Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Jill Briscoe helps you rest in God's arms, no matter what trials you're facing. But first, when life's storms suddenly come your way, how do you respond? Do you doubt God's presence, questioning His concern for you? Or do you see storms as part of God's plan for your life and rest assured He cares for you and is in control of all things?

We want to help you trust in God's care and control in all the storms you face by sending you Jill Briscoe's message, Weathering the Storms of Life, as well as a set of 12 beautifully designed scripture cards to encourage you in troubled times. Weathering the Storms of Life and the set of 12 scripture cards are our thanks for your gift to help more people experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you give today. Call 1-800-889-5388 or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Jill with her message, Weathering the Storms of Life.

Jill Briscoe: I know that what I learn can be helpful to others. For the comfort that I receive, as Corinthians says, is intended to comfort others. And you notice in this passage, there were also other little boats with them. And when Jesus calmed the storm and said, "Stop it," and it stopped, it was calm for all the other people around, for the other little boats.

And that's what's intended: that what happens in our vessel, in our boat, as Jesus calms us down and helps us accept the unacceptable sometimes and says, "Now you respond rightly to me. Where is your faith?" And as we tremblingly say, "Help thou mine unbelief" and try to trust Him, then the other little boats are the recipients of the blessing that we are receiving from God.

And so, why does it happen? To strengthen our faith, certainly. James tells us that. And you know, unbelievers cannot cope with the whole intellectual exercise of figuring out suffering. It makes absolutely no sense to them. I have talked to people that do not believe in Christ, and suffering in the world makes no sense to the unbeliever.

But to the believer, as James says, we understand a little tiny bit of the why of suffering. We understand creation was created and good, and then the fall came, and it affected everything. It affected the creation. It affected the creatures. It affected the people that should love God so that they hate God. We understand the theology of it.

And we also understand, as James says, that when little troubles or squalls come knocking at our door, we are to accept them as friends and not resist them as enemies. Because for the Christian, there's a because. This is going to help us endure. And what we learn in one squall will help us for the next if we'd quit using all our prayer time for, "Don't let there be another squall. Don't let my children ever have a squall. Don't let them ever suffer. Don't let them ever do this, that, and the other."

And if we could instead say, "Help us to learn the building blocks of faith," then what we learn in this squall is going to make us strong for that one. You see, God can even use the storm to prepare us and bless us and save us, in a sense, from the next one.

We have many grandchildren, and one of them, Drew, who is our daughter's first child, lives in Chicago. He was starting school now this was many years ago. He called me up and he said, "Nana, I'm really scared about going to school. Would you pray that nothing happens to me tomorrow? I start school, big school, and I'm really nervous." And I said I'd love to. So I prayed a typical Nana prayer: "Lord, keep Drew safe and make him have a lovely day at school and give him friends. Thank you, Jesus, you've heard this prayer." I put the phone down.

So Drew goes to school first day. He's very nervous. He's standing in this long line of all these children. He only knows a couple of them from the neighborhood. And there's a very strange person who's going to be his teacher at the front with a little bell. And suddenly a bee from a nest that hadn't been attended to stings him.

Now, what Drew didn't know and what we didn't know is he is highly allergic to bee stings. And because it was his first day at school, he didn't like to step out of the line and say, "I've been stung," even though he was beginning to feel really sick. He just stood there until he collapsed on the floor.

And by the time the teacher walked down the row and found him, he looked like the elephant man, and he couldn't breathe. He was just like this, swollen up. She picked him up and, with another teacher, ran across and up the street where Oak Park Hospital happened, in the grace of God, to be. And he was all right. He was helped.

About a month later, he came to stay, and all the cousins were together. And David, our big David's child, and Drew have sort of grown up together. They're the same age. They took the canoe on this little fishing lake we have at the back of us. And off they went, and they got tangled up among the reeds at the end of the lake.

And we were inside, and we were cooking barbecue and everything, and we didn't even notice they were lost until everybody had to go out and look for them. And where he had got was literally bee heaven. There was nothing but ant nests and bee nests and all of these things. And when Drew walked in after we eventually found them and rescued them, and it was a grand family adventure, he simply said to me, "Nana, if the bee hadn't stung me then and the bee had stung me now, I'd be dead."

Very discerning. I was saying when I heard from my grandson, actually I didn't know what to say to him when he rang me up. "Nana, I got stung by a bee and swelled up and went to hospital, and you prayed nothing had happened to me." You know, I mean, I had to answer that. My immediate response in hearing from my daughter was, "Lord, I'm offended. That was your bee did that. It's His storm, His bee."

But what he learned from the sting of the bee actually saved him later in life, because he's been stung since but he has his EpiPen now. And God can even use the storm. We have no idea, us little people. How can we figure it out? We have to trust Him, that He loves and cares and plans for us.

