Surviving the Storm – From ‘Build Fire’

This is a message I believe will help you to build fire for God. The Bible highlights three main storms in the scriptures:

• Jonah’s storm – was caused by God because of Jonah’s disobedience to God. It was also stopped by God when Jonah obeyed God’s call (Jonah 1:4-16). Calm the storm through repentance and returning to God’s purpose.
• Jesus’ storm – Jesus faced this storm while following the will of God. The way he overcame the storm was by trusting God and exercising faith by rebuking the storm (Matthew 8:23-27).
• Paul’s storm – He faced his storm because he was caught in the consequences of others’ mistakes. He survived the storm by persevering, swimming, and holding on to broken pieces (Acts 27:44).

Jonah’s Storm

Not every storm is the same. I am not just talking about wind but when I say storm, I am talking about life’s challenges. Sometimes, we attribute all of our storms to the devil. At times, we make a storm because we make bad decisions. Jonah didn’t make a bad decision like being with somebody wrong, doing drugs. However, he disobeyed the call of God and ran in the opposite direction. The Bible says God caused a storm, not to punish him but to redirect him.

Your aim, as a Christian, shouldn’t just be not to sin but to please God. So many Christians set the standard for their lives too low – “I just don’t want to drink, get high, or hang out with those who do.” Your standard should be that you want to please God. God didn’t just save you so you stay away from drugs; God saved you so you can be in the center of His will and do what He called you to do on this earth. Some of you are called to sing. Some of you are called to run a business, to be missionaries, to raise our families, and even to plant churches.

Running From God’s Call

When you run from the call of God, you will run into a storm. The scripture says Jonah ran from the presence of God. How could he be running from the presence of God. It is not talking about the omnipresence of God but the manifest presence of God in Jonah’s life. When you run from the call, you run from God’s manifest presence. While God is everywhere, His presence, conviction, and moving in your life will be lifted off until you get redirected to the call of God.

The second most important decision you can make after giving your life to Jesus is to give your life to the call of God. Jonah didn’t want to answer the call of God because he didn’t like the Ninevites. At that point, the Ninevites had conquered Israel; they were captors. You might not like everything that God call you to do but you have to understand that if you disobey the call of God, you will find yourself in a storm. Once again, I repeat that it is not because God is punishing you but because He is redirecting you.

Little faith panics in the storm, great faith sleeps in the storm. Share on X

Jonah disobeyed the will of God, Jesus was the will of God, and Paul was in the will of God. Some of you are in a storm because you have the wrong people in your boat. Sometimes we have those relationships that are causing so much hurt and pain; we just have to distance ourselves and the storm will stop.

Jesus’ Storm

In Jesus’ storm, He didn’t have to throw any disciples off the boat. In this storm, there was a resistance to the will of God that Jesus carried. Jesus slept in the storm and spoke to the storm. When you are in the will of God and you encounter demonic resistance, with fear and doubt coming in, what you have to learn to do is what the Lord Jesus Christ did: He slept in the storm and then He spoke to the storm.

I believe that those who can speak to the storm are those who can first sleep in the storm. As a Christian, you have the power of God in your mouth. The power of life and death is in the tongue. You can speak to your mountain, emotions, even to the atmosphere in your home and you can rebuke the enemy. Jesus did this and so can you.

The Value of Sleeping in the Storm

The reason why some of us cannot speak to a thing is because we don’t have God’s peace to sleep in that thing first. Learn to sleep in your storm, not because you are careless but because you know He cares for you. Jesus rebuked Peter during this storm not only because Peter wasn’t sleeping but he was in full blown panic. Jesus rebukes him saying, “You of little faith; why did you doubt?”

Forward some time later, you see Peter is awaiting the trial of his life and an angel gets sent to Peter. We meet Peter sleeping before his trial. He wasn’t staying up worrying about the trial or what would happen to his wife and children. He wasn’t even up praying. Peter was so much at rest, in the will of God that he was sleeping. Little faith panics in the storm, great faith sleeps in the storm. Peter’s faith grew and even though Jesus wasn’t there, the Holy Spirit was there. Peter was in jail and he was sleeping. The next day, he wasn’t executed either. God spared his life.

I believe that when a storm is caused by the enemy, God will give you peace that passes understanding. You don’t know how you are peaceful, you just are peaceful. You don’t know how the answer will come; you just know the answer will come. That is when you can speak to the enemy in an authoritative way.

Paul’s Storm

Some storms are caused because somebody else made a decision that affected you. For example, during Covid, governments made decisions that affected businesses. It is probably the worst storm to be in because when the devil causes the storm, you raise faith against it. When you are in a mistake of your own making, throw Jonah overboard – change, repent, and that storm stops. This storm is different. Lets say your employer decides to downsize and you get affected by that. It could be a wrong decision but that will not save you from suffering the consequences. What do you do when you are in the storm and facing the consequences of someone else’s decisions? I am going to give you seven things to do.

1. Forgive those people who are responsible for the storm you are facing right now.

The enemy will cause you to drown in your storm if you are loaded with unforgiveness. Bitterness feels fair. When you are angry at somebody who made decisions which hurt you, you feel like you have the right to be angry and hold on to the bitterness. But, as long as you hold onto bitterness, the devil is holding on to you and he will drown you in that storm. You have to forgive those people because Christ has forgiven you.

Unforgiveness will damage you as much as whatever they did. Unforgiveness is like drinking rat poison and hoping a rat will die. You are not hurting your ex by being bitter towards them; you are hurting your next season by being bitter towards them. The person who hurt you oftentimes doesn’t even know they hurt you. You are destroying yourself on the inside and opening yourself up to demons when you stay bitter at people who caused you harm or pain. When God tells us to forgive, it is not because what they did didn’t matter, it is that what God is about to do next in your life matters more than what those people did to you.

