Storms of Forgetfulness

By Dr. Brad Bailey

Our lives are often filled with unpleasant experiences.  Unpleasant experiences, however, are not storms.  We may also experience frequent problems.  Again, problems, no matter how frequent, are not necessarily what could be classified as a storm.  We could continue the list, but I think you get the picture.  Troubles, circumstances, problems, bad news, or even a combination of all of these experiences, do not mean that we are in a storm.  So then, what is a storm?

               The Bible teaches us that there are three kinds of storms in life: storms that we bring on ourselves (like Samson), storms that God causes (like the Sea of Galilee), and storms that other people cause (as when Paul and Silas were thrown into prison).

               From a purely biblical standpoint, the storms that the disciples faced were few.  When they did occur, we see a spiritual truth that is revealed in the storms that leave the disciples of Christ stronger and more prepared for what may lie ahead.  In short, a storm is from God and is an event of His making for our lives to be positively changed by His supernatural methods.  Now let’s jump into a section of Scripture that gives great insights into one particular storm the disciples underwent for their own good and for God’s glory.

And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. (Matt. 14:22-33)

There are a handful of miracles in the Bible that nearly everyone knows about (ex: the parting of the Red Sea, Jonah and the whale, etc). One of those miracles that people, whether saved or lost, are familiar with is Jesus walking on the water.  I’m going to take for granted that you as a reader are somewhat familiar with this story and know that Jesus and Peter walked on water together while on the Sea of Galilee.

That story, especially with regard to Peter, is unique to the book of Matthew. Mark and Luke, the other two synoptic Gospels, tell stories about Jesus walking on water, but do not include the incident in which Peter did so. Thus, what is most important to remember is that Jesus can walk on water.  That is the lesson that is more valuable than anything else we can learn in the storm.

Walking on water is not something I recommend anyone presently attempting. We hear occasionally about people who claim to have the faith of Peter, and I remember, in particular, one man named Rabbi Ben-Moses who tried to prove that he was the Messiah. He jumped into the Sea of Galilee in an attempt to prove that he could walk on water, but instead he sank and drowned. We don’t try these types of things today because we know that the only person who could do it successfully is the Lord Jesus Christ.

As entertaining as this type of miracle can be, we don’t want to be guilty of misinterpreting its meaning. Because you are somewhat familiar with it, I hope we can draw some spiritual lessons from what you already know about this wonderful story. There is certainly a spiritual application here that can be made for us.

First consider the interpretation of this great event, which is much more important than the application. The interpretation of this event, in its most basic form, is that Jesus has power over nature. There is nothing in nature that is not under His control, and there is nothing in nature that is in control of Him. He juxtaposes in this passage what the disciples saw as the stressful occurrence of a storm, and the sea in turmoil, against Himself so we can see that it doesn’t matter what is troubling us – He is walking on top of their circumstances and experiences, even when they think that they are certainly going to sink us. With that thought in mind, this story yields for us a fruitful discussion about Jesus and our earthly storms.

Reflect with me on the experience Jesus and Peter walking on water.  Let’s consider what was true for them and make applications that can encourage us today.

We May Feel As Though We Are Out of the Lord’s Presence,

But We Are Never Out of His Thoughts

A storm has a very effective way of making us think that God has forgotten about us. It can work very powerfully to get us to forget that God always remembers us. What we often have to remind ourselves of in a storm is that we are never out of His thoughts.

The narrative here is very interesting. Jesus has done a series of miracles among the multitudes and then engaged in a discussion with the disciples. In verse 22 we see that He told them to get in the ship and cross the sea, and He would meet them on the other side. The disciples had been with Him long enough to know that they didn’t need to ask questions about how He was going to get there.

That’s how we are to follow God. We don’t have to understand it; it doesn’t have to add up or make sense to us. If it is the command of God, we just need to do it. However, there is something compelling about Christ’s commandment in verse 22. They could infer from His words, “And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side . . .”, that they would be going to the other side no matter what happened. It didn’t matter what storm might come. By the very nature of His instructions, Jesus had already predicted that they were going to make it “unto the other side . . .”.

Often during the storms in our lives we are forgetful about the fact that God has given us a promise. No matter the circumstances or the ups and downs, whatever our experiences in this world may be, we have been promised by Jesus that He will see us on the other side.

