Veiled by the Storm

Why pray for the storm to cease?

For I veil my approach in the storm. Like a bride coming down the aisle to meet her husband.

Psalms 18:6-19 In my distress [when seemingly closed in] I called upon the Lord and cried to my God; He heard my voice out of His temple (heavenly dwelling place), and my cry came before Him, into His [very] ears. Then the earth quaked and rocked, the foundations also of the mountains trembled; they moved and were shaken because He was indignant and angry. There went up smoke from His nostrils; and lightning out of His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down; and thick darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon a cherub [a storm] and flew [swiftly]; yes, He sped on with the wings of the wind. He made darkness His secret hiding place ; as His pavilion (His canopy) round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. Out of the brightness before Him there broke forth through His thick clouds hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered from the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice, amid hailstones and coals of fire. And He sent out His arrows and scattered them; and He flashed forth lightnings and put them to rout. Then the beds of the sea appeared and the foundations of the world were laid bare at Your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils. He reached from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated and abhorred me, for they were too strong for me. They confronted and came upon me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay and support. He brought me forth also into a large place; He was delivering me because He was pleased with me and delighted in me.

My plans are hidden from the enemy. Are beyond his grasp. He thinks all day long about destruction. I think about a coming together. A place for growth.

Thanks for making space for me in the storm. The storm clears the ground. The appearance of desolation and disaster. But it is my place of preparation, for from the broken pieces I will restore. I love to restore. For the mud brings healing to the land as the storm passes by. Then the gentle rain that enables growth to burst forth.

He invites us to bring peace to the storm. To step in to the water and come for a walk with him in the storm. As peace arises, the storm must be calmed, the torrents cease and the gentle rain nourishes the land enabling growth. If He is peace and He is in us and with us, then peace must triumph over chaos and stress.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

Lift the water. Reversal from splat to recovery

I saw the water fall, the drop in its perfectly streamlined shape, crash to the ground in a big splat. But then in an instant a reversal, the lifting up of the water and the elevation of the drop, the rising up of the drop. We cannot lift what is fluid and uncontained, but we serve the God of the impossible who can elevate the drops with the wind of His spirit.

After receiving this word I was on the way to see a client and the rain fell, but then I changed course on the freeway and as I drove the wind was coming so strongly from the side that it literally blew the rain up the windscreen. I have never seen anything like it before or since. It is like God showing off His glory in the natural, so we can get into alignment with what He is doing in our day to day circumstances. Since that time I have seen a reversal of our fortunes, a restoration of broken, fluid fragments, fallen drops that then come together and are elevated by Him for His Glory.

The Lord went on to say…

Assemble together. At the assembly there will be a fresh anointing. It pours from the pores when you pause. I will restore the years the Locust has eaten. These locusts will be my builders my agents of restoration. Reversal! The instrument of destruction, will now be my instrument of restoration. The thunder of their tapping feet resounds across the land and the enemy trembles. Calendar pieces put together reassembled by the assembly. Leaves restored. At the dance of the locust! On the feet of the locust is my anointing! Get back darkness. You must retreat at the rising of the Sun. The sun is a speck of dust illuminated by my breath. It shines in the darkness, a bubble, a spark a fiery seed, contained by my purpose. The time of grinding is over. Be refined, be polished, be presented! When the conditions are the darkest the lightning cracks. Cracks like the whip. Creates movement, spurs the rain, seeds the rain.

We know that even the worst hurricane will pass by, and the Sun will rise again. He wants us to assemble together with our clan, and pause and share the great testimonies of what He is doing in our lives. But we should not wait for the Sun, for the calm to come to our circumstance.

Let’s view the thunder and the lightning as an opportunity to step in and bring God’s peace to the stormy situation. Rise above the storm, bring peace to the storm, thanks be to the God of the storm.