Monday 10/29/12 Storms

Dear Father in Heaven, Thanks for taking us through the night, and now, Lord, I ask again that if it is Your will, turn the storm to the ocean, but if You will it to come in, protect Your people.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Good Morning, dear brothers and sisters.  Yes, it is Monday and I am going to try and get this out before the power goes down.  The winds are now on the increase after a calm night in our area.  Please keep me posted on how you are, but remember once the power goes down, I might not get a message out.  We do have a generator, but more it will be used to keep our meat freezers going.  It is Monday and the day we pray for our leaders, veterans, military, police, firefighters, and all those who keep us safe, pray for the river rescue units also, and please, please pray for those first responders.

Job 38:1 - Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.  He said:  2 "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?"  3 "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me."  (NIV)

Have you been praying a lot about the storm on the East Coast?  I am telling you we have been.  We have been praying that God would turn it to the sea if it is His will, but if not, we HAVE NOT prayed for it to turn to others instead of us.  But as we pray we again need to listen for Him to answer us.  We can see in the scripture above that the Lord answered Job out of the storm.  Now let me put in another scripture just to remind you of something.  I am sure you know what it is.  Sure you do!

Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  (NIV)

So today all of you who are praying for our Lord Jesus to help us through the storm, be sure to listen for Him as He indeed can and will speak to people out of the storm.  I can boldly say this because I have the word of our Lord to hang my writing on.  While my writing today is more about God speaking to us from the storm than what He really said to Job, we might take a quick look at that and look at what we are going through these days.

Jesus said, "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?"  You see, God was tired of Job's complaining and raging against Him when it was not justified.  Fast forward to today, folks, how many of our rant and rave against God from time to time and do not have the deep knowledge to understand what God is doing?   We might be going to question the Lord on why this storm is bashing the Northeast with so many lives are on the line.  Could it be that God is upset with us in this area?  Like it or not, brothers and sisters, GOD IS IN CONTROL, and I for one would not want it any other way!  God is so good, and God will take care of us, and He will take care of all of you.  He has over the years taken all of us through many storms, storms of weather, and of course storms of life.  I want to keep this short today so I can get it out before the power goes down.  Let me just leave you with these things today.

Pray for God to take care of you and ask Him what you can do for Him in return.  And if you make a promise to God to get you through the storm, please make good on your promise!!

When you pray, listen for God to talk to you.  God gave you a brain, use it, pray for wisdom in the storm.  Don't wait for the bus, then the fire truck, then the boat, then the chopper, to find yourself at the feet of Jesus after drowning.  We Christians need to help God, not just wait for God to help us.

Someone shout Amen to that one!

Dear Lord, protect Your people, and let we Your people help to protect each other and ourselves.  And Lord, protect the first responders and all others who work the storms, and thanks, Lord, for being there for us, for truly, Lord, you are our Peace in the midst of the storm.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Now go forth sharing your blessings, and if you live near water, GET TO HIGH GROUND.

Love ya, Pastor Dan.