We May Be Unaware of His Prayers, But He Is Praying For Us

Verse 23 states clearly that Jesus went to pray after putting the disciples on the boat. What do you think He was praying for?

Jesus was not ignorant of the fact that the Sea of Galilee is a very volatile place. That part of the Middle East has a convex of air currents that seems to come together right over that body of water, and it seems to occur with enough frequency that residents in that part of the country know, at certain times of day (i.e. from 12pm until 6pm), it is not a good idea to set sail there. It is dangerous.

Yet Jesus told the disciples in verse 22 to get on the boat, and in verse 23 He was praying for them. When we are in a storm it is easy to forget that He is praying for us.  We can conclude that our storms activate His prayers.

A study of the prayer life of Christ would be very profitable for all of us. We are all familiar with the Apostle Paul’s admonition to “pray without ceasing” (I Thess. 5:17). That is virtually impossible for us, but there is never a time when the Lord Jesus Christ ceases to pray — and He is not praying for our government or the stock market. He is praying for you and for me. It would be encouraging for us to remember that our Savior is at the right hand of the God, bearing our burdens before the throne of God Almighty.

Do you have some heroes praying for you? I certainly do. I have some elderly ladies who pray for me, and I frankly have more confidence in their prayer lives than that of some preachers I know. People tell me regularly, “Preacher, I pray for you every day.” That is never ignored or unappreciated, but my greatest confidence comes from the fact that Jesus is praying for me. Don’t forget that when you are in a storm.

We May See Ourselves as Experts On Storms Because We Have Been Through A Few,

But No One Is As Experienced As Jesus

               There are three reasons why we get ourselves into a mess when the storms of life are raging around us: 1) wrong counsel from circumstances, 2) wrong counsel from the majority, and 3) wrong counsel from experts.

               The circumstances were screaming that the disciples should just give up.  We often find ourselves at the threshold of giving up and we may even rationalize it by saying something like “God must be finished with us all, or else we would not be in this dangerous circumstance.”  In these cases, we often let circumstances control our judgment instead of allowing our judgment to control our circumstances.

               Throughout Scripture, the majority has often been exactly wrong.  Despite the fact that often times the majority rules, that doesn’t mean the majority is right.  Three additional realities often accompany the bad counsel of the majority: 1) high group cohesiveness, 2) group insulation, and 3) lack of impartial leadership.  You can easily see how all three of these can be complicated by the common experience that the majority has had in storms.

               Experts – give me a break. There are no experts on storms other than Jesus.  There are no experts in storms, only victims, so don’t let “experts” opine on how to survive what you are going through.

               There are thunderstorms, hailstorms, ice storms, snow storms, blizzard storms, rain storms, wind storms, dust storms and sand storms.  Then there are tornadoes, hurricanes, and tsunamis. These are the literal storms.  No human has been through them all, but Jesus is the creator of them all.

               On top of all of that, you may be undergoing the stress of this storm in an air plane, on a ship at sea, in a tent, or driving a country road.  You might be in the north, the south, the desert, the jungle, the arctic, or on a mountain summit.  The combinations that make storm experiences unique are endless.

Then there are the personal/spiritual storms: storms of sorrow, storms of decision, storms of worry, storms of circumstance, etc.  Again, only Jesus has navigated all of these troubles.

               Your storm is unique to you alone.  It has been tailored by God Himself for your personal gain.  It is spiritually beneficial to repeat in the storm, “This is my storm.”

               My friend Ricky Atkinson put it perfectly into song when he wrote “This Valley Is For Me.”  In a season of difficult despair in his life Ricky wrote:

               As I look down this mountain side, I can see where this road goes.

The shepherd is leading me, to a place where I can grow.

Though it seems to be a trying test, I have no doubt He knows what’s best.

It just might be a place of perfect rest; this valley is for me.

(Chorus) This valley is for me. The waters have been made so sweet.

A pleasant rest for my weary feet; this valley is for me.

A far cry from the mountain scene. The grass here has been made so green.

My shepherd chose this route, so I can say without a doubt this valley is for me.

Standing here beside still water, I know why I am here today.

This place of restoration, will strengthen me along the way.

Through the valley I can feel; His presence here is oh so real.

