Walking on Water

As I was sitting in church tonight, I came across a note I made to myself several months ago about when Peter walked on water. This is a lesson that has been very real to me personally this past year, so I decided to share it. You can read the story in the Bible, in Matthew 14:25-32. In this story Jesus was approaching the boat where the disciples were and they became afraid. When He assured them that it was Him and they were safe, Peter called out to Jesus saying, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water."At that moment, without hesitating or thinking about it, Jesus called him and Peter climbed out of the boat and began to walk on the water towards Jesus. It must have been such an amazing moment to be there, walking on water, doing what we all know is impossible by all human strengths and abilities. Yet, Peter was very much human and very aware of his own limitations and abilities. As he was walking towards Jesus, he noticed the wind blowing and became afraid. The moment he allowed that fear into his heart, he began to sink and cried out to Jesus to be saved. Jesus didn't stand there and watch him sink. He immediately reached out His hand and rescued Peter, but in this He had a lesson. Saying to Peter, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" When they climbed in the boat, the winds died down.

Peter was given the ability to do something completely impossible, and he had the courage to step out of the safety of the boat. But even though he had Jesus right in front of him, he still took a moment to look at the circumstances around him and allow the wind to instill fear in his heart. How could Peter doubt when Jesus was right there in front of him? I wonder what I would have felt if I was in Peters position. We know the story and we know how it ends, but at that moment, Peter didn't know what was going to happen next. All he knew was what is known to all of us, it is impossible to walk on water, and the wind could easily blow him down. He simply reacted in a very natural way to what he knew about his limitations.

How many times do we do the same thing in our Christian walk? We want to be used by God and we seek opportunity. God opens doors, gives us strength and ability to face new challenges. We rise to the occasion, build up the courage and climb out of our boats, out of our safety zones, and venture into the unknown. Then we remember who we are and what our limitations are. The winds begin to blow and we allow, if even for just a moment, the fear of our limitations to enter our hearts. Thus stopping the flow of what God had planned for us. Why do we become fearful? Why do we doubt? Because we are human, its difficult to separate from what we know about our own strengths and abilities and fully put all of our trust, wholly and completely in God. Our flesh does not incline to that naturally. It is something we have to put into practice and develop; something we must intentionally make the effort to do in every circumstance in our lives. Even Peter having Jesus right there, struggled with this. Yet it is not impossible!

All of us pass through times in our lives where we are experience doubt and fear. God understands this about us. That is why Jesus did not hesitate to save Peter and take the opportunity to teach Peter that he could accomplish anything he was empowered to do, as long as he did not allow doubt to enter his heart. Jesus allowed the winds to blow, not to frighten Peter, but to provide a lesson for everyone. When God calls us to do something, the enemy will try to put things in the way so that we feel incapable of fulfilling the call. Notice that once they got back on the boat the wind died down. Our circumstances will not last forever. It is up to us to keep our eyes focused on God and not allow anything we face to stop us from continuing to move forward. We must do so knowing and having complete faith that if God called us, He will empower us to accomplish and protect us from anything that may come against us.

I encourage you today, to follow hard after Gods calling in your life not allowing anything around you to discourage you or hold you back from fulfilling what He has given you the ability to do! Be courageous, full of faith, and completely confident in God, and You will see great and mighty things you could have never dreamed of or imagined!