22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You,command me to come to You on the water.” 29 So He said, “Come.”And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.’
Usually when you read Matthew 14:22-29, you tend to focus on the fact that the Lord and Peter did the impossible; they walked on water. And though amazing, we leave it there. We push it aside as we think to ourselves, ‘Great story! Whoo- hoo! Up top Jesus! But I’ll never be able to walk on water.’ And we walk away from the Word unchanged. But let’s look at it from a different perspective. Yes, they walked on the water, but what if you can too?
Go Time
In verses 23 and 24, we find Jesus coming out of a time of prayer. If you’re a pray-er, then you know that oftentimes when you come out from under that prayer anointing, you’re usually led to put into action what you got out of prayer; in that it’s go time. For me, it’s usually too early to make any moves. This was the case with Jesus. It was go time, but He had no transportation. Since it was before 6am, the marina was closed which meant He couldn’t charter a boat or rent a watercraft. There wasn’t even a surf board available which meant the only other option was to walk. As simple as that may sound, that’s what doing the impossible looks like. Let me explain.
Doing the Work is Doing the Impossible
I’m a writer. Unfortunately, I’ve been tasked to write about unpopular subjects like abstinence, mental illness, homelessness, and surviving cancer. Because I do, I have limited financial backing. Yet, I keep walking on the water. I keep writing because, like Jesus, I have to empower a few Peter’s along the way; by encouraging them to keep writing. So, let me encourage you today in whatever you’ve got going on. Your water is that thing you were created to do. It’s that thing that no one gives you credit for and usually no one supports. Keep walking. Keep working on it. Your water could be addiction, homelessness, overeating, illicit sex, hustling, or fighting the urge to quit. Keep working on it. Weaning yourself off and away from it, if need be. You might not get a thank you or a sale, but keep at it. Sure, it seems like nobody cares and it looks impossible, but keep walking because you know what? Like the Lord, you have no other choice. Your only option is to walk. It’s go-season. You walkin’ or what?
Pray this with me: Heavenly Father, please help me to walk on the water of (____________________). I feel like giving up and it seems as if it won’t work. But Lord, like You, I’m going to keep on walking and working on (_________________________), no matter what. I ask You for a refreshing anointing and for the grace to keep my eyes on You as I work while I’m walking. In Jesus’ name.
Comentários