You're Gonna Make It Through Your Storm

I have a message for you from God today.

God told me to tell all of you that…

YOU’RE GONNA MAKE IT!!!

YOU’RE GONNA MAKE IT THROUGH YOUR STORM!!!

It’s just a matter of TIME.

God wants to lift your spirits today.

God wants to raise your sights today.

God wants you to take heart.

YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT THROUGH YOUR STORM.

It’s just a matter of TRUST.

“I feel like everything I depend on has been stripped away from me.”

These were the words of a dear friend to whom I was talking this week.

They could have just as well been the words of the Apostle Paul.

Imagine this.

You’re locked up in heavy chains wrapped around your wrists and ankles.

You’re a prisoner of the most terrible government in the world, the Roman Government.

You’re standing on a dock gazing up at the ship you are about to board when suddenly an awful sense of terror and fear washes over you like a wave of the sea.

You sense strongly that this voyage is going to end in disaster and loss of life if proceeded with.

You grab the shirt-tail of the Captain of the guard as he walks by.

He turns to you and you beg him not to set sail. You’ve had a premonition, you say, and believe that if they proceed as planned that all will be lost at sea, none will make back alive.

Just then the owner of the ship and others tell him not to listen to your silly premonitions, besides, what are you doing listening to a prisoner anyway, they ask him.

As you stand there pleading your case, it suddenly dawns on you for the first time, how out of your control you really are.

You’re in chains. You’re the prisoner. You have no pull, no influence. No authority. You’re not in charge. Someone else is in charge.

Instead of listening to you, the captain sets sail and goes to sea anyway.

You’ve not been at sea for very long when your worst fears become your worst nightmare.

The wind kicks up. The waves get higher and higher and begin crashing down upon your ship.

The ship that once looked so big now looks so small compared to the crashing waves.

The crew hauls the lifeboat on board from the side of the ship.

The crew takes cables and wraps them around the ships hull to keep the vessel from breaking apart from the waves.

You begin throwing supplies overboard to make the ship lighter and to keep it from sinking.

The skies are ominous.

Verse 20…

“Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.”

By the way, “How long have you been going through YOUR storm?”

For many days? For many weeks? For many months? For many years?

Isn’t it true that the longer a negative situation drags on the lower our hopes begin to sink.

Are you at that place today?

Have you lost all hope that you will be saved?

Have you given up?

Are you being tempted to give up?

What is going to be the difference between you giving up and you making it through your storm?

Well, I want you to notice what made the difference for Paul.

Verse 21 begins:

“But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me, and not sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 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.’ Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. However, we must run aground on a certain island’.”

Let’s take first things first.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A WAY THROUGH YOUR STORM OR JUST A WAY OUT?

How many times have you found yourself in the middle of a difficult circumstance saying to your self, “I just want out?”

If I could just get away from this person, If I could just get away from this job, if I could just get away from this church, If I could just get away from this responsibility…then things would improve.

One time, King David found himself in the middle of a difficult situation and he said in Psalm 55:6-8:

“So I said, ‘Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed, I would wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest’.”