Are you ready to unlock the power of faith to overcome the tumultuous storms of life? This enlightening conversation will guide you on using faith, just as Jesus taught his disciples, as a shield to navigate through life's adversities. Journey with me, Don Carpenter, as we dissect lessons from the gospel of Luke and learn how to use this powerful spiritual tool to deflect the enemy's darts. Together, we'll explore how faith can help us see past our current challenges and emerge victorious from any storm.
Let's dive deeper into the core of our faith and understand its significance in staying calm and trusting God even when the waves of life crash against us. Drawing inspiration from the disciples' fear during the storm, we will unravel the power of rebuking fear and doubt. With faith as our guiding light, we will learn how to conquer all storms with God on our side. Join us for this empowering dialogue, a treasure trove of insights designed to strengthen your faith walk. It's time to equip ourselves with an unyielding faith that can withstand any storm and emerge victorious. Don't miss out!
Are you ready to unlock the power of faith to overcome the tumultuous storms of life? This enlightening conversation will guide you on using faith, just as Jesus taught his disciples, as a shield to navigate through life's adversities. Journey with me, Don Carpenter, as we dissect lessons from the gospel of Luke and learn how to use this powerful spiritual tool to deflect the enemy's darts. Together, we'll explore how faith can help us see past our current challenges and emerge victorious from any storm.
Let's dive deeper into the core of our faith and understand its significance in staying calm and trusting God even when the waves of life crash against us. Drawing inspiration from the disciples' fear during the storm, we will unravel the power of rebuking fear and doubt. With faith as our guiding light, we will learn how to conquer all storms with God on our side. Join us for this empowering dialogue, a treasure trove of insights designed to strengthen your faith walk. It's time to equip ourselves with an unyielding faith that can withstand any storm and emerge victorious. Don't miss out!
Speaker 1:
Music. Welcome to another episode of FaithWalk. My name is Don Carpenter and today I want to build your faith. What I want to talk about today is faith master class, and the master class was given by Jesus to his disciples. It happened what seemingly was going to be an uneventful day. It looked like it was just going to be like it always was nice and smooth and Jesus would be looking after everything for them. But in reality, this was a class set up for them to exercise their faith and in life. Many times we think that it's just going to be an uneventful day or everything is just going to be the way it always is. But we know that, as believers in Christ and as we walk forth and carry out the Father's business, that things can go wrong at a moment's notice Because we're in warfare, we're in conflict. We're fighting the good fight of faith and we must always be on guard. And God has equipped us because we are people who listen by faith, we talk by faith and we walk by faith. Walking in faith occurs because we have seen what is beyond our current challenge, and that's what the disciples failed to see this day as the storm arose, as they were crossing to the other side.
Speaker 1:
Taking my text today out of Luke 8, verses 22-25. Verse 22, it just says that, let us. Jesus spoke to them. He said Let us go over to the other side. And they launched forth. Jesus said it, let's do it. And they took no thought, thinking that not a whole lot was going to be required of them. But in verse 23 of Luke 8, we find that as they sailed, the Bible says that there was a storm of wind on the lake and they were filled with water and were in jeopardy. The boat was filling with water, they were sinking and Jesus is asleep. And they're thinking what are we going to do? And somebody suggested well, let's wake up Jesus, he will fix it for us. Surely he knows that we can't do anything much about this. That's what they thought. But you know what? Even though Jesus was there, he knew what was going on and this storm.
Speaker 1:
I believe that Jesus knew that that storm was coming and if you're finding yourself in a storm today, the Lord knows about your storm. It's not as if he's thinking I don't care, he cares. He cares so much that he wants you and I to be able to handle our storms Now, walking in faith. That occurs because we have seen what is beyond the current challenge. In this case it was a storm, and how are we going to handle things? When we go into the realm of faith, our eyes, our spiritual eyes, will open and we will see what God plans for us to handle this situation.
Speaker 1:
Life is like this, but Jesus has equipped us to handle storms, and the greatest equipping weapon, the greatest equipping tool that we have is faith. Storms will hit fast. They'll come hard. I'm talking about spiritual storms. I'm talking about those kind of storms that are trying to take you out. The enemy tries to hit you with something and says maybe this time I'll be able to take them. But you know what, when we're equipped by faith, we carry that shield of faith and those darts that that devil throws at us. We can handle the storms of life and we handle them by faith.
Speaker 1:
Storms always hit us where we live. They always hit us where maybe we're vulnerable, maybe we're tired and weary, and but when they come, do not be deceived into thinking that I can't do anything about it. Don't become confused, stay calm, stay cool. How would God handle this? How does the Lord want you to handle this? What is God's intention? What is God's purpose? What is God going to teach us in the midst of this storm? And we will find that, even though the confusion is there, we will find that, as our faith rises, we know that the least we can do is stand, never retreat. Don't go back to the old ways that you were handling it. Don't be dismayed, okay, by that. Don't become confused and go into reverse from the ground that you have gained.
Speaker 1:
You know when the storm is about. If we look in the natural, it's darkness everywhere. It seems to be that there are no exits available. But you know we are required at that moment. We go into action because we live and we are handling it in the faith mode. And the Lord is wondering will my disciples handle this by faith? That's what he's saying. Will they handle this by faith or will they try to do it in their own strength? So they come to Jesus.
Speaker 1:
It says in verse 24,. They come to Jesus and they wake him up and they said Master, master, we're perishing Like we're dying. Have you ever said that? Like I'm never going to survive, I can't get out of this. So Jesus arose. The Bible says he rebukes the wind and the raging water. And they ceased and there was a calm.
