A hush came over the room and I knew this night was going to be different somehow, but first, let me start at the beginning…
I have a friend who has recently moved back to town. We have prayed a lot together over the years, you see, I have known her since grade school. Last night she came over to pray. Frankly, when she first arrived I was exhausted, I had kept my grandkids for a sleep over and I was tired. When she walked in, she looked exhausted too. I don’t think either of us had the energy to pray the fervent prayers we had hoped to.
She sat down and we began to talk about things in our life, nothing major, just chatter that went on for some time. Suddenly, a hush came over both of us at the same instant. In my spirit it was as if Jesus himself walked into the room, placed his finger to his lips and said ‘shhhhh.’ When this happened we both became silent. Finally, she said ‘did you sense that?!’ I said ‘yes.’ Then we began to pray and as we prayed God began to show me some things.
He took me to the story in Mark 4:39 where Jesus was on the boat with the disciples when the storm began. As you may recall, the disciples were afraid and woke Jesus from his sleep. The word of God says, “and he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, peace, be still. and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” Mark 4:39
God began to show me that Jesus had stood up and said ‘peace, be still’ over us and over the storms that may be raging in our lives, that weariness that was upon us when she first walked in suddenly washed away. It was just as it must have been in the boat that day with the disciples when Jesus arose and said, ‘peace, be still.’ The bible says ‘there was a great calm’ and that is exactly what filled my home as Jesus again said ‘peace, be still’ in our midst.
The next morning as I pondered on the nights events, I did a word study on that scripture and found it meant something different than I first imagined. You see, I assumed the word ‘peace’ in the scripture was ‘shalom’ but it wasn’t, it was a different word ‘siopao.’ This word means; silence, a hush, properly, muteness, involuntary stillness, or inability to speak.
Wow! That was exactly what we experienced. Furthermore, the words ‘be still’ means; to close the mouth with a muzzle, to muzzle, to stop the mouth, make speechless, reduce to silence.
What God was saying to me last night was that Jesus stepped into the room and said ‘SHHHHH….’ And commanded every storm in my life and her life to cease, he literally reduced all the things in our life that was causing a heaviness or a weariness to a place of silence. They no longer had the power to speak into our lives.
He was not only saying that to us, he was also saying that to many of you – those who can receive it.
He was saying to you that he is speaking to the storms in your life and commanding peace, commanding them to be silent and cease working in your life. He is speaking into your life and commanding a great calm to be present in your life and he is doing that at this very moment.
Peace, be still. Storms cease, stillness come, calm come; that is what Jesus is saying over you today.
And just as it was in the days of the disciples, the calm, the great calm has come and the winds must cease at the sound of his voice. The storms must stop at the sound of his voice.
You see, there are times when the storms in our life seem to speak louder than the word of God that we have placed in our heart. There are times when the lack speaks loudly. There are times when the pain is louder than the word of God. There are times when the things our kids are doing appears to be saying ‘they will never turn to God.’ There are times when situations appear to be yelling at us and telling us we are not going to make it this time BUT Jesus has walked into to the room and said ‘SHHHHH.’ He is commanding peace in the midst of the storm and I promise you, when he does that, the storm will cease.
The rest of our night was awesome. We took communion and spent hours in the presence of the Lord. He brought an atmosphere into our midst that was nothing short of life-changing and I know he is wanting to do the same for you today, if you can believe it and receive it.
I don’t know what storm is raging in your life but I DO KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT that the Lord is present to calm the storm, if you will only believe. It is my prayer that every storm in your life is silenced this day and you too, experience a great calm. Peace, be still, in the name of the Lord.