And now I know it was His perfect will.  This valley is for me!

(Chorus) This valley is for me. The waters have been made so sweet.

A pleasant rest for my weary feet; this valley is for me.

A far cry from the mountain scene. The grass here has been made so green.

My shepherd chose this route, so I can say without a doubt this valley is for me.

We May Feel Off Course, But He Never Loses Sight of Our Location

Verse 24 says, “But the ship was now in the midst of the sea.” Why is that piece of information important? Because of the weather conditions we just mentioned. Seasoned sailors who absolutely had to be on the water at that time of day knew never to go more than one mile from shore. The disciples were out in the middle of the sea, and in a storm. That is the last place you want your vessel to be.

The disciples did not even know where they were, but Jesus knew where they were. Jesus is always aware of our circumstances. Can you rejoice in that today? As this boat got farther away from its destination, farther off its charted course, farther from where the disciples wanted to be at that particular time — they moved closer and closer to God’s definite plan for them.

Most of us don’t appreciate the good times until we have just come out of a bad time. There are people reading this who are right now in the middle of some of the most difficult storms of your lives. You are convinced that the wind has blown you off course, and if you were forced to give a testimony about it you might confess that you don’t know where you are or where you are supposed to be.

I’ve been there. In times like those it is very easy to get your eyes down and focus on the horizontal instead of the vertical, not remembering that God’s heavenly GPS has you pinpointed at all times. He knows where you are and what is going on.  Don’t forget that in your storm.

Sometimes we go to Him and pray and cry, “Lord, don’t you see? Don’t you understand?” That is a futile waste of words. Instead of asking Him to change our circumstances, sometimes we need to ask Him to change us and equip us for what we are going through. The disciples tried to bail water out of the boat and keep it above the waves, but they forgot that God knew their location the entire time.  They were more concerned with survival at this point, but He was still holding out for a divine lesson from heaven.

We May Feel Under Control of the Wind, But In a Storm the Wind Is Under His Control

The latter part of verse 24 summed it up: “for the wind was contrary.” You may be persuaded that the circumstances are in the driver’s seat, or that you are a victim of experience or of fate, but He is in control.

Jesus was the One who said to get in the boat and go to the other side. He said, “I’ll meet you there.” He is the One who gives us little hints along the way to let us know He is watching over us. No matter how contrary your life experiences seem to be, they are not out of God’s control.

A young man came to me once and said, “I want to pray for God’s hand to be on my life. I need His wisdom and direction. Will you pray for me as well?”  I knelt down with him and cried out, “Lord, turn up the heat. Turn up the fire. Put this young man through trials and circumstances that bring him to the end of himself.” He opened one of his eyes and looked over at me as if to say, “I didn’t want all of that.”

If you want knowledge, there is none more valuable than the knowledge that He is with you in the storm. Obviously, the only way to learn that is by going through a storm. You cannot get an appreciation for His faithfulness until the wind begins to swirl.

It has been said that every Christian is either in a storm, about to go into one or just coming out of one. There are some precious people who seem to be in all three of those situations at once. Sometimes the pressure is more than we can bear, isn’t it? It’s OK to admit that. The mental anguish of it all can get right down where we live and we don’t know what to do.

Let me tell you what you can do. You can remember that the storm consists of His wind and His waves — and you are His child.

We May Feel Hopelessly Exhausted Due to the Hour, But He Is Approaching

It is interesting to note that Jesus appeared “in the fourth watch of the night.” For them the night was, in fact, divided into four watches. We might call them shifts.

The first watch was 6-9 p.m. and the subsequent watches were in three-hour intervals as well (9-12; 12-3; 3-6 a.m.). Christ’s appearance in the fourth watch, between 3 and 6 a.m., meant that the disciples had been in the storm all night long. They must have been wondering, “How long is this going to last?”

They soon found their answer. It lasted as long as it took for Jesus to walk from His mountain of prayer, across the sea, to where they were.

Get that in your heart and mind. No ship ever went down with Jesus on board. The disciples knew that, but they also wondered where He was and why they were alone. Isn’t that a natural attitude to have in this kind of situation? The disadvantage to the invisibility of our God is that we cannot see Him when we are in trouble or turmoil.