Speaker 1:
We perish what kind of a statement is that for a faith walker? We perish. I am sure that Jesus is sinking. Why are they talking like this? He taught them to know that with God, all things are possible. We have life. We don't perish. We're not those who draw back. Perish means that the enemy is winning. The thing that's coming against us is going to destroy us. The Lord has equipped us and he allows no storm to come into our lives that we cannot handle. We all everybody is at a different faith level. I'm sure, and I'm sure that you can look back where you are now and where you first started and you can see that you're at a much higher faith level right now.
Speaker 1:
But when people say we perish, that is faithless talk. We need not fear the future. We need not fear that we are hopeless. We need not fear to think that we're going to fail. You're not a failure. Failure is not a person. Failure is what the enemy tries to make you think and thinking you're perishing. You can't do this. You know there are verses in the Bible that encourage us. Aren't there. And when the night is dark and when, on every side, you cannot see an opening or a way out. Just remember God is well able to deliver us. I'm looking back now to that statement. That was when Shadrach, meshach and the Bendigo were tossed into the fiery furnace and they made it very clear that God was able to deliver them.
Speaker 1:
So when Jesus is in control and he is and when you know that Jesus is in control, there's calmness. You cannot handle calamity, you cannot handle chaos, if you yourself are rattled, shaken up in your mind, confused. You have to remain calm, and one can be calm in the midst of any storm, because if confusion is permitted, chaos and destruction will be the end result. So here they are. They're in the boat. Yes, in the natural there's much water in the boat. The wind is blowing hard. These are. This is a situation where they know that they are sinking, but what is amazing is they didn't think that they could do anything about it.
Speaker 1:
There are going to be times in your life when you're all alone. You may not have access to having that one that you're used to leaning on be with you at that time. There could be times where there doesn't seem to be a believer around you in sight. There may be people, but there's no believers. You may be feeling very alone. Just remain calm and the Lord's going to direct you and in that testing you will find that you will come through victoriously and your ship is not going to sink. See, needless fear living in one's fallen human nature. It's always going to be there and it's always going to try to turn you back to death. That's the purpose of fear.
Speaker 1:
But we have a different dependence now. We are not depending, we are not victims. We are not subject to our circumstance. Faith takes us into a place of control of our circumstances. We depend upon God, we depend upon His Word. That's why we have the Word of God. The Word of God is the power of God that's been given to believers. We speak that Word. See, my faith stands in the power of God, according to 1 Corinthians 2-5. And when I go to Romans 10-8, I find out that that Word is near me, it's even in my mouth. Because it's in my heart, I'm going to speak it and it's going to be very, very effective.
Speaker 1:
So Jesus asks an interesting question in verse 25. When we go to Luke, chapter 8, verse 25, he says to them Now, here's the situation the boat is filled with water. The storm is raging, the wind is blowing just like it is, with a life threatening, something you feel as you cannot longer handle, and it's overwhelming. They wake Jesus up. Jesus knows that they're filled with fear. That's why he never leaves us nor forsakes us. Jesus calms the storm, he calms the waters, he calms the wind, and when it's all settled, then he says to them when is your faith? What have you done with it? Why didn't you exercise that faith? And he says that to all who let fear take control. He wants us to understand. He's not trying to discourage us when he says that. He's making that a point. He's saying to us you know, you could have used your faith, you could have exercised your faith in this matter.
Speaker 1:
Sometimes people say, well, I did nothing happened. Something's happening, don't you worry about that. And they you know what this is they being afraid. They're still in a state of fear even after the wind has calmed. The waters are calm, jesus has got everything into control, but fear has had such a grip on them. I can see it now working in their minds, as Jesus is talking about. Does he expect me to use faith? The answer is yes, he expects us to use faith.
Speaker 1:
So they begin talking to one another. I have no indication. They probably didn't know what to say. I have no indication to read into this statement anything differently than that they couldn't seem to grasp. So they start talking to one another, and you know what they're talking about. They still don't get it. They're still talking about the storm. They're still thinking about the storm Because, in the state of fear, they're not hearing the Word of God, they're not grasping what Jesus is saying.
Speaker 1:
And Jesus just asked a simple question, four words where is your faith? But they can't hear it because faith is a fear blocks Fear. When fear comes in, we can get consumed. We're just like that ship. We begin to fill up and when we fill up with fear, we're starting to sink and we think there's no hope.
Speaker 1:
And Jesus, right away, when he comes to the storm, he says to them where is your faith? Do they get it? No, they start talking among themselves, and you know what they're saying. What manner of man is this For? He commanded even the winds and the water, and they obey Him. They still it's still not settling in there. Where is your faith? What we have to do when we feel like fear is starting to come.
Speaker 1:
Doubt is starting to settle in. We need to rebuke that right away. Jesus rebuked the wind, he rebuked the waves, and when fear starts to come, don't let there be any doubt in your mind. Fear is a big storm and when fear comes, you must immediately rebuke it. Don't rebuke it because doubt is just like fear, just brings in doubt, and they combine and they try to attack your faith and they try to destroy you. Faith and doubt do not live together, cannot live together. There is no advantage in allowing doubt to have a place in our hearts. Doubt is a product of the fallen nature of man. Faith is the product of the new creature, the new creature in Christ. Faith is what dwells within that born again, spirit filled individual. We have the unrealized power of God, faith and God's Word. Combine those two and you can conquer all storms.