Faith empowers you to overcome
God has commanded and commissioned me to speak to the faith warrior in you so you can possess everything He has for you this year.
Every storm, test and trial you endured in 2023, was to give you the experience, insight, revelation, clarity, and faith boost you need to possess everything God has for you in 2024.
To receive it all, you must believe what God says about you, because it is your faith that empowers you to overcome, do the impossible, and see the miraculous!
Several years ago, my husband Kenya and I randomly got notice in the mail that we were about to receive a large monetary settlement from an insurance company. Initially, we thought, this can’t be serious. Someone’s jerking our chain. Not possible.
We hadn’t heard anything about a legal case before that moment, and we certainly didn’t sign up to be a part of a major lawsuit. Nevertheless, after digging into the matter further, we discovered that the letter was indeed legitimate. We were about to get an unexpected lump sum.
Turns out that our insurance company had been overcharging us—and thousands of other subscribers—for years. We were being robbed over an extended period and didn’t even know it until notice landed in our mailbox.
Soon after receiving notification of the pending release of funds, we got a check in the mail for a handsome amount, leaving us stunned.
We all love unexpected blessings, don’t we? Sure do.
But unexpected storms?
Well.
Not so much.
Even so, unexpected storms can be unexpected blessings in disguise. They present opportunities to grow our faith, prepare us to lay hold of God’s promises and see the miraculous hand of the Lord work in new ways.
Don’t Lose Faith
On this first day of the New Year, God led me to take a look at Matthew 14:22-33, where the disciples ran into an unexpected storm on a lake. Interestingly, this happened shortly after they bore witness to an unexpected blessing—the feeding of the five thousand. Following this infamous miracle, Jesus sent His disciples ahead of Him to cross the Sea of Galilee by boat, while He dismissed the crowds. Then Jesus then went up on a mountainside alone to pray and took His sweet time.
Hours passed before He reconnected with His disciples that were in a boat far out on the water being thrashed by extreme winds. Then in the wee hours of the morning, Jesus finally made His way to them. He showed up in grand fashion, walking on water. When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified thinking they had seen a ghost, and they cried out in fear. Immediately, Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
Now, Peter, one of Jesus’ most vocal disciples, responded, "Lord, if it's You, tell me to come to you on the water." So, Jesus told him, come on then. Straightaway, Peter got down out of the boat and started walking on the water towards Jesus. It was a truly miraculous thing to behold, though this spectacular occurrence only lasted a brief moment. Peter’s miracle turned into mayhem when he started focusing on the treacherous conditions on the water instead of keeping his eyes on Jesus who had empowered him to walk on water. Peter panicked, began to sink, then cried out, "Lord, save me!"
Matthew 14:21 says, immediately, Jesus reached out His hand and caught Peter and also chided him, saying, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
I find it so interesting that Peter lost his faith during a miraculous moment. He was personally witnessing and experiencing the supernatural when he had a meltdown. It wasn’t like Peter didn’t already know the conditions of the water before he stepped out of the boat, so what happened?
Well, although, the conditions didn’t change, Peter’s perspective did—twice. The first time, he viewed the storm through eyes of faith and overcame it. The second time, he viewed the storm through the eyes of fear and was overcome by it.
Believe what God Says about You
Friend, God told me to tell you, He allowed you to face some storms in 2023 to show you the power and necessity of tapping into your faith.
Your faith is the difference between overcoming the storm or being overcome by it; walking on water or being drowned by it; speaking to the mountain or being trapped at the base of it; boldly stepping into your promise or remaining perpetually trapped in the wilderness.
You’ve got to believe what God says about you in His word. Don’t just quote Romans 8:37; believe what is says: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”
Faith opens doors. Doubt shuts you out. This year, don’t you dare let doubt shut you out of the doors God has already given you the power and permission to walk through.
God told me to tell you, “Your faith is the key to unlocking major breakthroughs. When you believe God, He will supernaturally break doors wide open in your favor. 2024 is the year of the open door.
The more you believe, the more opportunities you will step into. The more breakthroughs you will witness. The more miracles you will experience. That’s why the enemy is after your faith. He doesn’t want you to reap the harvest that God has for you in this season. But God doesn’t want you to be like Peter on the stormy lake. He lost sight of Jesus and fixated on the storm instead, so he lost his footing. As Peter’s faith sank, so did his feet.
It’s so interesting to me that it was not the reality of the storm but Peter’s reaction to the storm that nearly took him under. Hear this: Before God changes your reality, He wants to change your reaction.
