5 RESPONSIBILITIES BEFORE AND DURING THE STORM.

Taking a cue from the eagle: 1. An Eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks. As a child of God and a Christian, some things are not expected to catch you unawares. If you are very sensitive in the spirit, you get spiritual signals of what is impending. Sometimes you might not get the definite thing but you always smell a rat and thereby, prepare for it! Proverbs 22:3… “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished” 2. The Eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. The time of rest is not actually the time to take the back sit and sleep! Rather, it is the time to take our spiritual lives and internal capacity to a higher level so as to have the required strength needed to withstand any challenge when it arrives and come out victorious without it swallowing you. That high spot is the place of preparation in prayer, fasting and acquisition of knowledge and revelational insights. Revelations 12: 13-14… “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent” You need spiritual nourishment! 3. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. Setting its wings suggests that you begin to employ or put to use, the things you have learnt overtime. Most times when we have the opportunity of hearing some deep insights, we feel so thrilled and it seems like, if the devil showed up that time, we were going to swallow him up! However, when the reality of the challenge hits us, we tend to fret and withdraw. Anytime we do this, we are covering our wings instead of SETTING IT! Setting it will involve putting on your whole armour of war as highlighted in Ephesians 6: 13-17. The wing that picks the eagle up and lifts it up above the storm is your God that will lift you up above your storms! All you need to do is to SET YOUR WINGS! Psalm 91:4… “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler”. 4. While the storm rages below, the Eagle is soaring above it. You are not meant to be in the storm. You’re meant to soar above it! The only thing that can make you practically soar above it is for you to be aware of your position spiritually and physically. Spiritually, the bible says in Ephesians 2:6... ‘And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” If we indeed understand the revelation of being seated with Christ in heavenly places, then we should know that no evil can overcome you there. Physically, we need to be correctly positioned before the storm. Most times, evil get to prevail over some people because they are not at the right place. However, if you are where God has rightly directed you to go to, no matter the raging storm there, you’d always overcome. Isaiah 30:12… “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left”. This means that there is a particular way for us to walk in and God himself knows where the way is. We must be wise enough to seek direction from Him. 5. The Eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. He rises on the winds that bring the storm. Get it straight once and for all… EVERY STORM that knocks on our door has the capacity to either MAKE US or BREAK US. You decide! You decide either to bow down, throw in the towel and allow the storm to sink you or you begin to see every storm as an opportunity to lift you higher, thereby taking you from where you used to be, to where you ought to be. Imagine a man who has been managing a one bedroom apartment and suddenly given a quit notice by His landlord? If he came to church to share it as a testimony, I’m sure some folks might consider Him foolish. Little did he know that the storm was a set up for his elevation because few months down the line, he was walking into his own home of a three bedroom flat! If he wasn’t evicted, he might not have been elevated. Please note that this story is not a fiction! It’s as real as you, reading this. So many instances abound. The point? Every storm is a testimony turned inside out. Always see the soaring and not the overwhelming! Always remember that it’s not the burdens of life that weigh us down but HOW WE PREPARE and HOW WE HANDLE THEM. May God strengthen you now and always. Peace.