Rochunga Pudaite was the son of a headhunter. A missionary, a Welsh missionary, went into this tribe in India up on the Chinese border, brought the gospel. And Rochunga's father, who was the head of the tribe, came to faith. And he said to his little son, "Rochunga, I'm going to send you out, but you're going to have to walk to the missionary school. And it's going to be about an hour's walk through the jungle every day so that you can learn to read and write and come back and bring us the Bible."

And so little Rochunga started to walk through the jungle on his own. And one day he was walking through the jungle, and suddenly he was aware something was behind him. And he turned around, and there was a tiger—huge tiger—with gleaming eyes, padding along about 12 feet behind him. Well, the little guy was absolutely petrified. And he thought, "Now I know I don't run. I know I just keep walking. I know I just keep steady." And he walked the rest of the way to the village, absolutely as you can imagine, petrified.

Tiger never came nearer, just kept his distance about 12 feet behind him all the way. When he got there, all the villagers came out, and they gathered him up and they said, "We can't believe you're here. We were expecting to come and find your body." And he said, "Yes, this great big tiger was horrible and it was padding along behind me." And they said, "Tiger? What tiger? We only know that gorillas have killed two men on the trail today." And they said, "We're going to kill anybody that comes from this village to that village, and we knew that you were trying to come to school." And Rochunga said, "Well, God sent a tiger, you see, and they didn't come near me because of the tiger."

Guest (Male): More powerful teaching from the Briscoes is headed your way, so don't go anywhere. We've made a wide array of resources and content available to you online for free at tellingthetruth.org and on the Telling the Truth app. There, you can listen, read, and watch powerful teaching from Stuart and Jill on relevant topics like the sovereignty of God, the importance of the church, and how to grow closer with Jesus Christ. You can also request this month's featured resource as thanks for your gift of support to help share the abundant life Jesus offers with more people around the world. Visit us online or download the app today and experience life with Telling the Truth. Now, here's more from Jill on how you can have peace through life's trials.

Jill Briscoe: Secondly, He's in control of what He allows. He's in control of what He allows. And yes, there will be a final squall, obviously, and we will drown or whatever. But we will never drown if Jesus is in the boat. I mean, we'll never die. For he that believes in Jesus will never die, it says in the Scriptures. Our body will die, but we won't.

We'll never have a second when we are unconscious of God. In fact, the moment that we die, we'll be more conscious of everything than we've ever been in our lives. And I often think that this life is like a dream. And when we drown in that final squall, whenever it is, and He's numbered our days—He's decided when that will be—that we'll wake up and we'll say, "Oh, I've been asleep for 40 years or 50 years or 70 years."

And this is reality. And we'll wake up to all of these things that we've believed up here or say that we believe up there. And so the squalls are sent to us in order that we might trust Him, not only for the final squall, but for all the little squalls in between and all the big squalls in between as well.

God is not going to explain it to us here. Contentment is accepting the unexplained, says Amy Carmichael, and trusting Him with it. Contentment is going to sleep when there's no earthly reason you should be in the squall. What happens to me is I can't sleep when trouble comes. How could Jesus sleep through the storm? And He wants us to as well.

How could He rest? Because He had perfect faith in His heavenly Father, perfect faith in His heavenly Father. He knew He cared. He knew He was in control. So what was this and why was this and when was this? We've looked at it all. But who was this? And that's the secret. Who is this? That's what they asked. They were terrified, verse 41. And they asked each other, "Who is this? Even the winds and waves obey Him."

Who is this who has come into your vessel? They took Him as He was into His vessel. How was He? He was God. Who do you have living in your life? Who do I? God. The God of storms, the God of universes. Not a little bit of God—all of God. You don't get a little bit of God. You can't have a little bit of a person. You have all you're going to get in Christ living within you. That's who it was. Who is this?

In Portugal, a beautiful New Age worshiper, a beautiful English girl, long blonde hair, into everything that Europe's into, came to see me and said, "I think you can help me. I'm looking for meaning. I'm looking for purpose." And I looked at her and I said, "Well, you believe many things. I can see that with the crystals and everything else you're wearing." She said, "Yes, I believe in many gods, and I'm doing my best, but I'm still not finding what I'm looking for."

And I said, "Well, which out of all the gods and philosophies you're into is helping you the most?" And she said, "Oh, that's easy: astrology." And I said, "Isn't that amazing? Coming up to Christmas, I know the story of three famous astrologers, or maybe more, who left everything in Persia and went on an incredible journey and they brought all that they were, all they believed, and they found a baby in a manger, and they knelt down and worshiped." They brought their astrology and said, "I'm submitting what I believe to that baby."

And I said, "Victoria, you have to decide who that baby is in the manger. And when you find that out, you'll find what you're looking for. Who is He? Who's the baby in the manger?" That's the question. Who's the baby in the manger? Who the man of Galilee? Who the one who asks for heart trust, for the faith that sets men free?

