CALMING STORMS
Every living person on the face of this earth encounters storms in their life. The difference between the Christian and the unbeliever is that the Christian has a procedure for victory, whereas the unbeliever has but an opinion of what will happen next. Both the Believer and unbeliever will display some reaction to the storms of life. However the motive and wisdom behind the reaction will definitely influence the result. Whether rejoicing for the good things going on in your life or troubled about some bad situations you are currently dealing with, man has authority upon the earth. Knowing about this authority and how to act upon this truth is revealed to some and hidden from others. The unbelievers can not know this truth but the Christian should operate in this God given authority in the Name of Jesus. The authority is rooted in God while the exercising of the Name of Jesus was given to man when Jesus walked the earth over 2000 years ago.
Matthew 9:8
When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men. NIV
This scripture read in context is speaking of a time when Jesus wrought a miracle by healing a paralyzed man. First Jesus told the man that his sins were forgiven to deal with the spiritual root of sickness, which is sin. Then Jesus proceeded to minister healing to the man in a natural manifestation.-Refer to Matthew 9:1-7 We too must always realize that there is always a spiritual root in the ground of every natural tree (situation and/or circumstance) we face in this life. This truth brings us into the key scriptures for this teaching found in Matthew 8:23-27
23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.
24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him! KJV
Starting with verse 23 we first read that Jesus entered into a ship. We know from common boating and the story of Noah’s Ark that the ship represented safety. This ship also gave man a natural way to be able to travel upon the water. These two things are in play as noted earlier, the spiritual part, which is continued life and safety, and the natural part, which is using the ship to preserve life. The preservation of life is always a spiritual goal of God and God’s Will is further manifested when man performs God’s will upon the earth. In the examination of verse 24 we read “there arose a great tempest in the sea”. The term “a great tempest” reads as a violent (terrible, furious) storm in other bible versions. This basically means a storm that is fighting against the natural order of peace and calm. Any storm that is damaging other natural members (things) upon the earth is a violent storm. This is no different than those people who willfully hurt other people upon the earth those troublemakers are noted as fighters (villains) in the world. This world possesses terrible people who will hurt people spiritually, soulishly (mentally) and physically if given an opportunity (chance) to cause problems. Hence, we notice that the storm came up while they were in the midst of the sea. It did not come up when they were close to the land they just left because seeing the safety of the shore they could have turned around and came back. Likewise, the storm did not come upon them when they saw the land on the other side of the sea because that hope would have encouraged them to continue onward. No, dear fellow believer, the enemy will openly attack you when you are the most vulnerable if he can. The three things that come to mind in this case are: 1) It was late and dark which means they are probably tired and it is harder to see what lies ahead and how far you have come. This works in favor of the enemy because he operates in darkness to catch you by surprise. Have you ever noticed that it is a lot easier to see a storm coming in the daytime than it is at night. 2) The disciples set out to do God’s Will. This critical step of obedience is always good for mankind because God’s will is to help others while He is helping you! Since Satan opposes God this makes the obedient believer a target for trouble. However don’t be deceived all people upon the earth are a target for trouble when it comes to Satan. The believer will experience a different type of battle because he or she must resist (fight against, contend with) anything contrary to God’s Word all the way through the battle unto victory in Jesus Christ. 3) The disciples were ignorant of God’s Power when it comes to handling these types of storms so they were easy prey for the hunter (the enemy). The less knowledge we have of God’s solutions the easier it is for Satan to frighten us. Thus, the younger (not by age but rather less knowledgeable about God’s Word) saint will need to grow-up in Christ to defeat the enemy on all battlefronts. Now we will examine exactly what the storm of wind, as noted in Marks 4:37 account, did. First it messed with their mind by introducing dread and fear into their thoughts. No one likes to work during a storm and if the storm is violent enough to affect your safety the thoughts of fear will hover around your mind. Secondly the storm effected the sea causing continuous waves to beat upon the ship. This beating motion (buffeting) caused water to enter into the ship, which means their haven of safety was threaten. This dry and floating ship is now wet and in danger of sinking. If the ship is filling up with water faster than the men can pour it out they (and the ship) have a problem. Notice according to verse 24 “that the ship was covered with waves” this reveals to us that the disciples waited too long to wake-up (engage) Jesus. Word of Wisdom – Get the Lord involved at the onset (immediately), when