ONE WORD FROM JESUS

“Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders, let me walk upon the waters, wherever you would call me.”
Hillsong UNITED – Zion

I’ve wrestled with this final day of this plan to determine how God would want me to wrap this up. The direction I was heading would have been okay and could have been helpful, but I was captured and arrested by the presence of God as I simply took time to reflect and worship one night in some final book editing stages. And as I lay there near tears, with worship playing, I felt the call and draw of His Spirit towards mine. It was a familiar call, one very reminiscent of the call I felt at 13 years old. In those wonderful few moments, Jesus surrounded me and reminded me of why I’m doing what I’m doing in the first place. My heart burned within me as Jesus reminded me that I’m not destined to just exist or settle. God was calling and reminding me again to step out beyond the known and normal to the unknown and exciting life of following Him with all-out abandon! Nothing can arrest my attention like feeling that touch and call of Jesus. One word from Jesus changes everything.

COME

The Holy Spirit wanted me to remind you of the rush of the call, the thrill of that one word from Jesus. The last thing Jesus or I would want is for anyone to end this book discouraged with the process of God’s shaping us, assuming that God must just be trying to slowly kill and crush our spirits. The shift from relying on self to relying on God doesn’t mean that the passions get discarded, but rather, the dream becomes richer and fuller, and more meaningful than ever before. What once started as selfish ambition becomes enlarged with a forceful magnitude as it’s lost in the greater cause of Christ.

“Obscurity doesn't kill us; it brings us to life.”

It's the beautiful exchange and trade-off of what seems good for something that is so much greater! It’s only in response to this call that our dreams are fully realized. The one word from Jesus is why many of you may have picked up this book, but this word and our response to it are crucial. The great apostle, Peter, is the runway by which this word from Jesus comes to us. Let’s read over the story quickly.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14:25-31