Step Out in Faith

Matt. 14:28 - '...and Peter said to Him, Lord if it is You, bid me come...'

Many of the storms we face in life are orchestrated by God Himself. We often want to blame the devil when actually, Jesus is the Master of Storms...He does this because He's dealing with you and me cling to Him, trust and obey Him fully.

This requires faith and trust - something many of us sorely lack as we move upward in Christ. In that particular event with the Lord, Peter asked a very simple, but all too familiar question - "...Lord if it's You...," have you ever asked this of the Lord? I know many of us have, it's not a bad question, it's very honest - especially when we find ourselves in situations that are beyond our control or something we failed to anticipate.

If you notice, this wasn't the first storm these men have ever been in - the first time, Jesus was actually in the boat with them, but this time; He allowed them to fend for themselves...He does the exact same thing to you and to me. Rather than panic, complain, or backslide, we need to stop and ask..."Lord, if it is You, bid me come..."



It's time for you and I to step out in faith - for this is where the Lord is.

Keep On

Philippians 3:13-14

13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

“After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again.” – C. S. Lewis

No one is beyond the need of forgiveness. Having said that, we should not stop striving to please the Lord in everything we do and who we are. The beauty of serving Christ is, He is willing to go to the lowest depths of our souls to pick us up, because He knows that we are trying.

Who Hindered You

Galatians 3:1-4

3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

I don’t know what happens but, somewhere between getting saved and moving on in Christ…we get it in our heads that our salvation is TOTALLY up to us…remember, salvation is a MIRACLE…it will never be sustained by human effort alone…we need Jesus with us all the time. 

Too many are depending on their faith to make it…when we should really be depending on the mercy and favor of God. Always remembering that it was Jesus who saved us in the first place. You don’t become more holy by serving God harder! 

Luke 10:41-42

41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

The closer you are to Jesus, the holier you become…depending on Him…so it would do you good to answer the first question: who bewitched you?

In other words, to be bewitched means, you simply gave yourself to a conversation that worked against the things of God – a spell was cast upon you, either by someone else, or by your own insecurities. 

Have you talked yourself into giving up on God? Who bewitched you?

Effort

Psalm 124

124 “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,”

Let Israel now say—

2 “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,

When men rose up against us,

3 Then they would have swallowed us alive,

When their wrath was kindled against us;

4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,

The stream would have gone over our soul;

5 Then the swollen waters

Would have gone over our soul.”

6 Blessed be the Lord,

Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.

7 Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers;

The snare is broken, and we have escaped.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

Every step of the way, the Lord is right there with us, but that doesn’t exempt us from putting in effort! Ray Lewis, former defensive player and hall of famer said, ‘Effort is between you and you…no one can judge effort.’

Are you putting in effort to serve the Living God? God focuses on redemption by first helping us develop the desire to TRY.

John 5:5-9

5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity for 38 years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.

And that day was the Sabbath.

The key to this scripture is when the man said, ‘while I am coming…’ He was willing to put in an effort, even though the physical odds were stacked against him, it didn’t stop him from trying – you shouldn’t stop either.

Close:

James 4:6

6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble.”

Humility does remind us of our limitations, but it also confirms the Lord’s limitlessness.

We should grow more dependent on God, not less. 

We fall down, but we get up – for a saint is just a sinner who fell down; and got up…

What Does 2018 Mean?

Luke 9:51- "Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face like flint to go to Jerusalem..."

Jesus was determined to follow through with His original plans of redemption for mankind. He was not deterred, He was not distracted, He simply kept going forward into His destiny. 

Destiny is nothing more than a short version of the word (DESTINATION). There is a place for you and for me, we must be able to hear God's voice, as He guides us to that destination. The Lord has prepared this place, and He wants you and I to do whatever it takes to get there, because He has our best interests in mind.

Are you brave enough to listen to the Lord's calling and follow Him to the letter? Will you go and do what the Lord has called you to do? Who will you be when you get there? This is critical if you and I are going to change the world we live in.

Acts 16:6-8, "Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas."

Now we all know that this scripture inevitably points us to the Macedonian call, but my focus isn't upon that for the moment. I want you to focus on the fact that Paul, Luke, Silas, and Timothy were determined to go ANYWHERE for the Lord! They moved with zeal and passion to preach the word of God, but they were also sensitive and mature enough to listen to God when He said yes, and when He said no.

 

I wonder how many of God's people are in the wrong place at the wrong time because while they are filled with zeal, they lack maturity and wisdom and can miss God. Ask yourself, what type of Christian would you be today, had you waited on entering ministry?

What type of Christian would you be today, had you entered into ministry rather than holding out on the Lord? Most of us want to do something for God, can one of the things we do for God be LISTENING?

2018 is a year with challenges, a year of prophetic dynamics, and a year to shore up things we were unable to finish in 2017...will you allow God to guide you and help you be the man / woman that you are supposed to be in His name?

1st Cor. 16:9 - "For a great and effective door is open to me, and there are many adversaries."

This year will be a year of great opportunities, but it's not going to be given to you and I, we're gonna have some enemies of our faith to fight in order to receive what the Lord has for us...are you ready to go?

LET'S GO!