Walking On Water

Matthew 14:22-32

We all know the story of Jesus walking on water and calling Peter to Him.

"Jesus spoke to His disciples and said 'it is I, don't be afraid'". (Matthew 14:27). First off, Jesus started with IT IS I; as His followers, we are to know Him by knowing His voice. Know when He is calling you, what He is speaking into your life. Our relationship with Jesus is one of the most important we an have in our lives. He is our shepherd, and His will for us is greater than we can imagine.

He then follows with DON'T BE AFRAID. Our first reaction to anything that is out of the ordinary, out of our understanding, or out of our comfort zone, is fear. Jesus knows this, we are predictable beings. Throughout the entire bible God tells us not to be afraid, its actually mentioned 365 times. Every day of the year He is letting us know not to be afraid, for what you fear is Lord over your life. Even fear itself can take position over your life. Jesus is our reminder that He is with us, He is for us, and we will not fall with Him by our side.

"Peter then says 'Lord, if it is you, tell me to come out to you' so Jesus says 'Come'". (Matthew 14:28-29). Peter is showing an act of faith in his words, he knows in his heart and does believe that Jesus is the Son of God. So Jesus then tests Peters belief in who He is and his obedience to Him. "Peter steps out of the boat and begins to walk on the water towards Jesus, but then the winds begin to pick up and Peter becomes afraid. Losing sight of Jesus, he begins to doubt and falls into the water. Jesus says to him 'you of little faith. Why did you doubt?'". (Matthew 14: 30-31).

I don't know about you, but I can definitely relate to Peter. We begin our journey of obedience to God with knowing who He truly is. The One True God, Our Heavenly Father. We take a step into the direction He is calling us in an act of obedience. But the moment we step out of the boat and onto the water, things begin to get shaky. Life begins to get shaky; you begin to question your choice, question if God really has you and if you can trust Him to provide. Now, two ways this goes: one, you begin to be like Peter and doubt. You allow your fears of what's to come settle in. How am I going to pay this with no income? There is no way I can start this business alone. Did I even hear God right, there is no way, why would He allow this to happen?

These are all thoughts I have had, I know everyone has their own self-doubting thoughts that derail them. The minute we allow these to overcome us, we fall into the water as Peter did, with Jesus questioning our faith. It's an act of double-mindedness. You cannot hold onto fear and also have faith. Your faith needs to be GREATER than the fear. As the saying goes, courage is not overcoming fear; it's taking action in the face of fear. Dwelling in the fear and allowing it in is showing who Lord is over your life; hint: it's not Jesus.

Now, what if instead you got out of the boat and kept your eyes on Jesus? What if you never turned away from Him in spite of fear?

He has a plan for our lives, and it doesn't look like the normalcy of life in this world, or what we think our life will look like. He has a greater purpose for us, a greater life for us. He came and denied this world of their ways, so why would the life He has for us look like everyone else's? When stepping out of the boat we are trusting Him with our life, made new in Him. It's not easy; the ways of this world are all we know and all we are familiar with. To follow Jesus we have to deny this world too, do what is uncomfortable, and shed what we know of this world. Keeping our eyes fixed on Him, trusting Him with all our hearts and minds, is where faith grows deeper and freedom begins. Obedience is one step at a time in faith. One foot in front of the other on the water toward Him.