What is a storm?

I would define a storm as an unexpected interruption to the flow of things. This is particularly evident at sea. The boat is sailing nicely and all of a sudden a storm arises that threatens the safety of the boat and in some cases the life of those on board.
​
We all go through storms in life.  There are many reasons storms come along in life. Let’s have a look at scripture of some examples of storms and what happened at the end .

The children of Israel got to the Red Sea and had nowhere else to go. They felt trapped as the Egyptians had been pursuing them. If God did not show up that was it.

Water was in front of them; a humanly impossible situation.
​
They had come to the end of themselves; there was nothing they could do but cry unto the Lord.

Have you ever made a decision without examining the full facts and realised you had made a mistake?

Well depending on what it is, hasty decisions can sometimes be very costly.
​
Yes we do have to make every day decisions, but things that can have a great impact need to be weighted very carefully before a decision is made.

Have you ever had someone so close to you and then down the journey of life, the person actually became your enemy?
​
Well this is not new. We have examples of this in the bible. One of such was the relationship between David and Joab. 

We live in an instant world. Drive through take away, microwave oven food: ready in 3 minutes. Unfortunately we have brought this into the church but we have to understand that the ways of God are not always instant.

Let’s look at an example in scripture: 
After the flood, God said that man’s days would be 120 ( Genesis 6: 3), however do you know that it took a while for the physical manifestation of that word to fully come to pass? The Word was spoken, however it took time to be become effective in the earth, As a matter of fact, Noah lived for 950 years (Genesis 9: 29), even longer than Adam. Did that change Gods spoken word? No it did not, just as when you receive a word from the Lord. It will come to pass.

The pattern after the spoken word was that man’s life span started to decrease after the flood. Genesis 11: 10 gives the life span of the descendants of Noah. 

Therefore when you receive a word, or you begin to make faith declarations the word is being effective. Even if you prayed and it appeared that the situation got worst, don’t be discouraged, Gods word is coming to pass. Remember that Noah after the spoken word lived until 590, and his son  Shem,  600, Both lived longer than Adam but did that change what God said? No not at all. If you look at the pattern, Eber lived for 473 years and after that there was a  big drop in age from 473 to 239 and so it continued to drop. Abraham died at 175 (Genesis 25:7),  Joseph died at 110, Sarah 107. Today if someone lives slightly beyond 120 they are in the Guinness book of records, because it is rare. 

​Just as there was sudden drop from age 473 to age 239, so shall you make a sudden significant improvement until the full manifestation of what was spoken over your life, or whatever you are believing the Lord for according to His word comes to pass. God’s word cannot fail.

So hang in there. God is faithful!

​Bisi Oladipupo

Do you know within you that you need to do something but finding it hard to do? It could be anything that you know is right, or the Lord specifically wants you to do. It could even be a fight of faith perhaps you feel like putting your hands up as fights can sometimes be challenging in the flesh.

We must remember that the bible says “fight the good fight of faith”, Faith is the victory, and we already have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from pleasing God, somebodies breakthrough depends on what you do now. Someone out there is relying on you to win and help them out when they need help.

Life is short and so are battles. They come and go, but those that stand their ground and remain strong in the Lord, not only win, but have a sure reward from the Lord.

Has the Lord just opened a door for you? Or do you perceive that Gods hand is on something that you need to step into?

Are you a parent? When you send your child to school, aren’t you aware that they will not only need pocket money for the first year of their studies but for the duration? If your son came to you and said well “ Daddy/ Mummy, thanks for allowing me to take up this admission, but will you pay all my school fees unto l finish and will you buy my school uniforms” how would you feel?

"By Bisi Oladipupo"

Are you going through a rough time? Are you thinking, well, nobody else around me seems to be going through this, its only me? Why is it only me going through this?

We are grateful that God is never caught unawares. I read from a site recently something very encouraging. This was the summary of the statement: " if good parents plan ahead for their children, how much more God". Talk about exit plan, before the problem presented itself the Lord already made an exit route. You are coming out!

Have you ever gone through a difficult time and  wondered to happened to some people that you called your friends? Let have a
close look at this scripture:
 
Proverbs 18:  24
   A man that hath friends must shew  himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a  brother.

 
Note the phrase ' and there is a friend' which means this does not apply to all friends.

  This is why we get disappointed sometimes when we go through  difficult times. We think some people will be there for us and suddenly we find  out that they are not there.
 
Proverbs 18 :24 says that you can have many friends as long as you are friendly, but only few of  them  will stick closer than a  brother. Its only a friend closer than a brother that will go the extra mile for  you and hang in there during difficult  times.

  The above scripture differentiates  levels  of friendship,  not all friends  will stick closer than a  brother!

 
We need to be discerning when dealing with people so we don't  expose ourselves to the wrong people and get hurt. Its not everyone you can  expose yourself too during trials. Simply because not everyone has want it takes  to help. Some people are simply not matured enough to offer any assistance while  others may not have the commitment it takes.


  While is good to have physical support and encouragement,  sometimes it can be difficult to find it. But remember that whatever you are going through, our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ will always be there. For He will never leave  us nor forsake us! (Hebrews  13:5).


  
Bisi  Oladipupo