The
storms reveal the lies we believe and the truths we need.
Susie
Larson, "Fully Alive"
Susie's words made me think about the
storms we are currently in, particularly the storms the Church is
facing. The thunder of storms is what wake us up to the
danger of lightning. It causes us to pay attention. We need to wake up and pay
attention. It's time to identify the lies we believe.
Is it possible that one of those lies is
the "normal" we've been taken out of and that we are
now seeking to return to? Could it be that
our "normal" is a comfort zone that the Lord wants to shake
us out of?
Sometimes things become so normal to us that we
forget those things aren't normal at all.
But, praise be, God works in our storms. He
uses them to catch our attention. Storms drive us to cry out to
Him from the deepest part of our hearts. The Gospels record that Jesus
personally stormed the Temple with a whip to remind His people
that this dwelling place of God was/is to be a house of prayer. It’s
that important.
Prayer itself, though, can be a stormy place.
It is a place where God will shake us out of our norm, where the lies
are hidden, into the truth we need. And sometimes, like any storm,
that can be scary.
Perhaps that is one reason we don't pray as we
should. It's discomforting. But then, like when the sun comes out brighter after
the clouds have fled, we find that prayer is the place that renews
our lives and gives us more than normal ever offered.
One thing I know is that a return to normal is
not what God desires. Normal will not make the Church strong enough to face
what is coming.
And it is coming.
But until that time, these intensified birth
pangs—storms—are meant to get us out of normalized comfort. They're meant to
get us on our knees so we can endure.
But keep
your hope to the end and you will experience life and deliverance.
Matthew
24:13 (TPT)
