Water Walker

 

Matthew 14:28 “And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water”.

Careers, ministry, family, friends, projects, finances, businesses, all of these are areas that we seek God about. While we may look for the answers to come easily, I’ve learned the greater the opposition, the greater the need for your influence in that area. A struggle means Destiny. The more unfamiliar it is to me the more I am certain that it is God that is requiring it of me. The enemy isn’t presenting anything new to us. He’s incapable of producing and creating. He’s an imitator. The only thing he gives is repetition of the old. This is how Peter knew it was ok to get out of the boat, this is how he became certain it was God because what he saw before him, he had never seen before. Immediately after stepping outside of the boat, he desired to be sure that he was doing it correctly and not messing up. So while trying not to get it wrong is when he actually got it completely wrong. Trying to be too careful, he messed up the moment he looked down; taking his eyes off of Jesus. 

 

Metaphorically speaking, there are many of you that are afraid of messing up, so the enemy causes you to look down. Looking down for you, includes being emotionally displaced and doubting what you’re doing. It’s only a trick of his to take your focus away from Jesus. He desires to make you doubt that you really have JOY in a chaotic situation, make you doubt that this is real PEACE.  Making you doubt that you would truly have this much JOY after losing a loved one. He wants to make you believe that what you’re doing isn’t really real. So you began to look down even more instead of looking unto Jesus. You begin to look at your situation and say, “There’s no way this is really real. I’ve never seen this before. I’ve never been called to this level before.” This is when God catches you and shows you that it really is Him. 

 

Matthew 14:31 “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”

 

 Jesus said unto Peter, “Why did you doubt? And this is my question to you, “Why do you doubt?” You know what you’ve heard and seen. You know that God is asking you to do a particular and unfamiliar thing. Why are you doubting? Trust Him with the outcome. Peter is the only one of the twelve disciples that said, “Lord if it’s really you, then bid me to come.” This let’s us know that the journey will not only be unfamiliar but it will be lonely as well. I know you want all of your friends and family to go with you and be happy; on the same page as you, yet the majority of the time it simply won’t be. This is not to say that you’re better than anybody, it’s simply meant for you to place your focus on “Him and not Them.”

 

The remaining disciples played it safe. They didn’t move. Peter was the one to ask the Lord to bid him to come. Often times we go before God asking Him to work the miracle, open the door, or simply to reveal Himself to us in a new way; and then when He does, we panic because of fear of the unknown. It is obvious that Peter had a level of trust in God to even want to step outside of the normal or step outside of what was familiar to him in that moment. However, once he got out there, fear gripped him causing him to doubt what he’d just seen and heard. Many of us have been affected in the same way, because the situation looks unfamiliar we tense up and question if this is really God. This is exactly what Peter did, he said “Lord if it’s you . . .” I know you can recall asking God, “If this is you, show me a sign Lord” and just as soon as He gives you the confirmation and you begin to walk in the manifestation of what you just asked for then you allow fear to paralyze you. You have the faith to start the business, to start the organization, to pursue the call of God on your life, but the moment you experience resistance and warfare you began to doubt if you’re doing it right. The enemy makes you believe that it’s not God because you’re being asked to do the unusual. But you should remind him that God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.(1 Corinthians 1:27) I’m pretty sure it didn’t make any sense to Peter to go outside of what he thought was protection in the middle of a storm. What he knew as safety was a boat; but God placed the inclination on the inside of him to be a Water Walker. He wanted Peter to step outside of what was familiar to him and trust the God of the storm. God is calling you to be a water walker as well. This isn’t some fictitious story from ages ago, God is still calling you and I to place all of our faith within Him for the unfamiliar situations that He’s calling us to.

 

Prayer:

 By the power and authority of Jesus Christ I bind up every paralyzing and debilitating spirit of fear. I bind up every spirit that comes to bind the mind, the will and the emotions. I loose the Faith and the Holy Spirit of the living God. 

 

I dare you to trust God even when you don’t understand. Even if your eyes are telling you not to believe it, be that Water Walker and trust God. Don’t become like Rhoda and others in (Acts 12:5-16) having prayed for God to release Peter from jail and then when he was released they doubted the miracle because it didn’t happen the way they expected. Today, release total control to our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Do not doubt because the miracle is often in the unfamiliar. Remember, without faith it is absolutely impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Take the limitations off of Him, remove Him from your box of expectancies and give Him free reign to make you a Water Walker.

 Arkimberly Jiles