Just Walk

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

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

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“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!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”  Matthew 14:28-31

When I am tired, where will I find strength?  When I am afraid, where will I find courage?  When I am lost, where will I go?  These are the questions of a person in crisis.  You know this because the questions are not complicated but very important.  They are questions of desperation.  They are the sounds of a person who has looked every which way possible without finding an answer.  All of us have been there before.

It was Freshman year of high school.  My mother and me were living in an apartment, and she had fallen sick during the semester.  Yes, we had other family nearby, but my mom never wanted to be a burden to anyone.  She endured whatever pain she needed to accomplish her goal.  In this case, it was to finish her MBA and ensure her and her son would make it through the year together.  I ended up going to school a good portion of the year on my own.  I would wake up, get my clothes ready, and walk to the subway stop a half mile away to ride to school.  My mother and father were not big on excuses.   So, I just did it.  No fanfare.  No drama.  No poor me.  Just walk.  There is a word for that.  Some might call it ‘grit.’  I call it ‘faith.’  It means that when you end up in the situation where all you have are those three questions, you answer simply, “Start walking.”  When you are tired, you get up, and start swinging.  When you are afraid, you realize you have nothing to lose, and you fight.  When you have no where to go, you make steps in a direction, and you keep walking.  My mother and father always had faith in God.  They instilled it in me.  That’s why I got up, got dressed, walked to the subway, went to school, and then rode back to the hospital where my mom laid in bed writing her thesis paper.

One might ask where was God in all of this?  He was teaching.  Planning.  Preparing.  He is all-knowing that my mother and me would face other storms.  But He was always there.  Carrying.  Protecting.  Guiding.  My mother and me did not make it because we were something special.  We made it because we served an awesome God who watched over us.  He kept us out of Harm’s way, and kept my mother fighting when the pain was too great for her to even sleep.

The storms in our lives (or winds as Peter saw) are the tests of faith where God either found or watched over us.  Think of the storms from your past.  Sometimes, you may not have come out of it like you wanted, and you may not have known what to make of it all.  However, when it was all said and done we looked to God, and said, “I don’t know how I made it through, but thank you!”  Thank you, Jesus, for watching over me.  Thank you, Jesus, for making a way when I could not see one.  Thank you for giving me the courage and strength.  I do not know what you might be facing today, and I am unsure what storm may come tomorrow.  But I want you to remember that God is always there.  Always encouraging you to keep walking.

So as Christ said to Peter, come.  Sure, Peter eventually started to sink, but how many of you have taken that first step only to sink?  Remember the first steps Peter took, he did not sink!  He literally walked on water!  It is interesting that it noted he began to sink only when he saw the wind.  Perhaps that was why Paul said, “For we live by believing and not by seeing.” (2 Corinthians 5:7).  Let us live by these words of faith by belief in what God can do.  Not seeing what seems impossible.  My prayer today is we take courage from the words of Jesus Christ and have the faith to just walk.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Prayer and faith

Luke 18:1-8 “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’’ And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (NASB)

Hello,

I think this is a very interesting passage in scripture. Many times we read the reason for a parable after Jesus tells it, but this time we see the intent right up front. I love that Jesus knows us enough to understand that we struggle with waiting. We want more immediate answers to prayer. But His timing is not ours, so we have to not lose heart.

The He gets into the story of this judge who helped a woman simply out of annoyance and personal reasons. Nothing to do with her, just selfish focus by him. (I can see a lot of us in that judge and the way we operate) Jesus contrasts that man doing the right thing for wrong reasons against the holy God who does the right things for the right reasons, in the right times. But notice carefully the end of this story. Jesus asks “…and will He delay long over them?”. This is a rhetorical style question, with the answer immediately given that God will bring justice quickly. Certainly challenges our view of quick vs long? We scope to a percentage of time out of a handful of years, but His scope is eternity.

Then He challenges even further – will He find faith on the earth upon His return? How long will we endure? One of the challenges I take from this is that we cannot translate God’s speed of answers to prayer into our level of faith. Rather, we need to translate our faith into our endurance for praying.

I hope this challenges you as well.

Will Hill

Wake up!

Friends, we need to wake up!  The bible warned us of how the end times would be and if you read through Revelation, we surely see what the world is looking like today.  I was at a meeting at church yesterday where someone asked about a very touchy topic in the world today.  It was talked about how we are to love everyone, showing them God’s grace and how we are not the ultimate judge.  While these things are true, I was really bugged by the reply. 

Revelation 3:15-16

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

While we are certainly called to show others God’s grace, we are also called to take a stance as we have been taught according to God’s word.  We are not to be lukewarm or wishy-washy.  The church should be taking a stance to help lead others to Christ, not merely accepting that the world has changed and it’s all okay for everyone to live as they wish.  If someone wants to be part of the world rather than part of the Kingdom, then that is their choice however as Christians, we are called to be set apart.