Rest In The Storm I can remember a time when I would be terrified of the storms. If there was a storm come up during the night, you could bet I would not sleep a wink that night. I would be up and listening to every crack of thunder and watching for every lightning strike with fear. Needless to say, I spent quite a few restless nights. Once I accepted the Lord as my savior and became a born again believer, the storms seem to bother me less and less. Then the more time I spent in His word and reading and learning of His peace and His rest, the less afraid I became. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. My faith was built by staying in His word and spending one on one time with Jesus. When we spend quality time with the Lord, we will get to know Him on a more intimate level. We become best friends. Then when fear over something tries to creep up on us, we will quickly recall what our best Friend told us in His word. 2 Timothy 1 v 7....For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind..... We see here that not only did God not give us a spirit of fear, but He did give us power, the same power that works in Jesus Christ works in us. So when Jesus said "Peace be still" in the story of Him and the disciples in the boat in the storm, the winds ceased and the waves calmed. That same power works in us. He also says He gave us a sound mind. A sound mind has no fear, but instead has faith. Where faith is present, fear is absent. Mark 4 v 39...Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm..... While reading today in one of my daily devotionals there was the story of the passover. The writer made the comment that there were probably several who spent a sleepless night that night listening to the screams of the ones whom the angel of death did not passover, while on the other hand there were those whose faith in the blood sprinkled over their door posts slept very peaceful that night with no fear. We can put our faith in the blood of the Risen Lamb, Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in Him fear will not be present. The writer also made this comment, when we see Jesus in His grace, He sees us in our faith. So we need to take our eyes off of ourselves and look upon His grace and then He can see us in our faith. In other words we have to quit trying to work for our healing, work for our salvation, work for our prosperity, work to cast out our fear, and instead put our focus on Him and His grace, and then our faith will be built up and leave no place for fear. AMEN! Alot of times people miss out on their healing, not because they didn't believe the word of God, but because they were so busy looking at their faith instead of His grace. When storms rise up in our lives, in our health, our finances, our relationships, our faith may not be so strong as when we are feeling great and walking in prosperity. Why? Because we tend to get our eyes off of Jesus and on ourselves and then we tend to doubt whether or not our faith is great enough to get us through. Our circumstances, our pain, our heartbreak may be causing us to doubt whether or not we will be healed. Once we quit trying to work to accomplish what He says in His word He has already accomplished for us and focus on Him and His grace and His finished work on the cross, then and only then will we see our storms cease. There is no storm to big for God to handle. Jesus works in the power of God the Father, and He tells us that He left us with the same power here on earth. John 14 v 11-14..."Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it"...... As we go through our storms, instead of looking at our circumstances, we give the glory to God and praise the Lord Jesus for His finished work on the cross. It is not of our own power that we cast out our fear but the power of the Lord Jesus working through us. See yourself as the disciple Jesus loved. See yourself as God's beloved sons and daughters. See yourself as God Himself sees you, free of sin and full of His Son. See your storms defeated on the cross in Christ Jesus. See yourself resting peacefully in Him through the storm. How do we see ourself like God sees us? STAY IN HIS WORD!