How To Withstand In The Storms Of Life Series

How to Withstand in the Storms of Life

How do you act when unexpected circumstances arise? Are you calm and confident or do you fearful and panic? A confident response is originated from a calm and clean heart. Isaiah 30:15 says, “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” The word for quietness in Hebrew means “repose.” And repose means calm, relaxed, free from all anxiety; to be still, to lie down with support underneath. Everyone wants peacefulness, guidance, solutions, something to calm their spirit. Yet they seek it in every source except the Lord. Hebrews 12:14 says “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

God has already spoken a word of caution, through Isaiah: If they don’t turn to him as their source, their striving will end in sorrow and confusion. Isaiah further explains how to attain peace: “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever” (Isaiah 32:17). Righteousness is a gift of God's grace that comes through a personal relationship by faith in Christ. It comes to those to whom Jesus says, "“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21). And Jesus' teaching about this vital relationship is one of the things that is implied in Jesus' words "Therefore . . . whoever hears these sayings of Mine . . ." If we’re truly walking in righteousness, our lives will bear the fruit of a calm spirit, quietness of heart and peace with God. "A right relationship with God brings quietness and confidence comes from the Lord, from trusting in Him and believing in His promises. John 14:27 Jesus promised “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

When you think about storms in your life you don't think about cyclone or tornado. You probably think about a complicated or broken relationship, financial crisis, legal problems, health problems, sickness or death of someone you love, rebellious people, public disgrace of reputation, Job crisis and a conflict etc, sometime in our lives we are all going to face these kinds of storms. It is true that there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who are going through a crisis and those who are going to go through a crisis.

Let us glance through a parable of Jesus which gives us great insight into Withstand the Storms of Life. We look at Matthew 7:24-27. Jesus said “So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great and complete was the fall of it.”

This passage comes at the end of what we know as the Sermon on the Mount in order to benefit from his wisdom, we must be like the man who built his house on the rock rather than the one who built their house on the sand. There are few vital truths we should learn from this parable.

 The house represents our lives-

 The illustration is of houses built on two very different foundations.

 The Wise & the Foolish-signify- that Obedience is Wise; Disobedience is Foolish.

 The rain, floods & the Winds –correspond to - unexpected situation, problems or crisis we face in life.

 The Rock and the Sand illustrates-two foundation - God’s ways and Man’s ways.

 There are only two choices in building our lives; either you build on a solid foundation or you build on a shallow& weak foundation.

 Obedience is built upon a Solid Foundation; Disobedience is built upon a Shifting Foundation.

 Imagine everything you have worked for being swept away in a moment. That is the picture of a life of disobedience.

Importance of genuine obedience and the folly of disobedience

Jesus' analogy is meant to illustrate two kinds of people with respect to His teaching. The wise man builds his house on a foundation of rock and the foolish man builds on a foundation of sand. Now the two men are similar in that they both hear, they both exercise free will, and both are accountable for their choices. Both men heard Jesus' words; and on a superficial level, the differences between them couldn't be readily seen. But on closer examination, one man heard what Jesus said, and then did what Jesus said; while the other man heard what Jesus said, and didn't do what Jesus said. Both men acted from out of their own will based on what they heard; but one chose to take action, and the other chose not to. The man who did what Jesus said had built his life on a good, solid foundation; while the other had built his life on that which wouldn't endure.