Matthew 8:23-27
"Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
God uses real world situations to prepare His chosen for the work of the ministry. He uses everyday life to work out character issues that may be hindering us from growing. Normal activities that once were hard for us like making a simple phone call to take care of some household business, He makes doable through the power of His Spirit.
God uses our spouses, our jobs, our children, our neighbors, the police, firefighters, and even the wind and sea to accomplish His work in us. He puts us through uncomfortable situations to see how we will respond to it, by the flesh, or by the Spirit? With faith, or fear?
It's not easy to do what is right all the time, every second of our lives, but that's what God desires, that's what Jesus did, and we can do it too! It takes effort on our part, crying out to God in prayer, fasting when necessary and asking the Holy Spirit to help us get through. There is always a Sinai Desert before we can see Mount Sinai itself! And then once we get there we still have to climb up!
This is God's process of preparation, the schooling of His Spirit, that can take decades for some, such as myself! There really is no other way to be prepared for true ministry and to be used of God we must go through the fiery furnace of affliction and be remade on the Master Potter's Wheel!
