Team Jesus Hurricane Update

Hey Fam! Happy Tuesday!

Well…here we go again. With two historic storms still in our rearview mirror, here we are awaiting another historic storm. One that is said to be aimed right for us.

In times like these, God can really speak to our hearts, and what He has been saying to me is this-

1) Don’t forget My promises or My faithfulness I’ve shown in the past.

2) Follow the example of Daniel to see the My promises unlocked.

Let’s start with number 1.

Psalm 77: 11-12 declares:

“I shall remember the deeds of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds.“

Intentionally reminding ourselves of the Lord’s faithfulness in the past is a major key to unlocking faith and miracles in the present. So, with that in mind let’s muse on two hurricane miracles He has done in our recent past.

The first one happened in August of 2019. Hurricane Dorian was a massive storm that actually tied the all-time record for maximum sustained wind speed. After it barreled through the Bahamas, the models predicted that it would hit the east coast of Florida next. At the time, a good friend of mine was living right on the beach near Stuart Florida, which was right in Dorian’s path. She called me a few days before the storm was supposed to hit and told me that she was so scared that she almost felt frozen. She said that she wanted to evacuate and come to the west coast, but she was afraid she would have a panic attack while driving. I felt bad for her, so I offered to come and pick her up and bring her to Sarasota.

The night that I left, the storm was still predicted to make landfall in her area. While driving, I began to pray and intercede for Divine intervention.

Literally the next morning, I woke up to the news that the Lord had changed the direction of the Atlantic jet stream. Because of this change, rather than the jet stream pulling Dorian TOWARDS Florida, it was now pulling it AWAY from Florida.

When all was said and done, Dorian ended up going northeast enough to TOTALLY miss the state of Florida. It was absolutely incredible. This map shows the final path of Dorian:

The second testimony of God’s miraculous intervention during a storm happened in September of 2017, during Hurricane Irma.

Irma was also a massive storm. One of the biggest in history actually. It also had the second longest streak of category 5 level winds (60 hours) in all of history.

Prior to having its sights set on us, Irma had totally pummeled several Carribean Islands, and many were predicting that Florida would be pummeled also. It was being called “the storm to end all storms”, and between the size and strength of the storm, and the constant media attention it got, we saw the largest evacuation in Florida’s history prior to Irma. Nearly 6.5 million people left the state.

I chose to stay in my home during Irma though and I’ll never forget what happened.

Just prior to Irma making landfall in Naples, the Lord sent a cold front. Irma weakened to a category 3 prior to hitting, and when it got on land, it encountered so much cold air that it rapidly weakened. This is a reporter literally standing in the eye wall as Irma was passing through. When I saw this, I knew that God was doing a miracle!

In fact, I found out later that the maximum temperature in Naples went down by 11 degrees on the day Irma came through (9/10).

On top of that, I found out from meteorologist Dennis Phillips that Irma’s winds actually pulled water offshore before the rain came through, lowering the water level near the shore. When the rain came, it had plenty of places to go, which greatly limited the storm surge and the flooding.

By the time Irma got to Sarasota County, it had weakened significantly, and the remaining winds went to the east. We were so greatly spared that pretty much everyone I talked to was in agreement that God had intervened. And, as an extra way for Him to let us know that He was with us during the storm, He caused this shape to form on the radar loop around the 941 as the storm was breaking up over our area:

So, my question is- if He has done Hurricane miracles before…can He not do them again?? Amen.

Now onto point 2- to follow the model of Daniel.

In Daniel chapter 9 we read that Daniel, while in captivity in Babylon, was reading the book of Jeremiah and came across the prophetic promise of Israels deliverance in the 70th year.

Daniel 9:2

“in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.“

This is the passage he was reading.

Jeremiah 29:10-14

“For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

So, here’s Daniel, in captivity in Babylon with the rest of the Israelites, and he realizes that they are approaching the seventieth year and that the promise was that they would be released soon. Before I talk about his response to this, let me draw the parallel.

Here we are awaiting a storm, and based on the word of God (like in Mark 4, where Jesus literally calms a storm) and based on history (as evidenced by the testimony of Dorian and Irma) the Lord absolutely has promised that He can give us a hurricane miracle.

So, if we follow the model of Daniel, our response to this isn’t just praying the promises of God, which is important, it is repentance and wholehearted intercession on behalf of the people in the land.

Daniel 9:3-19

³ So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. ⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, ⁵ we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. ⁶ Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.

⁷ “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. ⁸ Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; ¹⁰ nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. ¹¹ Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. ¹² Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. ¹³ As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.

¹⁵ “And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked. ¹⁶ O Lord, in accordance with all Your ^[j]righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. ¹⁷ So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸ O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

All this to say, let’s remember and be stirred by the testimonies of God’s faithfulness…but let’s also get on our faces tonight and rend our hearts before the Lord and cry out to Him for mercy and forgiveness for the people of the land…so that we can see His promises manifest.

With love,

Chris

P.S. As you may know, there have been many prophetic words spoken over our state. Here are just a few of them to meditate on as you pray.