Matthew 14:22-33, “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.
The subject of faith is often preached on, taught and abused at the same time. The many faith teachings are more about what God can do for you financially and health wise. And if you’ve listened to the same, be enlightened that there is more to faith than that. Teachings on faith today mostly dwell on the byproducts of faith. We find that often times too many of us have enough faith for breadcrumbs and not enough for a whole loaf, what He has promised. Faith enough to get us by and nothing to challenge us to grow more faith in God.
Let me share on faith that’s beyond getting us stuff, faith that brings glory to God. It’s not what you will gain from God that is priority, it’s what God will gain for Himself through you, the rest are benefits. That is where the Prime product supersedes the by product. Faith ought to distinguish us from the world, we walk by faith and not by sight or not by luck. Faith in what? Faith in God demonstrated on unfamiliar territories. If “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”, Hebrews 11:1, then how do we hope for what we see in the familiar territories? I believe that if we are not walking by faith,(trusting God for great and mighty things), we are robbing God of the glory He could gain for Himself through us.
In our text, Jesus fed 5 thousand men besides women and children with five loaves and two little fish. Right after, He made His disciples go by boat to the other side while He sent the multitude home. He later went to pray followed by meeting them later. Vs. 24 “But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary”, come to think of it and I could be wrong, most miracles that involved ONLY the disciples appeared to be happening in water (lake, sea) and that is fascinating to me. They were far from everyone else and the usual. In the sea, they had no one to trust in but God, they couldn’t even put their faith in each other to bring them through. Everything they tried to do could not succeed. The obstacles they faced happened in the middle of the dark sea and not at the shore. These were places where they could not operate by sight but by faith. And I believe that we will never trust God for great and mighty things as long as we are trading on safe grounds, familiar territories where we have a backup plans to fall back on.
Vs. 25, “Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea”, this must have been going on most of the night for when Jesus met them, between 3-6 AM, He had prayed all night while these men battled storm all night. Jesus knew what they would be facing and still let them go. It was a faith learning class in unfamiliar territory. He came walking on water prayed up while His disciples were hanging onto the boat for their dear lives with no avenue of escape. Then the disciples saw Him walk on water and they were afraid thinking He was a ghost.
Now the boat was just a little familiar, they had travelled by it many times and I believe that when all failed, all their little left faith (breadcrumbs) was on that boat to save them, and Here comes the King of kings, walking on water. No one had ever walked on water. And Peter all of a sudden forgets about what they went through the night and was still facing and said “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” It was Peter’s idea to step out of the boat by faith, moved from asking for crumbs (wind to cease) to walk on water, while the rest were left in the boat. Stepping out to face what almost killed them and face it head on because of the presence of the Master. His faith increased when saw Him do the impossible. And since he was His disciple and a disciple ought to learn from His teacher, he mastered faith in the Lord and attempted the impossible. It’s assign that he was learning and growing.
When was the last time you trusted God for something way bigger than you while in the middle of the sea? Salvation of a loved one, a miracle over what you perceived as way too bigger than your back up plan? We can’t keep operating on the little faith we have when there is more we can trust God for. We got to have something, a middle of sea experience that awakens, challenges and increases our faith to even step out and concur by faith what has threatened to take our lives. To walk on what could make us drown, that is faith in God. Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart”, Without faith it’s IMPOSSIBLE to PLEASE God and to delight ourselves in the Lord is to have great pleasure in walking by the measure of His faith and not ours, and He will glorify Himself through us. Those who delight in Him He gives them the desires of their heart because they are in line with His desires for them. Peter’s delight in the Lord caused the Lord to honor his desires. To finish, Blessings Ev
He Has Magnified His Word 