Walking on Water
During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
"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 v 25-31
In the Bible, Jesus performs many miracles. The majority of them are to help others who are suffering, but this one is different. Why did Jesus walk on water? In my opinion, Jesus did this as a sign for both his disciples then and us now. There are three points that I take from this very short story.
1. God will surprise you! There’s an old saying ‘If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans’. As Christians, we seem to spend a lot of our lives trying to guess what God is going to want us to do in the future. We sometimes put in place five or ten year plans of where we want our lives or our mission to go. Unfortunately, God will always surprise you. He may take you to places that you never thought about going to, or alternatively he may ask you to stay put where you are. The best thing to do is to be listening to God and follow his commands, don’t try and second guess him.
2. If we take our eyes off Jesus, we will sink! In the story, Peter was able to do an amazing thing through the power of Jesus. But as soon as he became distracted by the things that were going on around him, he began to sink. Jesus has given us authority and power, but if we get distracted by other things and stop focusing on what Jesus is asking of us, things will start to go badly. Many things can distract us from Jesus. All the temptations of the world and even our own pride can become a barrier between us and God. In all things we should keep our eyes fixed on him.
3. When we call for help, Jesus will rescue us! Peter was sinking and was scared. When he called out for Jesus to save him the story says Jesus immediately saved him. Jesus can save you from the bad situations that you have got yourself into. No matter how deep you have sunk, call for Jesus and he will be there in an instant to rescue you.
Peter walked on water by the power of Jesus, so if we remember these things we can do amazing things as well. So this week I want you to remember:
- God will surprise you
- Always keep your eyes fixed on Jesus
- Jesus will save you, just ask him to
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