Let the Raging Storm Carry You Where It Will – God Will Use It for Your Good

The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind, so we gave way to it and let it drift on its own (Acts 27:15)

When we are in a bad storm we may be afraid of where it will lead us, of what may happen to us. So we fight against the storm, striving to continue on our path.

But sometimes we come to that point where the storm is truly overpowering. You can’t fight the storm. You know you want to keep going in the direction you want to go, even the direction that you believe that God is leading you.

You pray. You stand strong in your mind. You don’t want to give in.

But this storm is too big, too powerful.

You have to let go. You have to relinquish control and let the storm take you where it will. That’s what happened in Acts 27:11. They let go of trying to steer the ship.

Because if we believe that God has a plan for you, and we do, then God will not allow the storm to take you so far off course.

In fact, God won’t allow you to be taken anywhere where he won’t take care of you.

“No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 54:17a ESV)

And, even in the storm, God is still at work, to take you where you need to be.

So, give up control. Let the storm take you where it will. Be at peace. Trust that God is directing the winds. Trust the scripture that shows what is meant for our harm God will use for our advantage:

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50:20 ESV)

It is in the storms that we really show our faith. It is then that we say to God that we believe that he has our best interest at heart, and we will follow where the winds take us.

AND storm winds are powerful winds. They can blow you much farther than ordinary winds, taking you to places you never would ordinarily reach in the same time period.

God will not allow storms in your life to stop you from fulfilling his plan for you. Bad breaks, job problems, health problems, marriage problems, mental problems, financial problems cannot stop God from delivering on his plan for you. Think job problems, family problems, medical problems, even anxiety and ADHD as part of one big walloping storm. The adversary means all these things to hurt you, to stop you cold in your tracks and break you if he can. But God means to use all these things to help you, to aid you on your way, to take you to places you didn’t realize you needed to go.

So let go and let the storm carry you where it will. Know that with God you will be the better off for it. Be at peace, God is at work.

Original Christianity

This web is a look at primitive, original Christianity, how it developed over time into innumerable denominations and divisions and how original Christianity compares to current practices. It is a resource for looking systematically at the beliefs and practices in the original Christian church, numerous movements and churches since, the modern Christian church, with discussion about how all these changes happened and especially focusing on how well each of these compares to scripture.

Why?

"Jesus Christ is Lord" is the common belief of billions of Christians. But there are tens of thousands of denominations. While ancient denominations like the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox claim to be the original and consequently "true" church, innumerable churches and denominations have started citing error in these ancient bastions and/or the leading of the spirit to reform the church and restore the church.

There are numerous disputed issues. Cessation doctrine (prophecy and the gifts of the spirit ended with the apostles), infant baptism, the inerrancy of Scripture, the form of Church government, the role of women in the church, and currently, the acceptance of homosexuality are just some of the many disputed doctrines that cause the Christian body to be so divided.

The Reformation movement performed an invaluable service. But instead of simply reforming the church or simply working to create one more correct alternative church the Reformation movement worked to increase the number of disputes over scripture and consequently the number of splits has increased exponentially.

The problem with looking at all the denominations is that it can become confusing to just compare this church or denomination to that one. The complexity of looking at all the theological implications can become overwhelming. For many busy people that means just making the best, less than fully educated decision they can, and staying with the church of their heritage or finding a church where they feel they can grow. Just finding the information can be an overwhelming task. Putting it into some understandable framework is an even more complicated task.

This web site, rather than trying to just compare all the current positions on the differences goes back to the beginning (primitive, original Christianity) and evaluates Christianity starting at that point. This includes looking at the gospel accounts, but also includes looking at early church documents as well as other ancient documents, both secular and religious. (There is also a section on Philosophy because its profound impact on Christian theological development.) The articles have numerous references to works both in print and online.

Next the web site looks at the developments in Christianity from original Christianity forward to see how the church developed over time comparing each development with what we know about original Christianity. The goals are:

To trace the development of the church from start to now to see how the church at large wound up with all these competing churches/denominations today, and

To equip people with the knowledge of original Christianity to enable people to make an informed decision on what is the true faith and practice of the church Jesus Christ started.

For an overview of the articles by category, go to the Table of Contents Page.

This is a work in progress. My prayer is that sharing my journey is helpful to you and that together we can grow in the faith that Jesus Christ made available some two thousand years ago.

Also Please Pardon our Dust. There are hundreds of posts and some of them still have typos. If you find typos You can contact Mark at [email protected]. Please be so kind as to mention the name of the post as well as to copy and paste the section with errors. Thank you and God Bless You.

Let the Raging Storm Carry You Where It Will – God Will Use It for Your Good

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