Who the baby in the manger? Who the man who stills my storm? Who the great and glorious Savior who will guide my vessel home? Who the one I love so deeply? Who the man who came to tell gospel truth about salvation? Who the one who does things well? He is Jesus. He is Jesus. He's the one to still the fear. He's the mighty. He's the lovely. And despite the storm is here.

In the sudden squalls that swamp me and the waves of sin and strife, whipped by winds that are against me as I nearly drown in life, as they come and roar and blow and batter and the devil does his part, nothing will my spirit shatter. There is stillness in my heart. Is there stillness in your heart? When there's stillness in your heart and you're sleeping on the pillow in the arms of God, you let the storm stop. Yes, and please, and it would be wonderful, God, if this was over. But you're safe. You're spiritually safe. You're at rest. There is stillness in my heart. One squall at a time, day by day by day by day.

On behalf of Jesus Christ, I ask you: where is your faith? Where's your faith? Where's your faith? Where's your faith? Pray with me. Oh, heavenly Father, help me to trust when I am swamped, forgetting who's on board, panic-frightened, tired out. Help me to see you, Lord. Believing even if I drown, I'll never be alone. For you are in my vessel and God is on the throne.

I believe it, Lord. Publicly I affirm it. I believe. I believe you are God of God and Lord of Lords, God of storms, God of squalls, totally adequate, sovereign, powerful, loving me enough to die for me, caring enough to forgive me, walking into my hurried heart, settling me down inside. And I ask you to forgive me, Lord, that sometimes I say, "Where are you? Why aren't you doing something?" And I would ask that I might have faith to believe that you are sovereignly active in whatever squall comes into my life, that the final purposes of God would be worked out. Help thou mine unbelief. Oh Lord, help thou mine unbelief. Remind us of your love, your care. Amen.

Guest (Male): Let's chat with Jill about today's message. Jill, it's often said God won't give someone more than they can handle. But really, that's not what scripture says, is it?

Jill Briscoe: No, scripture says God doesn't give us what is more than He can handle. There is a difference. Of course, things happen to us that we can't handle. We are little frail people. We are born to die. We are fallen. Our bodies will start to disintegrate as soon as we're born. Happy story! So we're going to have more than we can handle. Who can handle dying? Who can handle pain? Who can handle betrayal? Who can handle this?

Well, Christ came and faced and suffered through all of this: betrayal, pain, suffering. And then one day He rose again above it, above it, and sits at the right hand of God, from whence He sent His other self, the Holy Spirit. He is called the helper, the one called alongside to help, to comfort, to encourage, to empower when we are weak and useless and afraid. So if you have Christ, you have all that you need. God says there is nothing He cannot handle. He handled it all. And He in all His power lives in the believer, the simplest, smallest child who believes in Jesus, the oldest, most helpless being on earth. Christ, by His risen life, lives in them. And that's what scripture says.

Guest (Male): So how can times like this strengthen our faith?

Jill Briscoe: They can strengthen our faith by discovering in the difficult times that He is enough. If I never had a problem, I'd never know that Christ could heal it or fix it. I can't remember the words, but it was a very popular, wonderful song years ago: "If I never had a problem, I'd never know that He could fix it." And isn't that true? If I'd never had this problem, I'd never know there was peace that's ridiculous in a situation where war is raging all around me. If I never had a problem, I'd never know that amazingly He gave me words to answer in an impossible court case when I needed them. If I'd never had a problem, I'd never know the strength that came when I thought I was done. And I was done, but He wasn't. He'd only just begun. And that's why problems are useful.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today here on Telling the Truth. We pray today's message has helped you to experience life in all its fullness through Jesus Christ. When life's storms suddenly come your way, how do you respond? Do you doubt God's presence, questioning His concern for you? Or do you see storms as part of God's plan for your life and rest assured He cares for you and is in control of all things?

We want to help you trust in God's care and control in all the storms you face by sending you Jill Briscoe's message, Weathering the Storms of Life, as well as a set of 12 beautifully designed scripture cards to encourage you in troubled times. In Weathering the Storms of Life, Jill teaches from the Gospel of Mark, examining the disciples' experience in a sudden storm to address the issues of suffering and faith, challenging you to examine your belief in God in the midst of trouble. Her teaching and the scripture cards will encourage you as you discover how you can be sure of God's love for you and His control over every circumstance, no matter how sudden, severe, or unexpected.

Weathering the Storms of Life and the set of 12 scripture cards are our thanks for your gift to help more people experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you give today. Call 1-800-889-5388 or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Next time on Telling the Truth, it's more from the Briscoes about how you can experience abundant life in Christ when you open your life to be changed by God. We hope you'll listen then.