5 Steps Overcomers Take in Overwhelming TimesSample

Step #2 for Overcomers: Look to Him

The minute life gets overwhelming, we tend to stop looking at Jesus and we focus more on the problem. Sometimes it’s hard to stop thinking about the issues we face long enough to look to Him for direction and help. Yet the moment you gave your life to Jesus, He began to direct your path. And while His plan for you and me would include storms, it also provides a rescue.

Life requires faith to endure the storms. Once I heard someone say we’re either in a storm, heading into a storm, or getting out of a storm. I imagine if you are reading this, you are as familiar with stormy weather in a metaphorical sense as I am. I have often reached the verge of disaster because my eyes were on the storm. My eyes were not fixed on the most important point, Jesus. Has that ever happened to you?

The message God wants us to embrace in the storm is what Jesus told His disciples: See to it that you are not troubled. Those words hold the same power now as when Jesus first spoke them. The scene may be different, but the truth has not changed one bit. How do you keep from being troubled? Keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep looking to Him.

Looking to Jesus is the gold standard for surviving the storms of life. It’s what Peter discovered when he stepped out of the boat and began to walk on water toward Jesus. When Peter had his eyes on the Lord, the miraculous happened. When he shifted his gaze to the storm, gravity took over. There’s a lesson in this story: Don’t take your eyes off Jesus; look to Him. He’s got you!

Satan, on the other hand, wants you to drop your oars and give up. He will try to discourage and distract you from keeping your focus on Jesus—the One who can still any storm, or safeguard you through it.

God never lets go of us in a storm, but sometimes He lets us encounter wild weather! Why? Because He knows that we learn some things in a storm that we would never learn from the safety of the shore. If the winds are howling and the waves are raging in your life today, realize that God is still with you, and watch for a lesson you can only learn by riding out the storm.