The disciples were in fear for their lives. They fought the storm all night, and every time they bailed out a bucket of water it seemed as though three buckets full were poured back into the boat. They had been at it for at least nine hours, until the fourth watch — which is just before dawn.

I love to operate things with a lot of horsepower. Sometimes I enjoy strapping a commercial  backpack blower on my back and feel it rumble as I blow leaves and debris away. But it can get very frustrating if the wind is also blowing, because if the wind is contrary it doesn’t matter how powerful my machinery might be. That is why I have learned to turn my back to the wind and let it work for me, because God’s big blower and my little blower sure make for a clean yard.

Do you get the picture? So many times we’ve asked God why He is putting us through something we don’t deserve, when actually He is doing it to teach us something. After all, we all deserve hell. Anything above that is God’s grace. He mercifully gives us opportunities to learn how to harness that wind and work with it.

As for the disciples, the wind had likely snapped off the mast of the boat and was pushing the water up over the side. They were in legitimate danger, and by the fourth watch their exhaustion could create an even bigger problem. They were probably at the point of giving up, but then at the end of verse 25 came their salvation and ours in the form of Jesus walking on the sea.

Note that whatever is troubling you and me, Christ will walk on top of it. He will come to us in any situation proving that He has power over those circumstances.

In Storms We May Feel Frightened By the Lord Himself,

But That Is Due to Confusion On Our Part

Notice the disciples’ reaction in verse 26. “And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.” By this time, on top of the storm and everything else, they thought they were being terrorized by a ghost. That is what caused them to cry out in fear.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been in a storm and when the Lord showed up it frightened me. There have been times when He came doing something I didn’t expect Him to be doing. There are occasions when we experience a fearful display of God, and we have to say, “I was praying for the Lord to come, but I wasn’t expecting Him to come in that form.”

Christ is not a ghost or a phantom. The word “spirit” used here is the Greek word phantasma which means some kind of apparition or creature of the imagination. It is not the word Jesus used to describe Himself; it is the word the disciples used to describe Him. If Jesus were describing Himself in this situation, He would have said something like, “I’m no ghost. I am the Maker of the wind and the waves.”

I recall the words of a song I heard years ago:

Jesus walked on the water, Jesus walked on the sea;

Peter jumped up and out of the boat, and into trouble up to his knees.

When Peter saw the wind and started to sink, he cried to the Lord with a shout;

The Lord reached out and took his hand and said, “Peter, why did you doubt?”

You can walk on the water; just take it one step at a time.

You can walk on the water, keeping your eyes on the Lord all the time.

You gotta learn to walk before you learn to run.

You’ve got a ways to go before your walkings’ done.

Jesus walked on the water just as easily as you please,

And He can walk right over the things that we fear and calm the stormy seas.

The world can offer only two options: sink or swim.

But if you walk with the Lord one step at a time, you can walk on the top with Him.

Peter was the one whose big mouth got him in more trouble than any of the other disciples. He was even the only disciple that Jesus ever called Satan. But Peter was also the only one who ever walked on water.

We May Feel Troubled By the Peculiarity of His Works,

But He Is Not Bound To Conventional Operations

How many times have we come crying to the Lord in fear, like these disciples did? The word “fear” in this passage does not refer to reverence; it is the word phobas, from which we get our English word “phobia.” The word means “alarm or fright.” They were very afraid.

When in a storm we must remember that God does not have to resort to earthly means to solve spiritual problems. If you don’t get that point, you are going to struggle in the storm. We ask God to send a banker or a doctor or a politician to help us but He does not. Why? Because if that took care of the problem, the banker or the doctor or the politician would get the glory. God is not going to allow that, so in most cases He will do something that leads to Him getting the glory exclusively.

He could have sent another ship to rescue the disciples, or any of a number of other things. Instead, He chose to walk on the water.

We May Expect Him To Join In Our Worries But He Does Not Worry

Christ told the disciples three things in verse 27: “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” Often we want Him to get in our boat of trouble with us so we can all worry together. That is not how He operates. There is nothing that worries Jesus.  He is in such control that even what brings anxiety and stress to us creates no worry in Him.

It is funny that Peter’s name actually means “rock,” and here he is out in the middle of the sea thinking he is about to sink like one. But in cases like this, your name does not matter. Your tendencies are not in focus. You think you’re going to work it out, but if you did you would get the credit for it. We just need to faithfully trust God.

