Kingdom ComeSample

PRAYER:

God, I want to have unshakeable faith. Teach me to trust in you completely.

READING:

You probably know how this story ends. Peter looks up and sees the wind and waves and becomes afraid. He loses his concentration on Jesus, begins to sink into the water, and Jesus has to come save him. We tend to focus on Peter’s failure in this story, but what about the tremendous faith in Jesus it must have taken for Peter to step onto the waves at all? That’s remarkable faith! More faith than anyone else on the boat that day. Peter so believed in the power of Jesus that he became the only man to ever walk across the surface of the sea. Well, the only man who wasn’t also God, that is. 

We are typically so terrified of failure that we never step out and trust God to do the amazing. Like the other disciples in the boat, we keep our feet planted firmly on the deck and watch someone else step onto the waves. We might even celebrate when they falter as a way of justifying our safe decision to stay put. 

Maybe we do this our whole lives and never fail in any publicly embarrassing kind of way, yet we never succeed in anything that was utterly worth doing either. What a tragedy! Pastor and author A.W. Tozer said, “God is looking for people through whom he can do the impossible. What a pity we plan only things we can do by ourselves.”

What if we trusted God with the reckless abandon of Peter as he jumped out of that boat? Sure, he started to sink, but not before he took several steps into the impossible. And in the end, Jesus never let him sink. 

Even in the midst of failure Peter and Jesus shared a moment together that would never be repeated. And if you were able to ask Peter about that moment, he would probably tell you he never regretted stepping out of that boat.

REFLECTION:

Can you imagine what it would feel like to trust Jesus to the point of reckless abandon? Would it feel scary, thrilling, or both? 

Go to one of your favorite, most comfortable spots. Maybe it’s a cozy couch with a blanket, or maybe it’s somewhere outside in nature. Once you’re settled in, take slow, deep breaths as you become still before God. 

Is there anything that’s holding you back from surrendering to how God wants to move in you? Take a few moments and ask him to show you what’s in the way—then lay it down before him. Ask God to work in your heart, however he pleases, to help you trust him to the point of reckless abandon. 

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