wind
Waiting on God
Jesus told the disciples to get into the ship and go to the other side while he went up into the mountain to pray. Once the ship reached the middle of the sea, the wind began to blow against it and the waves were tossing it. When Jesus walked towards the disciples on the sea, they began to cry out in fear because they didn’t recognize who he was.
Jesus said, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid.
Peter said, If it be you, command me to come to you the water.
Jesus said, Come.
Peter was doing fine as long as he was looking at Jesus, but the moment he looked at the wind and not at the Son, he became afraid and stopped walking. He saw the effects of the wind. He heard the strong wind. When he stopped walking, he began to sink.
But what I want you to see in this passage of scripture is that Peter stepped out of the boat during the storm. Peter didn’t wait until the storm was over. He didn’t wait until there was favorable weather. He stepped out during a difficult time.
When he stepped out of the ship, he stepped out in faith. He didn’t use the wind as an excuse not to follow Jesus’ command. Solomon said, He that observe the wind shall not sow. There is a possibility that the wind will scatter the seed, but the farmer doesn’t withhold the seed because if he never sows, he will never reap a harvest. The farmer doesn’t worry about what may or may not happen. He sows in the morning and in the evening because he doesn’t know which seed will prosper.
Peter pursued Jesus while the other disciples waited on him. If you are always ‘waiting on God’, you will never write the book. You will never start the business. You will never own the home. You will never take that trip.
To receive the thing you’ve been desiring or praying for, you are going to have to do something. Peter stepped onto the water. He did something he had never done before and sometimes we have to do something that we’ve never done before.
Stepping out in faith does not mean that resistance won’t come. It doesn’t mean that fear won’t come. The wind comes to keep you from going to the other side. The wind will blow and the waves will toss, but decide today that you will step out of the ship anyway.
[Matthew 14:22-30; Ecclesiastes 11:4, 6]
Greater Works
The same Jesus that fed thousands, raised the dead, restored sight, healed the sick, cursed the fig tree, cast out demons, rebuked the wind and spoke to the waves is in you.
He is in you and you are in Him.
What He did is what you can do also – and even greater works because He, along with the Father and Holy Spirit, will do it through you.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John 14:12).
Let Us
Jesus went into the ship with His disciples and said, Let us go over to the other side of the lake. Had Jesus told them that in the midst of the sea they were going to face a storm, some of them would have probably gotten off the ship.
Shortly thereafter, a strong wind came, the waters began to fill their ship and the disciples began to panic and worry. But Jesus was sleeping during the storm. So, they woke Him up and said, Master, master, we perish.
Wow. Did you hear what they said?
They told Jesus that they were going to die, but Jesus had already told them before they got into the water that they were going to make it to the other side.
Has God ever sent you a word and at first you believed Him?
Maybe He told you that he was going to restore your relationship with your child.
Maybe He told you that one day you would own a business.
Maybe He told you that nothing was going to separate you and your spouse.
Maybe He told you that after many miscarriages that you were going to conceive and give birth to a healthy child.
And then something happened. A storm came and now you question what God said. So, instead of saying what God said, you say what you’re feeling at that moment.
It will never happen.
I’m not smart enough.
I don’t think my husband/wife and I are going to make it much longer.
I’ll never carry a child to full term.
When Jesus woke up, He rebuked the wind and the raging water. He then turned to the disciples and asked, Where is your faith? God has dealt to every man the measure of faith (Romans 12:3) and to receive what God has said or promised, it will require YOUR faith as well as your patience and obedience.
On the other side is what God prepared for you. On the other side is what you have been called to. The moment Jesus and His disciples got to the other side, they met a man who had lived in tombs, wore no clothes and had been possessed by demons for a long time (Luke 8:27). On the other side are people waiting on you to become who God created to be. On the other side are people waiting for you do what God told you to do. They have heard and now they are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.
One of the reasons why some of us haven’t gotten to the other side yet is because we allowed the storm to stop us rather than to make us. You gave up too quickly. You chose to go back to what feels safe and comfortable rather than to go forward. You’re trying to avoid the storm because you want everything to come easy, but God wants to use the storm to build your faith and to make you for where He is taking you.