I can’t say with any dogmatic certainty that worry is a sin. I tend to love to worry (I suspect that you do too). But we all know it never gets us anywhere. You can’t worry yourself to health but you can certainly worry yourself sick. You can’t worry yourself to life but you can worry yourself to death. Worrying is like rocking in a rocking chair; it gives you something to do but never takes you anywhere.

The poorest testimony and reflection upon God that we can have is that of a worrier. When we worry, we are saying, “I don’t know if God can come through this time.”  We have seen God perform great deeds on our behalf hundreds of times, but worry causes us to forget God’s faithfulness.

We May Assume Certain Requests To Be Impossible,

But Nothing Is Impossible With God

Think about what Peter asked Jesus to let him do – walk on water. This was a huge request, because it had never been done by man or beast. It is likely that some of the other disciples were telling him, “You fool! Shut up for once. We don’t need you out there; we need Jesus in here!”

Peter wasn’t 100 percent sure at first that it was Jesus, but if it was, he wanted to be out there also. Jesus responded to his request with one word: “Come.”

Imagine him climbing over the side of that boat, still holding on tight, with one leg in and one leg out until he feels something solid under his foot. When he felt a solid surface underneath, he let go of the boat and started walking on the water to Jesus while the storm was still raging.

When you are in the storm, don’t ever forget that nothing is impossible to our God.  This is one of those miracles that lets us know that if a believer can do that, there is virtually nothing that we will face that is more difficult than walking on water.

We Can Worsen Our Circumstances By Distractions And Doubts, But He Can Still Save

It is interesting that when Peter began to sink, he did not recite some lengthy and eloquent prayer. Imagine Peter up to his chest in water praying, “O, thou God of Heaven and Earth; we do thank thee that thou art the God of these they servants and that Thou art He who dost answer prayer and manifest authority over creation . . .”  There was no time for that. It was short and it was selfish: “Lord, save me.”  This might be the briefest thing Peter ever said.

I can’t tell you how many times in a spiritual storm I decided to grab the bull by the horns and take care of it, only to make things worse. God doesn’t need my help — and in cases like this it is simply arrogant to think that I can help at all.

I wonder if Peter, when on the water, wasn’t initially distracted by his desire to turn around to the disciples and say with a grin, “Hey, look at this! Now who’s the fool? Who needs to shut his mouth?” It may also be that the water eventually covered his knees and his waist and even got to his head, so that he barely had time to shout, “Save me!” before he was completely submerged.  In other words, if the water had not shut his mouth, Peter might have said much more, and that would have possibly been tragic.

You can make it worse by trying to do your own thing when the situation dictates that you walk circumspectly. Some of you reading this are wondering, “Circumspect? What in the world does that mean?”

One way to illustrate it is to take a yellow cat and put it on a picket fence. Put a slobbering, snarling pit bull on each side of the fence. That cat will walk circumspectly.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of walking carefully and not taking steps that could be extremely dangerous to your circumstances.

We May Feel As Though We Are Hopelessly Sinking, But We Are Nearer To The Lord When Sinking Than When Rowing, Bailing, Or Walking

We all need to sink once in a while, because that is when God shows Himself to be the hero of our circumstances. If you’re not sinking, Jesus may not be reaching out to you in such supernatural power.

Paul had a similar experience. In one of his epistles he referred to a “thorn in the flesh” (II Cor. 12:7) but he never divulged the details of the condition. Writers have speculated. This thorn could have been severely poor eyesight. Some scholars believe he may have had scoliosis; one even describing him as short and stooped over. We cannot know for certain.

Whatever it was, however, Paul thought it was hindering his ministry and he asked God to remove it, as he described in II Cor. 12:7-10. “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

Imagine for a moment that you have a thorn stuck in the palm of your hand, and you take it to God saying, “Lord, I can’t use my hand. It hurts so much. Please take it out.”  God replies, “My grace will be sufficient.”  “But it’s starting to get infected. It’s going to be a real problem.”  Again, God says, “My grace will be sufficient.”

