GOD’S WAY OF STOPPING THE PERFECT
STORM
I congratulated Shelley, “Wow, you’ve lost 90 pounds, and you look awesome!” She didn’t even smile, “I don’t feel like it. I just can’t see any difference.” Ninety pounds and she couldn’t see any difference? Everyone could see it, but she couldn’t. She told me that she was having problems in her family and wasn’t allowed to see her grandson. And there were issues with work that were exasperating. She was spiraling downhill and attacked from all sides. This chain of events is what I call the perfect storm.
I congratulated Shelley, “Wow, you’ve lost 90 pounds, and you look awesome!” She didn’t even smile, “I don’t feel like it. I just can’t see any difference.” Ninety pounds and she couldn’t see any difference? Everyone could see it, but she couldn’t. She told me that she was having problems in her family and wasn’t allowed to see her grandson. And there were issues with work that were exasperating. She was spiraling downhill and attacked from all sides. This chain of events is what I call the perfect storm.
“The perfect storm” is a
term meteorologists use to
describe a storm of astronomical power and devastation. It’s caused by a number of
separate events mobilizing to drastically aggravate the circumstances and
produce a storm of extreme magnitude.
Sometimes we feel like our
lives are thrown into that kind of
storm—no way out, nowhere to turn for safety, no rest, no escape. Swirling in
the perfect storm makes us feel like we’re drowning and we can hardly breathe.
In Psalm 18:5 David says,
“The sorrows of hell compassed me about.” The original Hebrew for “sorrows”
translates “a noose tied together twisting around so that there is no escape.”
And the Hebrew for “compasses” means “whirl around on every side, surround,
besiege, and enclose.” When we’ve felt attacked, hurt from every side and
spiraling uncontrollably down, this is what David is describing here in Psalm
18.
David didn’t mind telling
God that the enemy was too strong for him. Like in the movie titled “The
Perfect Storm,” even the strongest and smartest guy
found that there was no escape. Like that guy, sometimes we have to admit that
we truly can’t handle it, and that’s okay with God.
What happens when this
overwhelming storm of attacks surrounds a person? They can get swallowed up
like Jonah, or nearly drowned in a hurricane like Paul (Acts 27) or pulled down
in agony and terror like David. I’ve seen people end up in the hospital, or in
my case one time thrown into a long and miserable suicidal
depression.
This kind of intense
spiraling spiritual attack is no small matter. The oppressiveness mounts up
like floods, and the pot gets stirred around and around by Satan
himself. We have to remember that it’s not the people who are attacking us, but
the demons that are behind the very thoughts and actions of the evil that comes
against us.
But our God is much more
powerful than anything Satan can manipulate. I’ve seen from studying different
records in the Bible that God has a specific remedy for the perfect storm.
When David called on God
to help him, God got up off His throne, and He
roared:
The Lord also thundered in
the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
Yea, he sent out his
arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. (Ps. 18:13-14)
God said He “discomfited”
them, which in Hebrew means He made an uproar; He agitated them and destroyed
them. In verse 15 we’re told that God discomfited them with a
loud “rebuke at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.” We’re also told in that verse that the roots of
the attacks on David were “discovered.” The Hebrew for that word tells us the
demons were “exposed, shamelessly revealed, stripped and exiled.” I just love that.
At the blast of
God’s breath, David was sprung out
from Saul’s attempts to destroy him. A blast from God and Jonah was thrown
safely onto the beach. By the loud,
strong words of Paul, the broken up ship was
hurled to shore, but all lives
were saved, including his.
When I saw the perfect
storm of spiritual attack on my friend Shelley, God gave me strong, loud words of deliverance to shout out,
in the name of Jesus Christ. I didn’t have to be there in her presence for
Satan and his devils to hear God’s rebuke. The demons were exposed and
defeated!
In just a couple hours I
got confirmation of her deliverance: She posted a new picture of herself in her
skinny jeans and a great big smile, and another photo showing a current
snapshot of her with her grandson. I found out later that the work issues also
turned out to her benefit.
When confronted with this
kind of perfect storm situation, we need to shout or speak with a strong word,
not a polite asking. Think about yelling at a sports event. Even the quietest
and meekest can get up a good yell.
Clear your lungs and your
life with a good shout! It has to be from the
standpoint of believing in what you’re doing and believing in the power
of our God to rescue. The Lord will give the words. We just have to start. No devil, not Satan himself can stand up
against the powerful roar of our God! Believe and receive.
Our God is greater than
any storm.
Love, Carolyn
NEW INSIGHT AND KEYS TO
LIVING WITH GOD IN MIND
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