Today I want to share a few thoughts about walking on water; living a life of faith and obedience to God. As a ministry we have been walking on water with Jesus for a number of years now, trusting Him to sustain us and our ministry efforts! There have been times when we have stepped out of the boat and walked out so far when we looked back we lost sight of the boat altogether! I’m telling you, there is no better place to be than totally and completely reliant on Jesus!’
Matthew’s account of Peter walking on water tells us: “ Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water. “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:28-31)
Now of course Peter and Jesus physically walked on water which is truly an astounding thing! The laws of nature were suspended by the greater supernatural laws of God. Jesus had said the Word to Peter “Come.” Peter didn’t step out on the water, he stepped out on the ever living, unchanging, uncompromising Word of the Living God! When I’m talking about walking on water, I’m talking about taking a step of faith in obedience to God and trusting He will meet you in a supernatural way and sustain you.
You can take steps of faith in business, education, healthcare, government, media, whatever sphere of life God has called you to. Every time you take a step there is an element of risk. I hope you don’t mind if I say at this point, that great rewards only come when we are willing to take great risks. It’s only extreme acts of obedience to God, that will result in extreme breakthroughs from heaven. Sometimes in order to see God move, you’ve got to be willing to walk out on a limb for God.
Peter stepped out of the boat, and initially he was just fine walking on the water, thank you very much! That in and of itself is quite an accomplishment! And to be honest there are times when we follow God and take a step of faith, everything flows perfectly and easily, and we think to ourselves, “Wow! this faith walk is a breeze!” It’s easy to believe and follow Jesus when things are going well, but there are times when our faith will be tested.
Pretty soon the wind began to pick up, a storm came in and Peter lost focus. Personally I think it’s easy to judge Peter, but we know what it’s like, when you scale a cliff, it’s best not to look down, or when you’re trying to walk on a high wire or trapeze, you need a single focus on what you’re doing. As soon as you get distracted, you start to wobble! You need to stay focussed on your goal, and Peter’s case the goal was to get to Jesus.
Peter got his eyes off God, he focussed on circumstances instead. He panicked and fear crept in. Before he knew it, he was starting to sink! Extreme circumstances test us. It’s not until like the three Hebrew children in Daniel 3 when you’re about to be thrown into a fiery furnace you find out what you’re made of. It’s not until like Moses you’re standing at the edge of the Red Sea with the great Egyptian Army pressing in you find out whether your faith can withstand some pressure.
James 1:2-4 says “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Persistence is defined as “steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.”
Faith needs to be able to keep going in spite of difficulties, obstacles or discouragement. Maybe you’re a little burned out and tired in your faith today or maybe you’re feeling discouraged. I want to encourage you to get your focus back on Jesus.
I love the old song “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” This life can so take our focus from Jesus, but it’s as we turn our eyes back on Him that we begin to get everything into it’s proper perspective!
Hebrews 12:1-2 says “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Here this word perseverance comes up again. It takes perseverance to keep your eyes on Jesus when the winds and storms of life pick up, but it’s absolutely critical that we do! Keeping our eyes on Jesus, keeps our faith levels up, keeps things in perspective, keeps us going in the right direction and helps us walk in the miraculous, helps us walk on water.
Jesus went to the Cross with His eyes on God the Father, with you and I on his mind. He was determined, unwavering in His mind. He knew there would be so much joy his act of obedience would bring to so many countless precious souls who put their faith in Him for salvation. Today He is calling you and I to walk on water, I want to challenge you to take that step of faith towards Jesus, persevere, persist, keep your eyes on Him and as you do, you will see God come through for you!
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