which was what we always got by eating pounded-yam”.
One boy said, “I don’t know what the health officer told you, I
must eat pounded-yam this night”. The parents stood their
ground and served beans to everybody. The boy refused to eat.
The mother decided to preserve the boys portion of the beans just in case he became hungry. He slept without having supper and woke up hungry the next day. The mother decided not to give him breakfast and lunch. The family agreed that everyone would be served pounded-yam that day. The boy expected that he would be served
pounded-yam having fasted for one whole day. He was shocked when the mother told him:
“My dear son, there is no pounded-yam for you”. You are
not going to eat any other food in this house until you have
eaten the beans which have been kept for you since yesterday.
When the boy saw that he had no option, he accepted the beans. He did not only finish it, he licked the plate. He learnt one of the greatest lessons of his life. He accepted to eat beans which he earlier rejected. This is how God sometimes treats us. The boy was forced to accept and recognize the importance of beans as a source of protein. God has allowed the storms in the lives of people to make them realize the importance of some essential things.
Do you know that God sometimes allows storms to come into our lives to prevent us from going to hell? Perhaps, God has made some young Christians to have only two pairs of trousers and two shirts because He knows that if He should give them all the dresses they would like to put on, they would be in the streets committing all kinds of sins.
,Proverbs 1:23-31: Turn you at my reproof behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. “Because I have called, and ye refused: I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; “But ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; “When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. “Then shall they call upon me, but l will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: “For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: “They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
“Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
God speaks to you in a very clear way and you decide to ignore the divine message thinking that you are very smart, you will eat the fruit of your disobedience. If you call upon His name when your storm comes, He will ignore your call. How would you feel if God decides to laugh at you during your hour of crisis? The Bible says, “Obedience is better than sacrifice and hearkening than the fat of rams”.
There is an aspect of human nature which you should never allow to dominate your life. It is natural for human beings to become over-relaxed when they are not going through crisis. Most people would begin to pray and run helter skelter whenever a storm comes into their lives. If you fail to make a serious preparation for the day of storms, you will discover that panic measure will not produce any good
result.
A lot of people were driven to the house of God by the storms of life. Many women would not have had any interest in coming to worship the Lord if their husbands did not give them any problems. The truth is that God actually smoothly.
wants you to be fervent in prayer when things are going on.
THE FINAL STORM
The storms which people are going through today will fade into insignificance when the final storm comes. The final storm will erupt when the trumpet sounds. It will blocrupon
the whole world when the trumpet sounds and believers are taken away.
DIFFERENT PEOPLE, DIFFERENT STORMS
Perhaps, as you are reading this book, you are going through a particular storm and it seems that your whole world has fallen apart, you need divine assistance. It is possible that right now, you are feeling that a force is resisting you. Something keeps on pushing you back as you try to make progress in life. That may be your own storm.
You have made desperate efforts to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit but the more efforts you make, the more resistance you encounter.
You might have discovered that what other people receive from God with ease is hard for you to receive.
Whenever you pray for any miracle, some powers resist you saying: it is impossible. You cannot receive such an in parlance. It is not for people like you. Your members are chronic Idol worshippers or occult people”. That is your own storm.
In also possible that, you always feel as if you were %Ming against something which you don’t understand.
It is possible that you have experienced so many storms that your total existence has now become centered on solving problems rather than thinking about serving God.
Has your situation got to a point where you are now concentrating on your problem rather than on the promises of God?
Do you go about saying: “By the grace of God I am sanctified and by the grace of God I’m baptized with the Holy Ghost,” when you are battling secretly with all kinds of problems? If you are in that position, you must be sincere with yourself. Identify your problem, own up your shortcoming and decide to receive lasting solutions to all your problems.
If you decide to ignore your storms, you will end up in self-deceit.
SOLUTIONS
What do you do, when things are working against you? What if you are the type who struggles to get what others received effortlessly? What step must you take if you have discovered that what you are searching desperately for is pursuing those who are not even making any effort?
I have a good news for you. The disciples were in that situation some 2,000 years ago. Jesus had told them, “Let us go to the other side”. A storm came against them even when they were treading the path of obedience.
You must take cognizance of the fact that the land of opportunities is also the land opposition.
Do you know that you have to fight some giants even when you get to the land of promises? Any system operated by an empty system.