That is when the Lord reaches down and begins to apply the ointment of His word around your injury. That is the sufficient grace in this case; it is His special attention. He begins to medicate it, and perhaps at some point He decides to take it out — but having experienced His special grace, we soon ask Him to actually leave it there. Why?  If that is what it takes to get the special attention we have received from God, we would rather hurt so we can continue to get His special attention.

That illustration is for mature audiences only. Some uninterested Christians might say, “I don’t want the hurt or the special attention.” That is precisely why they have never experienced peace in the middle of the storm. They’d rather have no storm and be ignorant of God’s power. But if you are a mature thinker and a student of the Word, you must agree with me that God’s storms draw God’s special attention.

We May Feel Mastered By The Wind, But He Is The Master Of The Wind

When this entire episode was over and the sea was calm, the verdict was in. They knew they had seen God that day.

When your storm has run its course, you will be able to testify that He is God. You will never know and appreciate that until you submit to the wind and the storm — when you submit to His company during that storm.  That is the humility that storms produce.  Humility defined is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.  Successfully navigating spiritual storms has a way of diverting our focus from self to God, and that produces true humility.

The sky does not apologize for the condition of your day.  Your day may be cloudy or overcast, or your day may be sunny with a few pleasant breezy hours, or even a rainbow.  The sky is above all of that.  The sky doesn’t apologize for clouds because it understands the impermanence of the clouds.  It doesn’t apologize for the rain because it sees the impermanence of the rain.  It doesn’t take the time to explain the rainbow because it sees the impermanence of the rainbow.  The sky has seen these conditions come and go so many times that it does not react.  In like manner, God is above your storm.  He is the permanent fixture in all of this.  He sees when the weather is beautiful and when it is not, and it has no control of Him.

It is so important here to make an observation.  Their confession in verse 33 was, “Of a truth thou art the Son of God.”  In the world of spiritual development, I am now seeing that our spiritual perception of who God is shaped not only by what we do, but by what we don’t do.  An observation without a concluding verdict just leaves the test in an unsatisfactory state.  Our storm MUST drive us to the confession that Jesus is the Son of God.

Conclusion:

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to spiritual development in storms.  So, there is no recipe for success in storms.  It would be much easier to say that it takes 10,000 hours of in-storm experience to make you an expert in spiritual storms, but I know that for some of you it may take far more than that, and for some, far less.

This has led me to arrive at the conclusion that what we greatly need is what I’d like to call personalized storm experience.  This lies in the reality that each individual will need their own individualized confessions in their personal storms.  It turns out that your spiritual genetics are just as unique as your physical genetics and spiritual breakthroughs in this realm will depend on the individual and your own spiritual ability to learn from storms.

There are also in every believer’s life what I would like to call spiritual storm markers.  These markers are very helpful to match specific outcomes with spiritual strengths and weaknesses that believers possess.  I contend that every person in that boat had spiritual storm markers that show us why they reacted the way they did.  Some doubted Peter.  Some doubted Jesus.  Some doubted the boat, etc.

It is a combination of spiritual storm markers that best indicate how a person will respond to the influence of a spiritual storm in his/her life.  That isn’t surprising, given how complicated and diverse our storms can be.  Behaviors in your life and in mine during spiritual storms produce great information that can help us predict successes and failures.  This creates a strong case for the need for personalized learning when it comes to spiritual storms.  In other words, no one can teach you how to navigate the troubled waters of a spiritual storm; you must learn these disciplines yourself.  The uniqueness of your storm will affect you, not only as a learner, but as an example that others can learn from.

When you finish this book today, I hope you will never view storms the same again.  The information you retain from this book will help you to better prepare yourself and others for whatever storms may lie ahead.  I encourage you to study the habits that offer sure strength in times of spiritual storms and repeat them incessantly, until you have mastered them.  I also encourage you to identify the behaviors that have caused you greater pain in storms and resist the temptation to regress back into that behavior, no matter how natural it feels.  Do the work that your storm requires.

Everything you do, everything you learn, and everything you experience is changing your prognosis of survival, and that can be for better or for worse.  I do not believe in bad weather, only bad clothing.  For better, you may confess the Lordship of Christ in your storm earlier.  For worse, you may doubt His care and power in your spiritual storm.  You can now lay this book aside and begin to build the outcome you want.

Dr. Brad Bailey is a husband, father, grandfather, pastor, author and radio personality in Brandon, Florida