Satan Is Looking To Destroy Your Faith. Are You Upgrading It?

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:2-4

A man saves his money and builds a house with it. After several months later, a storm arises and strikes the man’s house. The house stands because the storm only had winds of 80 miles per hour. He does an inspection and finds minor damages. So, he proceeds to invest more money in the house to upgrade it. Unbeknownst to him, there’s a bigger storm forming out at sea that its winds will reach 150 miles per hour.

The upgrade that he did will save his house from destruction. The house is a symbol of our faith in Jesus Christ, and the storm is Satan. It’s never pleasant when one is going through times of difficulty. But, it is necessary for the building up of our faith. As believers in Christ, we will get hit with a big storm one day. That storm is brought on us to topple our faith for good. The good news is that Satan will never destroy our faith in Christ because Jesus is the one protecting it (1Peter 1:5).

We can see a big storm that occurred to Jesus’ disciples before they received the Holy Spirit permanently.

31 Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Luke 22:31-32

Not only did Jesus pray for Peter but He also prayed for all future believers as well.

15 I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth…20 I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message

John 17:15-17, 20

Times will get hard but, not to the point where it’s going to destroy us. Actually, it’s for the opposite. It’s to make us stronger in the Lord to continue pressing forward to accomplish His will.

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Why Worry When Going Through A Storm

Mark 4:35-41

35 On that day, when evening had come, He told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.”

Jesus commanded His disciples to get into the boat and to row to the other side. If you notice that Jesus didn’t say, “let’s try to get to the other side, but He said, “Let’s cross over.” When Jesus tells you to do something, know for sure that He will empower you to accomplish His will.

36 So they left the crowd and took Him along since He was already in the boat. And other boats were with Him.

When Jesus’ disciples got into the boat to go to the other side, Jesus also went along with them. They were not alone. When the Lord sends us out to accomplish His will, we will not be left alone to do it by ourselves.

37 A fierce windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.

While they were in the middle of crossing over to the other side, a storm arose, and the waves started to fill the boat with water. Jesus’ disciples began to panic, thinking that they would drown and die. They forgot that Jesus was in the boat with them. The disciples forgot what Jesus said to them earlier about crossing over to the other side. Jesus will never put you in a situation that will cause your faith to sink to the bottom.

Storms refine a believer’s faith and shapes us into the image of Christ.

38 But He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him up and said to Him, “Teacher! Don’t You care that we’re going to die?”

What is the first thing that came to the disciple’s minds when they were in the storm? They thought that Jesus didn’t care enough for them because Jesus didn’t respond right away to their cry for help. Isn’t it the same way we react when we are in trouble? We cry out to the Lord for help, and when He doesn’t come quick enough to aid us, we conclude that Jesus doesn’t care.

The boat and Jesus is a representation of the Holy Spirit living inside of a believer. As long as Jesus is living inside of us, we have nothing to fear.

Jesus brought the storm to test their faith in Him. The boat they were in was unsinkable. Jesus sleeping in the boat was a good thing because it meant that He wasn’t worried about the storm and the danger that it brings.

39 He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Now you see why Jesus was sleeping in the stern during the storm. All He had to do was to say stop, and it would die off immediately. Everything is under His power. That is the one we have living inside of us if we are Christians.

40 Then He said to them, “Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?”

Fear Makes Faith Powerless

Sometimes we allow fear to enter us because we take our eyes away from Jesus. When that happens, the waves of the storm seems more threatening than what it really is. Any storm, regardless of its size, is nothing compared to the power of Jesus Christ.

41 And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

The disciples recognized that Jesus was more than a rabbi. Jesus’ authority supersedes anything that they could imagine. They weren’t aware yet that they were dealing with God in the flesh.