a problem (storm) first comes about, not after you have exhausted all your mental (ideals) and physical efforts (natural works, abilities). In verse 25 we read a clear indication of the disciples heart which means we have them located. When you hear this term used in the church world (particularly in the Word of Faith circles) it should be in reference to their spiritual condition in-line with God’s Word. Whenever we can properly line up a born-again Christian having a good (patience) and honest (truthful) heart with the revelation of God’s Word inside their soul (primarily a renewed mind) we can guarantee success. Maybe not instantly as in this example but maybe it is an instantaneous manifestation just like this example shows us in the following verses. We notice from their own mouth that the disciples were believing that they would die. The scripture states in Matthew 12:34 that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. This is a type of bondage (a dark shadow) that all Believers must be aware of, the devil will generally use the natural problems of this world to remove your spiritual power off of this earth. Your spiritual power is your heart of God exercising your God given authority to rule and reign on this earth as noted in Genesis 1:26-30. Since the devil likes to rule in this earth your God given authority hinders his operations because your light of God always triumphs over his darkness from hell. Just like if you are in the darkest cave in the world all you need is a little flashlight to see through the darkness to move toward more light (safety, the brightness of God’s sun). The Lord works through our spirit man to bring love, joy, peace, strength, healing, financial wisdom and blessing to our natural man and his surroundings. Contrarily, the devil brings ungodly natural curses unto the believer in an attempt to remove their spirit away from the earth. The Spirit of God tries to establish God’s Will upon man on the earth, while the devil tries to kill, steal and destroy God’s creation of man through the wages of sin, which is death. Remember, if something bad is coming to you or threatening to come your way the spiritual force (initiator) behind it is Satan (and his kingdom of darkness). However, if something good is happening in your life or coming your way it is without question the Will of God according to John 10:10,11. The disciples said, “We perish” which is an interpretation of what they heard in their head (mind) from the spirit of fear. Fear states, “we are all going to die” and the disciples lacking faith repeated those thoughts making the situation much more harmful. When you speak the words of fear you become the voice of fear which opens the door to receive the results of that fear.
Job 3:25
For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. KJV
The disciples thought these natural things can kill us instead of thinking when God is with us (in the person of Jesus) nothing can kill us (or stop us). However, even though I am critiquing the disciples I must give them some praise because they did call upon the Name of the Lord, thus they fulfilled God’s wisdom which states, “For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved”.-Refer to Romans 10:13 Verse 26 shows us that God is faithful (submitted) to His own words. Notice Jesus spoke first to the disciples by rebuking them for being fearful. He was actually keeping them from digging their own grave. Words have power and all words have some influence over people both bad and good. Therefore, to stop the spirit of fear from manifesting Jesus basically told them to “shut-up”. We too should (we must) shut-up our mouth from speaking out loud (releasing) the spirit of fear through speaking the words of fear (evil ungodly words). Words are the voices of spirits and ungodly (evil, unclean) spirits motivate people to speak ungodly words of death and destruction. Then Jesus immediately moved to the wind and rebuked it first as noted in Mark 4:39.
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. KJV
Then the Lord continued by rebuking the sea with the words, “Peace, be still”. The reason I am detailing this order is because I want you to catch this truth.
Always rebuke the wind before you command the sea.
What this means is: The wind represents the spiritual realm exciting revolt and rival whereas the sea represents the natural results of what is influenced by the spiritual realm. Remember we stated earlier that all things have a spiritual root (wind) so we must clearly identify the wind (spiritual root) first before we can effectively deal with (by rebuke and/or command) the natural results (the waves of the sea). Since natural things always have momentum once they are moving the Lord had to give them a new purpose and direction. All natural things follow some spiritual direction (guidance) so it behooves us to establish a good spiritual root in all things surrounding our life. We must rebuke (resist) and command in the Name of Jesus according to righteousness all things that are contrary to God’s Will for our life. Notice when Jesus spoke the powerful (purposeful) words of, “Peace, be still” He interrupted the current state of the sea. The sea was in turmoil and generating many waves of great intensity but the Lord shut down that commotion by speaking the word “Peace” (which means to be silent) and telling the sea to “be still”. This clear direction given to the sea after the wind had been dealt with was the proper order of God.
Be confident that the power of God’s spiritual Word will always
positively change the direction of natural things in the earth!
