Dancing in the Storms

 

Storms of life will come. Jesus tells us plainly that we will have tribulations (Jn 16.33). These storms have different manifestations, come for many reasons, and have the potential to cause us great suffering. God doesn't want us to just survive them, He wants us to learn how to dance in the storms.

The First Step. Forward: Enter into Rest

Matt 11.28-30 TPT - "Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you'll discover that I'm gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.”

Come to Jesus, enter into His rest. A short while back in "A Better Way," part 1, Pastor Craig reminded us that Jesus wants us to enter into His Rest from our labors. By remembering to walk in step with Jesus and do things His way, we enter into Rest from our own labors and we have energy to live the life that He is calling us to.

The Second Step. Onward: Receive Peace

Phil 4.6-7 TPT - Don't be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God's wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ. 

It's so easy to get distracted by the storms of this life. The winds become boisterous and terrifying. Saturate yourself in prayer, keep offering your heart felt cries and pleas to him, every detail, and that peace that surpasses all understanding allows you to move in the strength and the power of Christ.

The Third Step. Outward: Give Thanks

1Thes 5.18 TPT - And in the midst of everything be always giving thanks, for this is God's perfect plan for you in Christ Jesus.

From this powerful place of peace filled rest, we can give thanks in all things, even the unpleasant things. We don't give thanks for them, we give thank in them, showing the world that this is very Christ, that He dwells in us when we are not moved or persuaded.

The Fourth Step. Upward: Dance in Joy

1Pet 4.12-13 TPT - Beloved friends, if life gets extremely difficult, with many tests, don't be bewildered as though something strange were overwhelming you. Instead, continue to rejoice, for you, in a measure, have shared in the sufferings of the Anointed One so that you can share in the revelation of his glory and celebrate with even greater gladness! 

The greatest dance move of the Spirit-life Conqueror: Joy in Tribulation. This is entering into the heavenly places by the knowledge of the sacrifice of the mighty Son of God, the Anointed One whose sacrifice enables you to move in the same path and embrace even the most daunting of life's storms with His Joy. 

When we know that we know that our steps are ordered by the Lord even through the midst of the storms, those steps become a dance and this? This is Dancing in the Storms. It is the life song and testimony of the saints who share in the revelation of Christ-filled, Christ-forward Life of Glory, dancing over and beyond the ashes of pain, suffering, heartache, dancing ever Forward, Onward, Outward, and Upward to the effortless life-beat of Victory flowing from the Anointed Eternal Life-giver. 

Dance children, dance.

Dance in the Storms.

All scriptural references come from The Passion Translation, "...a modern, easy-to-read Bible translation that unlocks the passion of God’s heart and expresses his fiery love—merging emotion and life-changing truth.”(https://www.thepassiontranslation.com/) This translation has become one of my favorites to use and speaks of the Word of God to us in terms of adoration and exaltation have stirred my soul in this season of Storms and Love in my life.

Photo is from a clip from the movie "Singin' in the Rain," starring Gene Kelley ( https://www.fwweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/singing-in-the-rain.jpg ). I do not own the rights to this image.