Send the Wind~

Jonah 1:4 "But the LORD hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart."

Sometimes He calms the wind; sometimes, when it suits His purposes, He sends the wind. In this case, it was to get the attention of one of His children, Jonah, who was running away from what God had asked him to do.

Ultimately, Jonah jumps ship and goes where God wanted him to go in the first place. But not before he got swallowed up by a great fish and pitched a tent in its slimy belly for three days and three nights.

 Eventually, Jonah gets barfed up on the beach. And as difficult and mind boggling as his experience was, all those circumstances nudged him along until he made the right decision.

We will look at Jonah this week as his life will greatly encourage us and teach us a thing or two. But for today we ask ourselves: How do we know whether to pray for calm seas or stormy waters?

Last week when we read about the disciples fearing for their lives in the midst of the storm, Jesus ordered everything to be calm. This week we see that rather than calm, God purposely sent the storm to get Jonah's attention.

The difference between these two scenarios is that the Bibles tells us in Matthew 8:23 that the disciples were following Jesus. Jonah 1:3 tells us that Jonah ran away from the Lord.When you are following Jesus, when you are living His way, when You trust Him through prayer and the storms arise, pray for peace!

When someone you love has turned their back on what is right, has chosen to ignore our Lord, is causing heartache and pain, then CHOP CHOP!!! Pray for God to unsettle their life until they come to their senses.

I am liking this topic already!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, You and You alone control the wind. You know when to send the calm and when to stir things up. We desire for you to keep us in peace, but we also know there are times when we need a strong wind to get us or someone we love back on course. In Jesus' name, AMEN~