Another reason why we haven’t gotten to the other side is because we stopped believing what God said. When Jesus spoke to the disciples, we know that they believed him because they stayed in the ship when He got in it, but the moment they saw the wind and the raging waters, they didn’t think or believe that they were going to make it to the other side.
But if Jesus says, Let us, then that is a sure indication that whatever you’re about to go through, you’re not going to go through it alone. Jesus was only with them, but the good news is He is in us.
And if He says, We are going over, then we are going over AND to the other side – but it will only happen according to your faith.
Be encouraged.
[Scripture reference: Luke 8:22-27]
Come Out of the Ship
come: to go from one place to another; to act; to follow someone
Jesus gave his disciples an assignment. He gave them something to do. He told them to get into a ship and to go to the other side. After He sent them away, He went to the mountain to pray.
The disciples did what Jesus told them to do. Things got off to a good start, but before they could reach where Jesus told them to go, a storm came in the midst of the sea. In the middle of their journey. The waves tossed the ship and the winds were very strong.
Jesus left where he was (the mountain) to go where they were (the sea). When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were afraid for they thought it was a ghost. But Jesus encouraged them with words. Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid.
Peter then said, Lord, if it be you, command me to come to you on the water. If Jesus told him to do it, then he believed he could do it. Jesus then said, Come.
When Peter stepped on the water, the sea wasn’t calm and the storm hadn’t ceased. The wind was still strong and the waves were still tossing the ship, but he obeyed. His situation never changed. Things still looked the same, but he wasn’t focused on what he saw. He didn’t wait for the right time. He didn’t wait for perfect conditions. He didn’t wait for Jesus to give him another word and then another word. He acted on the word that Jesus gave him.
Jesus gave Peter one word (Come) and he obeyed. Some of us have gotten so many prophecies and promises and confirmation, yet we remain in the ship. We never moved. We never did what God told us to do, but we’re wondering why our situation hasn’t changed. You asked God to do something in your life and then your opportunity came, but because the opportunity came in the form of a storm, you didn’t want what you had asked for anymore. God promised you something and now years later you’re wondering why it hasn’t come to pass yet. It’s because you refused to do something that you had never done before.
Peter had NEVER walked on water before.
Here are some of the things we battle with in our minds: What if I fall once I get out of the ship? What will they (disciples) say about me? What if I fail? They may laugh at me.
The moment Peter stopped doing what Jesus commanded him to do and looked at the wind, he became afraid and began to sink. No one never said that fear wouldn’t come, but remember that God didn’t give you the spirit of fear. He is with you, He has revealed to you that it is Him and you don’t have to be afraid.
God just doesn’t want to fulfill His promises in your life, but He also wants to do something in the lives of those who are in the ship with you. Think about it this way. The longer Peter would have stayed in the ship, the longer he would have stayed in the storm as well as those who were with him. When the disciples saw what He did for Peter, it gave them hope. It increased their faith. It helped their unbelief. They worshipped him and said, You really are the Son of God.
I know we think that it’s ‘safe’ in the ship, but the blessings and the promises that God gave you aren’t in the ship. And listen. When you get out of the ship, continue to focus on the One who called you out of the ship. Focus on the word He gave you. Keep doing what He told you to do. If you focus on what things look like, you will begin to doubt and then you will sink. But if you sink, do what Peter did and cry out to the Lord because you are not far from His hand. He will catch you with His hand. He will hold you up with His hand. He will not allow what was sent to bless you to drown you.
But to see a difference in your life, you are going to have to do something different. Something you have never done before. For us to see change in our lives, we are going to have to change how we think and how we feel and how we used to do things.
It is time to get out of the ship. To do what God is telling you to do, to go where He wants you to go, you are going to have to leave something.
Peter left the ship to go to Jesus. What are you willing to leave? Will you come out of the ship also?
[Scripture reference: Matthew 14:22-33]
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