Thursday, January 13, 2011

Storms

There is an old story of the West about how cattle act in storms. Sometimes the storms took a heavy toll. They would start with freezing rains. Temperatures would plummet below zero. Then, bitterly cold winds would begin to pile up huge snowdrifts. Most cattle turned their backs to the icy blasts and they would begin to move downwind until they came up against the inevitable barbed wire fence. In the big storms, they would pile up against the fence and die by the scores.

But one breed always survived. Herefords would instinctively head into the wind. They would stand shoulder to shoulder, heads down, facing the icy blasts. As one cowboy put it, “You most always found the Herefords alive and well.” I guess that’s the greatest lesson I learned on the prairie, just face life’s storms.

The apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:19, “For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” In II Timothy 1:7, he wrote, “For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” In II Corinthians 4:8-9, he also wrote, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.”

Christians facing life’s storms together, shoulder to shoulder, encouraging one another and praying for one another, recognizing and responding to the power of the Spirit of Jesus in our lives is God’s formula for the abundant life!
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