Persevere Through The Storms Of Life Series

Persevere through the storms of life

We continue in our series on discovering our destiny our theme is currently on Perseverance.

How we can endure, how we can press on, how we can spiritually mature as disciples of Jesus.

Today our focus is on how we can persevere through the storms of life.

We live in anxious times, across the US and Caribbean there have been terrible storms. With the situation in North Korea, the threat of military action. People from Myanmar, and Syria, and other countries too, are trekking for hundreds of miles in the hope of finding a place of refuge. And closer to home, here in the UK, there is Brexit, terrorists threats, rising food and fuel prices.

The list goes on and on and on.

People are experiencing all kinds of trials and tribulations, problems, situations and circumstances in their daily lives. With all that is going on in the world right now it is no surprise that many people are struggling with fear.

Maybe you know someone who is struggling right now, maybe you yourself are finding it difficult to persevere.

Maybe you even feel like you are caught up in the middle of one of the worst storms your life has ever experienced.

Listen to these verses from the Word of God:

Psalm 34:17 The Lord hears His people when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles.

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

Psalm 107:28-30 “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress. He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness as He brought them safely into harbour!”

God calls us His people to live trusting Him, He is our refuge and strength.

God will help us in all our trials, He alone is our strength and our shield.

Every trial and tribulation we go through in this life has a reason, a purpose, they can make us stronger in our faith and draw us closer to God. Don’t focus on the storm, don’t focus on what you can see, focus on God. God calls us to persevere through the storms of life, not in our own strength but in His.

So, how can we persevere in the midst of the storm?

The only way is to remember that the Lord has promised to strengthen, help, and uphold us, and God always keeps His Word.

Deuteronomy 31:6, “So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

When you’re in the hands of the almighty God, you can persevere in the storms of life because God is with you. When a problem comes out of the blue, God is with you. When bad stuff happens, redundancy, bereavement, health issues, God is with you.

At some point in my life and your lives we will all face these kinds of storms, but God is with us. To persevere, to endure, we turn to God for strength. In all of the storms of life, in the bad days and in the good days, we are to live lives worthy of our Lord.

The path of sin is wide and easy, but as disciples of Jesus we are called to persevere in pursuing the narrow way, the path of obedience to our Lord and our God. Trusting His timing, trusting His will, trusting His plan, trusting His purpose, trusting Him!

In Isaiah 41:10 God says,

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.

Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

When we are in the midst of a storm, sometimes we seem to forget who God is and what He is able to do.

God is the God of the impossible.

God is the God of miracles.

God is God.

In the storm we struggle and we forget how God answered prayer in the past. We forget how the Holy Spirit has led us through the storms before. We focus on this storm, this present trouble, it’s implications, and we forget how God was with us in previous situations and circumstances.

In our own strength, we lack sufficient resources and abilities to meet life’s challenges. Storms would never seem so bad if we remembered, in every situation, in every circumstance of life, in every time of difficulty, we not alone, God is with us.

The more we trust Him in this storm, the more we will know Him and be able to trust Him in the next storm. Our Lord knows everything we are going through. God provides what we need to weather the storm. God is our firm foundation and He will enable us to persevere in the storms of life.