Posted by HH Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div
“And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. And there arose a great storm” (Mark 4:37).
Some of the storms of life come suddenly:
- A great sorrow.
- A bitter disappointment.
- A crushing defeat.
- Some come slowly.
They appear upon the ragged edges of the horizon no larger than a man’s hand, but, trouble that seems so insignificant spreads until it covers the sky and overwhelms us.
Yet it is in the storm that God equips us for service. When God wants an oak He plants it on the moor where the storms will shake it and the rains will beat down upon it, and it is in the midnight battle with elements that the oak wins its rugged fibre and becomes the king of the forest.
When God wants to make a man He puts him into some storm. The history of manhood is always rough and rugged. No man is made until he has been out into the surge of the storm and found the sublime fulfilment of the prayer: “O God, take me, break me, make me.”
A Frenchman has painted a picture of universal genius. There stand orators, philosophers and martyrs, all who have achieved pre-eminence in any phase of life; the remarkable fact about the picture is this: Every man who is pre-eminent for his ability was first pre-eminent for suffering. In the foreground stands that figure of the man who was denied the promised land, Moses. Beside him is another, feeling his way–blind Homer. Milton is there, blind and heart-broken. Now comes the form of one who towers above them all. What is His characteristic? His Face is marred more than any man’s. The artist might have written under that great picture, “The Storm.”
The beauties of nature come after the storm. The rugged beauty of the mountain is born in a storm, and the heroes of life are the storm-swept and the battle-scarred.
You have been in the storms and swept by the blasts. Have they left you broken, weary, beaten in the valley, or have they lifted you to the sunlit summits of a richer, deeper, more abiding manhood and womanhood? Have they left you with more sympathy with the storm-swept and the battle-scarred?
Hallelujah, I have been battered, bruised, slapped, neglected, rejected, lied on, robbed by people calling on the Name of God. I never thought about giving up or walking away from the hope and calling in my life. I have been ridiculed and the dearest ones to me left me on the side of the road. Many saw me bleeding and dying by the side of the road and they passed on the other side. But there was one closer than a brother who travelled many miles to stand by my side. I say to you never give up, because there is a brighter light what will lead you to the gate of the New Jerusalem.
I recalled during my times and days of trials and storms, I prayed and many people that threw stones at me have never seen me but believed all that was ill-spoken about me. There are some that I know but haven’t seen in a number of years and not even sure if I am alive, yet they threw their storms at me. It was Paul who comforted me in these hard times. He said to me, “My son you are more than a conqueror through Him that love you.” Neither height (position or office), nor depth, witchcraft, psalms or the enemy can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I stayed focus on the word of God, family and ministry. Hallelujah. I am who I am by the grace of Almighty God and though all men may walk away from me, yet in my flesh shall I see God whose beauty I shall behold and not another. Brethren, take comfort in these words I am writing to you. The enemy is stealing the joy of some men and if you are not careful you will be destroyed.
Just remember that every storm is to build you and make you stronger. May Almighty God bless and keep you. AMEN
THE MYSTICAL BROTHERHOOD 