Additionally, you must examine the baptism with the Holy Ghost to check whether it is still there.
Are you standing on the sure foundation of the word of are really born again?
God? Do you rise and fall, every day?
Are you sure that you I Are you sure of your spiritual standing before the Almighty? Do you have a sure spiritual foundation?
You must answer these questions.
You must continually experience the presence of God
Many people are conscious of the presence of their problems, more than the presence of God. The presence of God is more to be desired than a university degree.
A respected woman of God used to say, “I cannot spend one minute here after the Holy Ghost has been taken away”. She was invited to a very big gathering as the guest speaker. As soon as she entered the congregation, she discovered that the Holy Ghost was nowhere to be found within the huge crowd. She jumped down from the pulpit and ran out of the hall. The entire congregation ran after her into the market. She climbed a chair and surveyed the whole market without saying a single word. She then came down from the chair and ran back to the church. The people in the market ran after her into the Church. She brought those who had the presence of the Holy Ghost from the market into the church. She started to minister in the church only when she discovered that the presence of the Holy Spirit could be found in the church.
Thousands of people who come to church have never felt the presence of God.
Let me tell you a secret; I prefer to have the presence of God in my life than money. How wonderful will it be if you wake up in the night and the power of God is upon you? I would not want to sleep one night without the presence of God. If the presence of God goes with you wherever you are, you will experience freedom from the powers that pursue those who lack Gods presence If you get away from the presence of God you will encounter demons, diseases, death, discouragement and sorrow. It is better to go through life with one leg, one hand and one foot than to live without Gods presence. You need the presence of God if you want to be an overcomer iiiyour Christian life. The Bible says, ‘Who can separate us from the love of Christ?” This shows that if you hold tenaciously unto God you will become inseparable from Him.
Those who went out of God’s presence experienced great sorrow. God drove Adam out of His presence. Cain also went out of the presence of God and suffered.
&lot of people is always demon conscious instead of being God conscious. Such people do not know that if they can bring the presence of God back into their lives, all demons will disappear. You will fight a lost battle if you do not have the presence of God. That is why we have always said: The devil has no power other than the power you give to him. The devil cannot become a lion if you do not make yourself a lamb.
Do you lack the presence of God? I plead with you to seek His presence without delay. You must decide like the prodigal son to retrace your steps. Do you want to experience Gods presence every moment of your life?
Lay the blame of your wrong doing where they belong. It is wrong to blame somebody else for the wrong you did. Passing the buck is a common practice among men and women. Only very few are willing to own up and take responsibility for their shortcoming.
Joule people have formed the habit of placing the blame on tho closest person to them. One of the most difficult things to say is “I’m sorry, I was wrong”. Many people blame others saying: “It is not really my fault. That brother is the stumbling block that is hindering me from doing the will of God’. Nobody is really your stumbling block. If you are walking in the light you cannot stumble.
You must be honest with yourself instead of blaming your blonds and family members. You will begin to experience the presence of God, if you place the blame where it belongs. Therefore, you must accept your fault and cry unto God to bring His presence back into your life. earn to worship God in the beauty of His holiness.
Worship is not restricted to praises. It is the direct acknowledgement and appreciation of the nature and the attribute of God. You must know how to exalt the name of the Lord.
You must learn the principles of binding and loosing.
I he Bible says: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound In heaven and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”. If you refuse to bind, nothing will be hound and if you refuse to loose nothing will be loosed. learn to pull down the strongholds.
I ho Bible commands us to cast down all imagination and pull down strongholds. You must bring all negative thoughts under the obedience of Christ.
If you take all these steps, you will begin to wield power and overcome the storms of life.
School when I was a small child, Our teacher gave us the
us reproduce them here for your edification. –
• Pray without ceasing.
• Read your Bible regularly.
• Praise the Lord always.
• Commit yourself to the Lord daily
• Dedicate your house unto the Lord.
• Stand firmly against satan
• Attend a spirit-filled church.
• Have a prayer partner
• Constantly forgive and restitute.
If you carry out all these things, you will overcome the storms of life.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Whatever will not make the desire and the expectation of God upon my life to come to pass, let fire burn them here today, in the name of Jesus.
2. All the raging storms in my life, be still, in the name of Jesus.
3. I break the chain of any evil thing running in my family in the name of Jesus.
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