I love how Jesus called
regular Joes to follow Him, to do the work He requested of them. I was reading Matthew 14 and Jesus is
reaching out to the masses. When He
hears about John being murdered, Jesus takes some time alone. The crowds seek Him out and He has compassion
on them. Jesus ministered to their needs
and but then it was getting late in the day.
It was probably close to dinner time and the disciples were encouraging
Jesus to send the people away so that they could get some dinner. “But Jesus said to them, ‘They do not need to
go away. You give them something to eat.’”
(Matthew 14:16)
I can’t begin to imagine
the astonishment the disciples thought and felt. How in the world are we going to do this
miracle that He says we are to do?
Simple obedience is what they needed to show. They gave Jesus what they had and He blessed
it and it was enough. In fact, they had
12 baskets full of food left over, enough for each disciple to have one. There is nothing too difficult for God if we
will just give Him what He asks for.
Jesus sends His disciples to cross to sea while He sends the
people away. After everyone is on their
way, Jesus seeks some alone time to pray.
I see twice now that Jesus pulls aside to pray and have quiet time with
the Father. If it is that important to
Jesus, why don’t we make it more of a priority to spend time with Him? I find myself refreshed and with a proper
perspective when I have spent time with God, reading His Word, and even singing
a song or two to Him. There is just
something about being in the presence of the very God that spoke stars into
existence. I am reminded of a quote that
said something to the effect that when we are in God’s presence we either
become nothing or we become a dirty little speck of a thing. We want the former more than the latter. It is in His presence that everything gets
turned right side up and God is the center.
In His presence we focus on Him and those things that seemed so big become
eclipsed by Him!
Well, the disciples are hard at work crossing the sea to get
to the other side where Jesus told them to go but a tempest arose while they
were out there. Their crossing was getting
more and more difficult. As the wind
howled and the water crested the sides of the boat, here comes Jesus walking on
the water. The shock of seeing something
like this would have had my heart racing to say the least. Yet, in the midst of this crazy storm, Peter,
in bold faith, asks that if it was truly Jesus, that He would bid him to come
walk with Him on the water.
Looking at
the storm all around, I am not sure I would have had the boldness to do what
Peter did. Jesus told him, come on out
and Peter stepped out of the boat. What
faith that must have taken, yet with his eyes fixed on Jesus, this was
something that became possible. Peter
was out there on the water! The Bible says
that while he was walking toward Jesus that his attention was diverted and he
saw the storm and then began to sank.
First.. KUDOS Peter for stepping out.
Even though the boat was getting swamping, there was a sure footing
inside the boat. Second, what must that
have been like to do the impossible.
There has never been another person that has walked on top of the water.
Andrew and I are taking a crazy step of faith outside of our
boat. Our boat is our comfort zone, our
network, our family, the familiar, our community. We are stepping out of our boat and walking
the walk of faith that God has placed on our hearts. We are taking great strides to obey. In less than a week we will be on our way to
New Zealand seeing which location God has called us to go and serve. What is your boat? What is God asking you to do? Will you have crazy faith and step out of
your comfort zone to be obedient to what He is asking you to do? Who knows what will be come of it, but God
has put something on your heart. Leap. Jump.
Splash in obedience!
Be encouraged ~ Dawn
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