The Effect of Bitterness

Betrayal is what somebody did to you; bitterness is what you do to yourself. When bitterness is held onto, it causes your wounds to become infected. A wound neglected becomes a wound infected. It starts as hurt but what begins to happen is that wound develops a hardened heart and makes you an angry person. That offender has moved on but you become trapped in a cycle of the same trauma because the devil keeps the feelings and memories on replay as long as you stay in unforgiveness.

When you forgive, God doesn’t change the past, He enlarges the future. Some of us have not forgiven because the people who hurt us haven’t appologized. You don’t need to wait for them to apologize to forgive them. Jesus did not wait for the Pharisees to come to their senses and apologize; He even forgave those who were crucifying Him as He was being crucified. Jesus said, “Father forgive them; they know not what they do.” It takes two to reconcile but it only takes one to forgive. How to survive a storm somebody put you in: forgive the people who caused the storm.

The storm might destroy your ship, but don't let it sink your faith. Share on X

2. The storm might destroy your ship, but don’t let it sink your faith

“And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.” – Acts 27:22

The enemy is not after your ship; he wants to wreck your faith. The greatest loss is not when you lose your ship but when you lose your faith. Jesus knew this and therefore, He encouraged Peter and all who would follow Him with these words:

“But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” – Luke 22:32

Your ship, in this case, could be your business, a job, an asset, or an opportunity. The enemy is not really after your ship, but he wants you to lose your faith when you lose your ship. That is why as Christians, we should never be too attached to things in this world that we will lose either by death or by a storm. All of us are going to lose things, especially when we die. Life on this earth is all about gaining things and losing them. That is why our attachment and addiction should be to Jesus who will remain with us forever.

Real Faith Gets Refined By Fire

I have met a lot of people who tell me things like, when they lost their mother, they lost their faith. I would respectfully say that they never had faith in the first place. Real faith is not in healing; it is in God. The Bible says the trials of life are like fire and faith is like gold. Have you seen fire destroy gold? Fire purifies gold. But fire can destroy a paper napkin. When someone comes to me and says their faith was destroyed when God did not answer their prayer, I want to help them realize that what they had was faith in faith, faith for an answer but not faith in God.

Faith in God says Jesus died for me, loves me, and is coming back to restore all things. That kind of faith does not get destroyed when prayers are not answered. Faith in God cannot be destroyed when somebody gossips about you, leaves your life or betrays you. God allows events to destroy these things so that you can realize your need for real faith in Him and come to Him to receive it. If you lost your ship, don’t lose your faith. Don’t put your faith in your position or ideas, but first in God.

3 Storms don’t mean God is absent, just like clouds don’t mean the sun is gone

“For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.” – Acts 27:23

God was with Paul even in the storm. God saved everyone on the ship, yet He didn’t save the ship. This is often where we trip up. We say things like, “Well, Lord, if You are with me, You will save my business or marriage.” The storm may delay where God is taking you to but it will never cancel it. God’s presence with us doesn’t remove storms. Sometimes, He walks with us through the fire, water or valley of the shadow of death.

Atheists have come up with this question, where is your God if you are going through all these terrible things? The God we believe in has scars in His hands carries us in His hands, died for us, loves us, and is with us. You might not feel like God is there in the storm but your feelings are not to be trusted in the storm. They are unreliable.

4. Not everything God is involved in will end up in a miracle

“However, we must run aground on a certain island.” – Acts 27:26

Most of us think if God is involved, the storm will stop supernaturally. Sometimes, it does stop supernaturally, but sometimes, God will give you the strength to swim. It is not lack of faith. God never accused Paul saying if you had greater faith, I could have averted this. God said I am with you; don’t be afraid. There will be things God supernaturally delivers you from and there will be things God will deliver you through. Things don’t always have to be supernatural for God to be involved in them. Sometimes God chooses to deliver us from a storm and sometimes, He delivers us through a storm.

Sometimes God chooses to deliver us from a storm and sometimes, He delivers us through a storm. Share on X

5 Don’t lose your spiritual appetite in the storm

Don’t lose your spiritual appetite in the storm or you will face spiritual starvation.

“Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you. And when he had said these things, he took break and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.” – Acts 27:34 – 35

When you are in a storm, if the enemy cannot take your faith, he will seek to take your appetite. Appetite means, you lose desire for God or His worship because you are so overwhelmed with the problems of life. You might not feel like reading the Bible when you are in a storm but you still should read it anyway. The storm will end but you won’t make it if you starve to death. You have to feed yourself with God’s Word. Desire for reading the Bible comes from reading the Bible. In the same way, desire for prayer comes from praying. If you say, but I don’t like reading it; its boring – so is your phone if you don’t turn it on.

6. Survive the storm by holding on to what’s left, not what you lost

The prisoners including Paul held onto broken pieces of the ship and made it to land unharmed. Holding on to broken pieces means you don’t worry about tomorrow. Worry doesn’t empty tomorrow of its problems; it empties today of its strength. Holding on to broken pieces means you hold on to what is left not what you lost. God isn’t going to use what you lost; He is going to use what you have left. Focus on that. I am not saying that you will have to do that every day of your life but there will be seasons where you cannot see the future ahead and all you can do is hold on to a broken piece of the ship, a hope, a promise, until you get to the shore.

7. If God doesn’t part the sea like He did for Israel, calm the storm like He did for Jesus or send a fish like He did for Jonah, He will give you the strength to swim like He did for Paul but He will not let you drown

The same God who parts the seas, quiets the storms, and commands nature, can strengthen you in your situation. Your storm will not last. You will overcome that storm and come out. This is what I know about people who overcome storms, they kill snakes. Apostle Paul shook of a snake that bit him after the storm and was unharmed.

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