Water-Walking FaithSample

WATER-WALKERS PIONEER

As someone who has grown up in church my whole life, I have heard the ‘water-walking story’ of Peter hundreds of times. In fact, as someone who is now leading a church today, I have preached this exact story many times from our pulpit. Every time I read this story, I had always assumed that Jesus had called Peter out on the water. But I want you to take a moment and re-read the text. Look a little deeper and discover what is really going on.

Did Jesus ask Peter to walk on water? Or did Peter come up with this idea himself? As you read the text, you may be surprised to discover that Peter was the one who started the whole thing. Now of course Jesus says to Peter, ‘Come’ and so there was a clear call to action from Jesus which we will get into over the next few days. But I want you to take note of who came up with the idea.

Peter asks “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water”. This ridiculous request pioneered one of the greatest faith moments in history. This was Peter’s appeal. This was Peter’s idea. This was Peter’s initiative. Why is this important? Because often we think we need to wait for God, but often GOD IS WAITING FOR YOU.

God is waiting on us to dream, to believe, to pray, to ask, to try, to step out, to have faith. Today I want you to understand – GOD IS WAITING ON YOU.

I believe that God has called us to live life on ‘green’. That means to live in a way where my default response to God’s calling is ‘YES’. If it’s already in His Word – then it’s a ‘Yes’ for me. Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely times where God might indicate a ‘red’ or an ‘orange’ light in my spirit. Of course, there are moments where the answer is either ‘no’ or ‘wait’. The key is learning to hear God for yourself and trust Him with the rest.

How many times have we heard a whisper from God or felt in our spirit to go and speak to someone, encourage someone, help someone, or pray for someone, but our default response has been ‘no’? We didn’t want to get embarrassed, we didn’t want to fail or be rejected. How many times have you felt God lead you to serve, step up, step out, give, or even lead – and you chose not too because of fear or doubt? This is because generally our spirit has been tuned to live on ’red’. We condition ourselves to fear and doubt because we prefer the comfort of our boats rather than the calling of the waves.

When we live on ‘red’ every step becomes cautious and riddled with fear. But when you live on ‘green’ you have no choice but to trust God and lean into the Spirit. So instead of trying to find all the reasons to say ‘no’ to God, I am trying to find any reason to give Him my ‘yes’.

Peter didn’t wait for an instruction; he initiated an encounter.

Water-walkers Pioneer. Their default is ‘yes’. They get it started. They kick things off. They aren’t sitting around waiting for an opportunity, they step out and take on whatever is in front of them. This goes against our nature because often we wait for everything to be right. We want to be at the right place, at the right time, with the right people – but God doesn’t work that way. God is not looking for perfection, He is looking for pioneers. People who are willing to say, ‘I don’t know how this is going to work out, but if God’s in it – ANYTHING is possible’.

God’s presence is an invitation into possibility. Everywhere that Jesus went, everywhere that He turned up, there was a sense that anything could happen. Sickness could be healed. Blind eyes could be opened. The possessed could be freed. Dead things could come to life. The impossible becomes possible with Jesus. Now that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us – what’s our excuse?

Things might seem impossible right now, but we know that in Jesus – ALL THINGS are possible. The time has come for the water-walkers to rise up. It’s time to pioneer into the waters of the impossible.

QUESTIONS:

1.Can you recall moments in your life where you felt God speak but you didn’t act? Meditate on why.

2.What do you believe God is calling you to pioneer?