SPEAK PEACE

TO

YOUR STORM

" Dearly beloved:"

" I'd like to share with you some truths I learned, in the Word of God, on how we can handle things that come against us. We often refer to these as storms, or Storms of Life. We sometimes call them attacks of the enemy, and we think we have to go into war and fight the enemy. But how do we do that? I asked myself, "What would Jesus do?" So I studied the scriptures on war and fight, but I did not find anywhere where Jesus warred or fought with the enemy. However I did find him rebuking them. Well what does rebuke mean? One form of the meaning is= to curb, to check, to repel. In other words to turn it in another direction, or away. For example the curb on a sidewalk, it makes a turn and goes in a different direction. An example for check would be the checkreins on a horse, you pull on one or the other and the horse turns direction. Examples of repel would be a water repellant coat that turns water, or insect repellant that turns insects so they won't come upon you to do you harm. O.K. then, so rebuke can mean, to turn something. So how do we do that? Let's take a look at how Jesus did it. I've chosen two scriptures to illustrate how Jesus handled the force of evil, or the enemy, or the storm, or whatever you want to call the things that come against us.

We'll be looking for 4 things in these two scriptures.

#1-The thing that came against them

#2-The action taken

#3-How that action was performed

#4-The result of that action

Lets take a look at,

Mark 4: 37- 41

37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

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.

40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

" In verse 37 we see the thing that came against them; a great storm of wind.

" In verse 39 we see the action taken; he rebuked them.

" Also in verse 39 we see how that action was performed; he said "Peace,be still

" Again in verse 39 we see the result of that action; and there was a great calm.

Now let's take a look at,

Luke 4: 33- 36

33 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,

34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.

35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.

36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

"In verse 33 we see the thing that came against them; a spirit of an unclean devil.

"In verse 35 we see the action taken; Jesus rebuked him.

"Also in verse 35 we see how the action was performed; saying, "Hold thy peace and come out of him".

"Again in verse 35 we see the result of that action; the devil came out of him.

" What I concluded from these scriptures is that Jesus got results by speaking peace. You might be thinking at this point; Yea but that was Jesus, how can we have that kind of peace? Before I attempt to answer that I'd like to look at some scriptures on war and fight. Remember I said I didn't find anywhere where Jesus warred or fought; however I did find some scriptures on war and fight in Pauls letters.

Paul writes in,

2 Corinthians 10: 3- 5

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

" These scriptures say to me that there is nothing we can do in the way of warfare as long as we are in the natural, or in the flesh; but through God we can by being in obedience to Christ."

Paul writes in,

1 Timothy 1: 18 - 19

18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;

19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

" In verse 18 Paul charges Timothy to war a good warfare, then in verse 19 he goes on and tells him how to do that. By holding faith and a good conscience. Then notice what he says next about some putting away the faith and have made shipwreck. This shipwreck implies to me that they got into a storm because of their lack of faith."

Paul also writes in,

1 Timothy 6:12

12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

And in,

2 Timothy 4:7

7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

"In the previous two chapters Paul talks about a good fight, and that fight is the fight of faith."

Paul writes in,

Romans 5: 1- 5

1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

"Notice in verse 1 it says , by faith we have peace."

Now let's continue by looking at some more of Paul's writings.

Ephesians 6: 10 - 17

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

" Here Paul tells us how to be strong in the Lord. In verse 12 he tells us, essentually, the same thing he told us in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, that it's not a fleshly or carnal war we fight , but a spiritual one. Then in verses 13-17 he tells us how to get suited up for the battle. We are to put on the armour, the armour that God has provided us through Christ Jesus, which is truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and the Spirit which is the word of God. Notice in verse 16 he says, Above all--faith. Now that seemed kind of odd to me that Paul would say that faith was above all the others, especially above the word of God. I quickly realized though, that anyone can speak the word of God, but without faith you have nothing or no power in your words. It is faith that puts those words into action. Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

" So we can conclude from Paul that it takes faith to win the war, or wage the storm, to be at peace, Now wait a minute! Am I contradicting myself, because earlier I concluded that Jesus ceased the storms by speaking to them, and now I've concluded that Paul says we have to put on faith to win a war? Certainly not! First of all we see in Pauls writings that peace and faith were mixed together, sort of hand in hand you might say. Ah! but I didn't mention faith when I was referring to Jesus, all I mentioned was peace. O.K. then let's look at those scriptures again."

Mark 4: 40

40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

" Here we see in verse 40 that the disciples were in fear because they couldn't do anything about the storm, or so they thought. Jesus questioned them if it was because they had no faith."

Luke 4: 36

36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

" It says in verse 36, of the people that were in the synagogue, that they were all amazed. Now part of the definition for amazed is= to be confounded, as by fear. But look at what else it says, What a word is this! It's a wonderful word isn't it. The word they are talking about is peace."

" So now can you see how peace and faith go together? "

" Now I will go back to the question I asked earlier. How do we get that peace to speak to our storm? "

Jesus said in:

John 14: 27

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

" So he gives us his peace and then he goes on to say, not to let your heart be troubled or afraid."

Then he says in;

John 16: 33

33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

" Here he tells us that in him we have peace. In the world we have tribulation, but he has overcome the world. Therefore we can conclude that Jesus has already taken care of things, he has overcome the storm and through faith in him we can have that peace he has already given to us so that we can overcome the storms."

" How do we obtain his peace? BY FAITH !!

" Therefore I say unto you my beloved:

Philippians 4: 4 - 7

4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

~AMEN~