The Lord always deals with the spiritual realm first before He establishes the natural results. The Lord spoke spiritual words of life to create the natural earth we live in. This is why God spiritually dealt with Satan first before He offered natural men eternal life. The Lord spiritually first took away the sins of the world before He made man spiritually and physically clean in Christ Jesus. Jesus came from Heaven first before He could shed His Blood upon the natural cross on the earth. The remainder of verse 26 in Matthew chapter 8 states “and there was a great calm”. This means God’s Word spoken in faith and understanding can not be stopped. This should assure us, as Believers, that God is faithful to honor His Word. Therefore we should never be faithless, nor should we ever be filled with fear. Although we (ihlcc) will say that the two forces work against each other. It does seem to be a connection between having no faith and being full of fear, or having strong faith and no fear. So if you are not operating by your faith in God’s Word (or using the faith of God in your life) you are probably yielding to fear more than you realize. In Mark 4:39’s account of this encounter we see the order of operation come into play by the words, “And the wind ceased”. This confirms the fact that the wind (the spiritual root causing the commotion) was submitted to God’s Word first. Once the spiritual root is rebuked the natural problem can be removed. I can almost hear the sea talking to the Lord blaming the wind for starting the whole problem in the first place. This does not work with God because the Lord is omniscient, so trying to shift blame to the One who knows all is insulting to His intelligence. The Lord can not be deceived, nor is He able to be deeply enlightened by His creation upon the earth. This is why the Lord commanded the sea to be silent (by speaking “peace”) and further told the sea to stop reacting to the raging of the wind (by speaking “be still”). The reason the Holy Bible uses the term “and there was a great calm” is because Jesus dealt with the three perpetrators of the problem. Remember Jesus first dealt with the spirit of fear coming out of the disciples with the words “we perish”. Then Jesus rebuked the wind (commanded it to cease from it’s negative activity, stop blowing). After that Jesus commanded the sea on what he should do next which was to stop raging by being still. Once these three influences were removed (rebuked, called into subjection) the problem was stopped, the storm was over and the disciples could properly see God as mentioned in verse 27. The words “the men marvelled’ reveals that they knew Jesus was no ordinary man. The question, “what manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!” is appropriate because Jesus is the God-man upon the earth and the man-God in Heaven. Likewise, we are children of God upon this earth and men and women of God in Heaven. This means we have the Spirit of God to handle the spiritual trials of this earth and we are men and women living upon the earth with the spiritual authority to make natural things obey us. Notice again that the order is winds (spirits) first and the sea (usually the symbol for natural people upon the earth) is second. Keeping the order right will aid you in your walk with God because you will be seeking first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness, then the natural blessing of this earth will be added unto you in-line with Matthew 6:33. This is a truth (biblical fact) of the Kingdom of God revealed in this short write-up to help us walk in the fullness (spiritual power) of God by using the Name of Jesus to influence natural things upon the earth. Although we have mentioned other scriptures that teach us this truth we will look at the very next biblical story to establish this doctrine in your mind. In the three gospel accounts of this incident with Jesus and the mad men of Gadarenes in Mark 8:28-33, Mark 5:1-20 and Luke 8:26-39 you will notice a common trait. First, the Lord did not yield to fear when dealing with a person possessed with a devil. I have been near people under demonic influence, if you are moved by fear the odds of ministering to them successfully are very small. The Lord can move upon you or them in a special way but the Lord will be limited in His effectiveness with dealing with the person in bondage if He has to work with you on removing fear. We must be real when dealing with fear because it can hurt someone if not properly removed. So first operate in confidence and peace knowing that you have nothing to fear in Satan’s kingdom. Then Jesus dealt with the evil spirits within the man (the wind). Those evil spirits were influencing the thoughts of the man which showed up in his actions. We must think right to act right. We must rebuke the evil influence by commanding it to depart in the Name of Jesus before we can expect the right (Godly) natural result. We read that after the Lord cast out the unclean spirits the man was healed (in his right mind) with actions (behavior) that is normal for a natural man. Remember according to John 8:31,32 it is the truth you first know spiritually that will set (or make) you free secondly in all areas of life. This freedom (liberty) should be enjoyed spiritually, mentally, emotionally, financially, physically and naturally in Jesus Name. Amen!
In His Love, Eric and Angela Foster