As I was walking today and praying, the Lord laid spoke to me “batten down the hatches.” Usually when you hear that phrase it is a warning to do just that, but the Spirit of the Lord was showing me something altogether different. It was particularly directed to men. I have watched a lot of National Geographic programs, especially on disasters, like plane crashes and so on. The last series that I watched was about disasters at sea. I watched the whole season. Each show was about a particular sinking. As you watch the whole season you see one reason for sinking coming up time and time again. In a storm, the hatches were not battened down properly. Often a water tight door was not shut correctly. So in huge storms, the water comes over the deck and instead of just washing of as it is designed to, if a hatch is open the water pours in there. Millions of gallons of sea water pouring through and it often led to the boat becoming unstable and then sinking.

There is something in all of us, especially men, that instinctively knows how to batten down the hatches of our hearts when we face our own disasters in life. When assaulted from every side we retreat into ourselves and close the doors and the hatches behind us. It is a survival instinct. Yet what would happen on a ship if we did indeed batten down the hatches and close all the air tight doors. Initially it would save us. Yet, when the storm was over, if we kept the doors closed and never reopened the hatches, then the air inside, the atmosphere would begin to become stale, maybe even toxic. We would not be able to got out on the deck and feel the wind on our faces. Stuck inside we would not be able to see the ocean or the sky above or the brilliant night stars that illuminate the heavens.

In Britain, where I was born, it may be called the stiff upper lip. In other places the word stoic may be used. Yet in both cases the missing ingredient would be feelings and the ability to be intimate. The man or the woman who has closed down, who has battened down the hatches of his or her soul, breathes stale toxic air. They cannot feel the magnificent wind of the Spirit on their faces. They may long to breath pure fresh air, but that would involve opening up. And tragically for many, they keep the hatches battened down and they have tightly sealed their heart.

An open heart is the answer to the storms. It defies common sense, it is not natural. It is supernatural. To remain open, open-hearted, when all around you is in chaos and you are surrounded by trouble on every side is supernatural. When we have learned to rely upon Jesus and not upon ourselves then our hearts can remain open because He elevates us above the storms, above the waves. In this higher place above the waves, there is no need to shut everything up. Have you ever noticed the saint who while going through some great trial, is actually ministering to others? You go round to comfort them and they end up comforting you. This is the power of God in the saint above the waves whose eyes are fixed on Jesus. Opening up to Jesus means to open up the windows of your soul and the door of your heart. The only thing that comes flooding in is His love and grace and mercy and power. And this flood does not sink you, it elevates you.

Are you in a dark place saint? Are you tempted to close down? In 2Cor 4:6 we see that God has “commanded the light to shine out of darkness.” It is the light of heaven and it is the knowledge and the glory of God reflected in the face of Jesus our Lord. Look into His face in your darkness and you will see the glory of God and in this knowing, the darkness is dispelled. This light is the treasure of heaven and He has seen fit to fill our broken vessels with it. No vessel filled with the glory of God can ever sink. You will not sink and you will not founder. Lift up your eyes today and look into the face of our Lord and He will bid you come.