See, storms are out of your control, but how you respond to them is within your control. By letting some unexpected storms show up, God was teaching you in 2023 that your faith will take you places your feet alone cannot. Your faith will keep you afloat in circumstances that should drown you. But if your faith sinks, so do your feet. The Lord used last year’s storms to develop the mindset you need to step into this year’s promises.
Faith Makes All Things Possible
Peter’s faith empowered him to do the impossible. When he started sinking, it wasn’t because he lost the supernatural capacity to walk on water. No, he lost the faith to believe he could do it through Christ’s power. It was doubt, not the tumultuous waters, that nearly drowned Peter. Your circumstances—no matter how treacherous—cannot take you under, but unbelief can and will.
Faith makes all things possible. Fear makes all things impossible. Choose faith in 2024 and you will see God do the miraculous!
Perhaps, friend, you have been sinking under the weight of doubt and fear. God sent me to share some good news. Remember when Peter started sinking due to doubt? Well, he still had enough faith in Christ’s power to rescue him, so he cried out, “Jesus, save me!”
When doubt tries to overtake you, if you can just tap into your faith to believe that there is still power in the name of Jesus, and call on His great name, I guarantee that He will show up and rescue you. He will calm the storm. Stop the rain. Command the waters to be still. As the old song says, “If you call on Jesus, He will answer prayer.”
Notice something for a minute.
The intimidating storm did not stop raging until Jesus and Peter were safely back in the boat. Consider why Jesus didn’t quiet the storm sooner. He could have done it at any moment, more specifically, while Peter was out on that lake walking on water, right? That would seem to be the ideal scenario, wouldn’t it?
But we mustn’t forget that Jesus was not concerned with Peter’s comfort level; He was concerned with His confidence level. Jesus wanted Peter—as well as you and me—to have confidence in His word. So, whenever He boots you out of your comfort zone, He’s trying to elevate your confidence levels. Because the Lord knows that comfortable conditions don’t foster radical faith. Smooth conditions don’t provide the appropriate platform for Him to flex His power over the storm.
In order for Jesus to showcase His sovereignty, divinity, and invincibility, the presence of the storm is necessary.
So then, your affliction was necessary. That sickness was necessary. That layoff was necessary. That betrayal was necessary. That tragedy was necessary. Those tears were necessary because God was elevating your confidence level to know that “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord will deliver him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19)
It was true then for the disciples on the stormy lake, and it is true now for you and me in the storms of life.
The Storm has a Purpose
There is a reason for the storm. There is purpose in the pain. There is destiny in the disappointment. The storm’s purpose is to give you an opportunity to witness God’s miraculous might and take your faith to a whole new level!
In our Bible lesson today, once Jesus and Peter were back on the boat, Jesus calmed the storm, causing the disciples’ worry to turn to worship. They declared in Scripture, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
Notice how the storm showed the disciples who Jesus really was. Sometimes, friend, adverse conditions are necessary to help you experience God’s power in a new way. So then, storms come so God can reveal His identity, His sovereignty, and His ability to do anything!
Through Christ’s power demonstrated in the midst of the storm, Jesus made an announcement to His disciples then and to us now that He is our salvation. It is through His power that we are more than conquerors. As Acts 4:12 KJV tells us, which is the sweetener I’m stirring into your cup of inspiration, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, remember that there is yet power in the name of Jesus. Saving power. Delivering power. Power to overcome. Power to defeat the enemy. Power to shift circumstances. Power to trigger miraculous manifestations. Power to heal all manner of diseases. Power to break every chain and loose every shackle. Power to move mountains.
And your faith is what activates His power. Tap into it today and every day, and you will overcome each circumstance that comes against you because God is for you.
Now, let’s pray.
God, thank You for reminding me that the storm has a purpose. It reveals Your identity, Your sovereignty, and Your ability to save me from any adversity. I praise You for reminding me that I am an overcomer, more than a conqueror through You and that my faith will unlock miracles, breakthroughs, and blessings like I’ve never seen before. Thank You for all You allowed me to go through in 2023 to prepare me for what You have in store in 2024. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you desire prayer, please allow me, along with my intercessory prayer team, to stand in faith with you for breakthrough. We would be so honored. We have seen God work over and over again. There is power in agreement. Click here to request prayer now.
As always, thanks for reading and until next time... may today's cup of inspiration uplift, encourage, and empower you!
