Storms of life Archives

Hello Friends! It’s been a few months since I’ve brought you guys a guest post, so here is one! This message is from sister in Christ, Dennisha Blake, the founder of Led By The Spirit Academy. And she provides this encouragement to remind us that the storms we go through are not meant to destroy us but, in fact, provide growth in our lives. Check it out.

Have you noticed that every time you start to step out on faith, you step right into the middle of a storm? Feeling lost and confused, frustrated, and overwhelmed, Like God didn’t give you enough information to go on.

Many times, I’ve found myself in the middle of a storm, and these storms are not easy. I’m sure you can relate! You step out on faith regarding something you have been praying for. But then everything starts to go wrong: things don’t seem to progress as fast as you hoped; then confusion starts to settle in, and you’re wondering, did I really hear God? At this point, fear, doubt, anxiety, and frustration creep in—these are just a few of the emotions we may feel in the middle of a storm. Not to mention feeling alone because we start wondering where God is. And here’s the dangerous part: when we start feeling all these emotions and dwell on them, we put ourselves at risk of making the wrong decisions—causing us to lose our ability to remain obedient to the Lord in that season.

But here’s the thing: The storm doesn’t come to destroy you. It comes to qualify you to carry the weight of your destiny and prepare you for the promises of God.

So, what do we do? How do we navigate the storm well to receive the promise in the end? That’s what I’m going to talk about today—how we can team up with God so that when His promises finally come true, we’re ready to receive them—and all they entail. So be encouraged there is light at the end of the tunnel and a strategy to navigate the storms.

Is Your Life on Repeat?

Not knowing God’s purpose for the storms will put our lives on repeat—and that’s not what God wants for us! Do you feel like your life has been on repeat? Do you keep going around the same mountain, not making any real progress? Do you keep making the same resolutions year after year? Do you keep praying the same prayers repeatedly without any manifestations of it? The reason why this keeps happening is that we allow our emotions to dictate our actions.

The disciples made the same mistake in Luke 8:22-25, Jesus fell asleep on the boat, and a storm broke out. The disciples became so afraid, losing faith, not realizing that the savior was literally on the ship with them. When they woke Jesus up, the first thing, He said to them was, “where is your faith.” That’s what God asks us about every storm we go through: “where is our faith.” Because every time He tries to get us over on the other side to receive the promise, we lose faith in the journey. In verse 22, Jesus literally says, “let us go over to the other side.” But if we lose faith, we repeatedly go through the same kind of storms.

There is a Strategy to Navigate the Storm!

Where do you go from here? Learn to become like the sons of Issachar (1 Chr 12:32), who were very knowledgeable of the times and understood what to do in each season. When it comes to the storms of our lives, we must recognize that it’s just a test. The Lord tests you to see if you are prepared to receive the promise. (Let me be clear not every storm is a test from the Lord. Some storms are self-inflicted by disobedience. But that is a blog post for another day.) As you go through the harvest, God is now testing you to see if you are worthy of the promise. This is biblical; God tested the children of Israel in the wilderness before they entered the promised land. We see this in Deuteronomy 8:2. God says I took you through the wilderness, and I tested you to prove your character.

God will test you to prove your character, but the enemy will tempt you to sin, so know the difference. God’s test determines if you are ready to receive the promise.

I’ll give you a sneak peek into one of the lessons I teach in my Led by The Spirit Academy: Execution of Faith course.

There are four stages to a season:

The identification stage
The cultivation stage
The harvest stage
The reaping/receiving stage

Everybody loves the reaping and receiving stage! We don’t care too much about the first three stages, but for us to reach the reaping stage, we must be able to get through the first three stages successfully.

Identification: You must identify what God wants to cultivate in you in every season (maybe it’s patience).

Cultivation: Once identified, cultivate it by studying the Word of God concerning that specific thing. Cultivation is successful when you start to produce fruit concerning it.

Harvest: Once we begin to produce fruit, it is now time for the harvest. This harvest stage is the storm/test. Do not despise difficult seasons because they are cultivating something in you. If you navigate it well, those seasons will grow you. God’s goal is always to develop you into the image of Christ and prepare you for his glory. The harvest stage has four additional components, but if you can get through each stage of the harvest: Picking, crushing, pressing, and settling without jeopardizing it, you will reap the promise.

Reaping/Receiving: If you don’t give into the enemy during the harvest stage, you will receive the promise (Taking matters into your own hands, pleasing the flesh, easy fix). God Reaps the glory, and we receive the promise.

We often want the promise, but we don’t want to be processed for the promise. The process gives us the ability to maintain and sustain the promise.

Never focus on what God is not doing; instead, ask God what he is doing.
Cultivate it
Pray about it
Study the word in regard to it
Be obedient to God’s instructions

Be encouraged because the storm does not come to destroy you; it comes to qualify you to carry the weight of your destiny and to prepare you for the promise. Everything you have been and are going through prepares you for what you’ve asked God for. If you’re in the middle of a storm right now, stay the course, be strong, walk-in righteousness, walk in obedience, and pass the test regardless of what it looks like around you. God is still faithful, you are still His child, and He still wants to bring you into your promised land, but you’ve got to get through the wilderness. You’ve got to get through it without being disobedient and without murmuring. The children of Israel wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years when it should have taken them a fraction of that time to get into the promised land. Don’t let this be you; pass your test and receive the promise!

Perspective is a powerful thing! And once you have God’s perspective, you will be able to smile at the storm and even welcome it.

Can you identify how your current or past storms can prepare for the next season and promise?

Thank you, Dennisha, for this message and reminder that God wants us to grow, and we grow within these storms in our lives. We have to go through the storms to get to the other side.

Connect with Dennisha at:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/faithinthejourneyllc/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/FaithintheJourneyLLC/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPPAhtng-T9FapalsMPD53g

website: http://www.Ledbythespirit.academy

Dennisha’s bio:

Founder of Led By The Spirit Academy and CEO of Faith In The Journey LLC, a Bible-based company that provides Kingdom strategy and perspective to believers to not only hear the voice of God but Execute his instructions with confidence walking into their GOD-given purpose while advancing the Kingdom of Heaven. Dennisha is a life coach & mentor who is also ordained in the office of a prophet at her local church. She has a passion for seeing believers in Christ walk in obedience to the biblical instructions of the Lord enabling them to receive the promises of GOD and embodying Kingdom Authority.

And if you are interested in guest writing for my blog please contact me! I would LOVE to work with you.

With Love, Heidy

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