How to Hurricane-Proof Your Faith
A television interview featured the owner of a house who designed the structure to withstand a major hurricane. The stunning video showed his house standing unscathed after a major hurricane, while other structures around it were flattened. He chronicled the steps he took to make sure his home would be hurricane-proof.
This Man Was Not Foolish
As I watched the interview, Matthew's parable about the foolish man who built his house on sand came to mind. I marveled how the man on TV went far beyond the foolish man, and built his home with reinforced-concrete walls on reinforced-concrete pillars.
The steps the homeowner took to hurricane-proof his home provide a step-by-step process of how we should hurricane-proof our faith to withstand whatever life storms threaten us, regardless of whatever their category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale of life.
The scale is a 1 to 5 rating based on a hurricane's sustained wind speed. Hurricanes reaching Category 3 and higher are considered major hurricanes because of their potential for significant loss of life and damage.
Paying the Price but Being Prepared
First, we need to be realistic about the kind of storms we may face and the price we're willing to pay.
The homeowner described how he knew he was building in an area known for major storms, and how he decided to build a hurricane-resistant house from the ground up. He admitted the whole process cost him 30-40% more than building a traditional house, but added he knew it was worth it, considering the cost of rebuilding after a hurricane.
Life is full of days when the sun is shining bright and there are no storm clouds in the sky. But without warning, storm clouds can quickly develop as winds of misfortune start swirling around us, causing us mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual damage. We need to be prepared at all times.
The price? We need to be willing to take time out of our life to strengthen our faith to a degree beyond simply believing in God and his presence in our lives.
Reinforcing to Withstand the Storms
Second, we need to strengthen our faith by exercising it, performing the spiritual disciplines.
The homeowner explained how he specified having the home reinforced in several ways to withstand a hurricane. The home would be built on on concrete pillars or stilts, driven deep into the ground. The walls and floors would be two layers of concrete with insulation between them. And most importantly, the stilts, walls, and floors would be reinforced with iron rods, just like major highways.
When we perform the spiritual disciplines, we build into our faith spiritual reinforcing rods that will help us withstand and make it through the worst storms in life. When we exercise of faith through meditation, prayer, fasting, study, simplicity, submission, service, confession, worship, guidance, and celebration, we transform our faith in the natural to a life of faith in the supernatural.
Digging Deeper and Deeper
Through the spiritual disciplines, our faith gets buried deeper and deeper into the God-given ground of who we are as one of God's people.
The irony with faith is, that unlike the homeowner who dug deeper to make his supports stronger, when we dig deeper and deeper, our supports raise us to higher realms of God's protection, favor, blessings, and glory.
Just like the homeowner who rested after the home was finished in the assurance that all would be well, we can rest in the assurance that the Lord will get us through whatever storms come our way.
Additional reading:
Listen to God's Words
In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built. (1 Kings 6:7)
They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. (Luke 6:48)
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)
Also read: Matthew 7:24-27, Ephesians 2:19-22, 1 Corinthians 3:9-15
In the Words of Others
"If the foundation of faith is not embedded in our hearts, the power to endure will crumble." Henry B. Eyring
"The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid." Thomas a Kempis
"For me faith is the foundation and support of one's life." Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Think About It
In a sentence or two, describe how deep your faith is by relating it to the TV interview of the homeowner who built the hurricane-proof house.
What are some of the storms in your life that have shaken the foundations of your life and your faith. How did you respond?
Review the list of spiritual disciplines above and consider which disciplines will deepen your faith, which you already perform, and which you can easily begin or improve.
