With a lot of fist waving and shouting, the gang of Philistines arrested Samson and put out his eyes. The enemy wants us to be blind. If He can not blind us he will seek to get us focused on the wrong things. Being blind does not mean that we can’t see at all, but that we don't see what we should.

The night Peter denied the Lord three times, he was told to watch and pray. He was watching the Lord but he wasn't watching himself. In the parable of the five wise and foolish virgins (Matt 13 and 25), the girls were watching for the Bridegrooms coming but they were not watching their oil. These passages teach us that people will be aware of the conditions of the last days, but not aware of the condition of their own hearts. Knowing the signs of His coming of the Lord the same as knowing the Lord who is coming.

Samson entertained the one (Delilah) who was plotting his overthrow. Samson reasoned “I can let the enemy into my life for the Lords power will break me free again. He failed to see that there is some form of cost to maintain a growing “vision of God”. In Revelation 3.8, Jesus spoke to the Laodicea church who thought they had everything they needed when actually they had everything they wanted but nothing they needed. Jesus said “Buy from me eye salve for your eyes that you might see.” What it takes to “see”, has to be brought. There is a cost to “seeing” more of God.

Samson knew what he wanted but didn't know what he needed. He watched what he wanted not what he needed to watch. He thought he could still be Gods anointed and live with compromise. But there is a time when the anointing will lift and leave you and Samson didn't know the Lord had departed from him.

Friends, lets not be people that know more about of the signs of His coming than we do about the signs of “His leaving". Lets watch what we are watching for Samson stopped seeing long before he was blind.

They looked everywhere but Mary and Joseph couldn’t find the young Lord Jesus.  They thought He was with them.   How different the day would have been if they had decided to stay with Jesus.

One time Jesus got into a boat and said: “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.”  (Luke 8:22).  While they sailed, a storm arose and the waves that hit the boat began to fill the little ship with water.  Jesus had fallen asleep so they woke him up.  He stood up, rebuked the wind and there was a great calm.   His question to the disciples was “Where is your faith.”  A bit harsh? I’m with the disciples. Safety gear wasn’t invented and buoyancy was limited.   Finally, they reach the safety of Gerasenes on the other side, and Jesus delivers a man with a legion of demons.

When we read this story, we usually see the disciples on a journey but accompanied by the Master, but of course, the main character in the Gospels is Jesus.  It is Jesus that is crossing over to work on the other side of the lake.  It is not the disciple’s idea; it is His. It was not their purpose, it was His.  It is not their mission, it was His.  He had invited the disciples to go along with Him.  Today still, He seeks to set captives free and invites us to join Him in His mission.  Comfort comes from knowing that Jesus is with us but the believer’s effectiveness and safety come from us being with Him. The church is not on a mission to love the world, inviting Jesus to come with us but He is on a mission to restore the earth and he invites us to partner with Him, as His body. Through us, as we are led by him, He is touching people and we are witnesses of Him and His work. Of course “As they went, the Lord worked with them,” because it was His work.

When He asked, “Where is your faith?” He thought they would understand that if the boat trip didn’t originate with them, the safety and effectiveness of the trip, didn’t depend on them either.  Our confidence is because He asked us into His boat, not that we invited Him into ours.

Each day let’s accept the Lords invitation to His Mission, then when storms from the enemy come into our lives we can say “Lord, I’m on the mission with you. This is a journey You started, so this is a storm that either You or both of us can fix!” And friend, if we have got into His boat, it is never going to sink.

As the disciples crossed the lake a violent wind whipped the water into waves and foam. The King rose to speak and the wind withdrew. Soon Jesus and His friends arrived on the beach to meet the man from the tombs. (Luke 8:22)  

When the devil knew Jesus was coming to set the man free, he stirred up a great storm to prevent Jesus coming to the region.  It was not the disciples he was trying to stop as they were merely men at this point. Christ did not live within them.  They were not anointed by the Spirit and Jesus’ authority was not resident within. The only person that worried the devil about that boatload of invaders, was Jesus!

But things are different now. Today Christ dwells within us and the devil will cause storms to come against us, to create fear, distract us or cause enough trouble to turn us back. Each day we say to Father “Today I want to live like a Christian. As someone who Christ can live through!’  But how many times have we made that commitment to be available to God, only to find that we soon face various storms arising on the lake of life? They come in the guise of conflicts, distractions, arguments or busyness but they drive us back or stop us dead in the water. The devil is not interested in stopping you particularly but he is seeking to stop the Lord Jesus from touching people’s lives.

Friend, Jesus is in your life just as He was in the boat. The enemy can’t stop Him and if the enemy seeks to rock your boat, rock his world. As a son or daughter in whom The Son resides, You have His authority to rise up, speak against the storm and carry on. Get to the other side for there is someone living among the dead who needs Him today.  Push through for there is Another One inside you that can bring life to the Legion.