your boat

Good morning!

One of the ways God seems to speak is through a variety of sources saying the same thing AND as these things line up with His Word.

We are told to be careful to discern the spirits, so we have to tread carefully, but there are often multiple ways we get confirmation.

My friend Pastor Jim had made a post on one of his Porch Talks topics and I had tucked that into my mind. Although I had taken a break from listening to YouTube videos and podcasts, I felt a strong impression to go to listen to RC Blakes who is a pastor that gives practical wisdom and advice. I didn’t know where the Lord was leading me but I knew that He had impressed in my mind “spiritual warfare.”

The video that I selected after praying, ended up talking about the exact same topic as Pastor Jim. The title and the thumbnail didn’t suggest this to me, so I was surprised when I heard what he honed in on!

The story of Jonah was the focus. If you aren’t familiar, a quick summary is that Jonah was called by God to go to a city to warn them that they had gotten on the wrong side of God. It was God’s loving way of reaching these people. But Jonah ran the other way and so HE ended up on the wrong side of God. As Jonah sailed on a boat, storms came and he let the other guys on the boat know that the storms were due to him. The sailors didn’t want to throw him overboard because they had too much compassion for him. But the storm continued. When they finally threw him overboard, the storm stopped. And Jonah ended up in the belly of a whale. He did end up doing what God asked in the long run.

As RC Blakes and Pastor Jim pointed out, sometimes our compassion or kindness can be the very reason we are battling storms. If someone or something is on the wrong side of God, you are fighting a losing battle if you are working against God’s way of working in the situation.

As I pondered this, I thought about the ways that my compassion or kindness can be a source of storms if I am not trusting God’s way of handling something. I might hang onto anxiety over something, trying to solve it in my human mind, and therefore inadvertently creating my own storm. 

When I throw those worries overboard and thank God that He is bigger than any storm, situation or even the attitude of my heart, I feel a peace that cannot be explained. It is the childlike attitude that my Dad is going to take care of me, the things that worry me and the situations that I don’t have the answers for.

I believe that many, if not all, the storms in life are a beckoning to trust God at a deeper level. As long as we think we have to find the solutions, change the person, or whatever it is that we recycle over and over in our minds, I believe we are not truly trusting God. We are still trying to maintain control.

For me, the quickest solution to getting my mind refocused is to start praising and thanking God FOR this storm, this person, this situation JUST AS IT IS. I don’t offer Him all the ways I think He could fix it. (For example, that kind of prayer sounds like this “God, if You could just help them to see You. If You could just do xyz. etc). My prayer shifts to “Thank You, Father God, that You work ALL things for my good and the good of those who love You. Thank You, that You are in control and that no weapon formed against me will prosper. Thank You that I don’t have to know the answers because You do. Your thoughts are not my thoughts. Your ways are not my ways. Thank You that I can bring everything to You and trust that You will handle it all!”

Reflection: Is there a someone, a something, an attitude, an anxiety of your heart that needs to be thrown overboard? If so, ask God to give you the awareness and the ability to do this and bring His supernatural peace into your storm.

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. “ 1 Peter 5:7