Jesus walks on the water...

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 Do you feel that your life is being buffeted by the wind and waves of circumstances beyond your control? The following 10 verses from Matthew 14 may be of great encouragement to you…

  ²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, ²⁴ and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.  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.

• The very thing that would make their life easier initially brought them tremendous fear.

 ²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

• Jesus always has the answer to our fears. ‘It is I’
• These 3 little words are all we need - ‘It is I’; It is I, Jesus, I am here with you. I am here to help you. Do not be afraid…

 ²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ “Come,” he said.

• The question is do we wait for our circumstances to change like the other disciples did or do we take the chance and jump out of the boat like Peter did?

   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!”

• Peter was getting out of the sinking ship. He would rather take his chances with the unknown than perish in the boat.
• Peter believed that it was Jesus. He started walking on the water to go to Jesus. Peter had faith when he started.    
•  What caused Peter to lose heart? He saw the wind… Peter knew what the wind was capable of; He knew that there was no reason why he should not be swept away by the wind into the turbulent waters and drowned.
• He was afraid and rightly so. A mere mortal man was not meant to walk on water; man was not made to stand up to the wind. Nature is a formidable opponent. Ask anyone who has survived an earthquake or a hurricane. There are always points in the storm when you are sure that you are going to die.
• There are also times in our lives when we have all shouted, ‘Lord, save me!!’ 

 ³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

• Isn’t it beautiful that Jesus immediately saves us? He will never let us sink. What a wonderful Lord and Savior he is!
• The gentle rebuke to Peter was, ‘you of little faith, why did you doubt?’
• Doubting will have us sinking in no time…

 ³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

• All the disciples were saved. Those who stayed in the boat and Peter who chose to walk on the water.
• When God is with us the wind of change, fear and circumstances will always die down, they will disappear; fear does not last long in the presence of God.
• The only appropriate response in the presence of God is worship.
• The Spirit of God lives in our heart so we should always be worshiping.
• If we remain in a state of worship we are not be fearful
• When we have no fear, we are living in faith
• When we are living in faith, we rise above the wind and the waves of our circumstances.

Faith allows us to get out of the sinking boat,   

Faith allows us to face the storm, 

Faith pushes us to reach out to Jesus, 

Faith keeps our feet on top of the snarling water of death.

Doubting will cause us to sink,

Doubting will cause us to fear,

Doubting is the first step in failure,

Doubting will cause us to fall.

Crying out to Jesus is the answer to sinking,

Crying out to Jesus is the answer to fear,

Crying out to Jesus is the first step in getting rescued,

Crying out to Jesus allows us to rise from despair.