Real Faith!

One of the most talked about miracles Jesus performed was when He came to the disciples while they were in a boat in the middle of a fierce storm. He came to them "walking" on the water. The disciples thought it was His Ghost, but Peter cried out, "if that is you Lord let me come to you." Jesus said, "Come!"

As I ponder at this event and it's importance I try to put myself in that boat with the disciples. First, Jesus doesn't come with us in the boat and says He is going to join us later. How is he going to get there, take another boat? Secondly, you see the storm coming. You wonder why if Jesus is the Messiah, why didn't he come with us if He knew a storm was coming? Why did He lead us out here into a storm? Third, now that we are in the storm, why isn't He helping me? How often these are the same questions we ask when the storms of life come upon us.

Storms and trials have a purpose and that is to reveal our true hearts. We don't like to see our hearts but it is necessary. The trials come to show us not usually what we have of the Lord, but what we don't have. But there is something more than this that God intends for us in the storms that come. What could that be? How about walking on the water.

The disciples thought Jesus (Spirit) was coming to them and not really Him. The ship was sinking. Their first cry should have been HELP! No the discussion went somewhere else for us to learn. The question wasn't help but, "is that you?" What a question.

How often in the midst of the storm do we say, "Lord is this you? Are you really here?" Like Peter we need to make a decision. I can stay in the boat and sink. I can stay in the boat and doubt His power. I can stay in the boat and question is He really God. We have to decide in whom we are going to believe. He is or He is not! When we choose to believe, HE IS, then the impossible becomes possible! We begin to use the faith of God that He has placed in us and we overcome like Peter!

In the midst of this great storm Peter ask the CORRECT question, " Lord, if that is you let me come to you?" It is a profound question! You see for that moment Peter NO LONGER saw the STORM! He was now focused on Jesus who was "walking on the water" in the midst of the storm. The storm lost is power to a greater power, JESUS CHRIST, the Son of the living God! Peter's eyes got fixed on Jesus and the faith of God in him rose up and said, "let me come to you."

O beloved reader, what a lesson to learn. When the storm or trials come, there is always someone walking towards us in the midst of them walking on the water. In the deepest hour of the storm, there He is right in front of us. Why? Because He wants to awaken the faith He Himself has placed in us, since He has given to every man a measure of faith. The Faith of God in us, not our faith in God which is our trying to have faith.

True faith rose up in Peter and said, "let me come." Did you notice Jesus wasn't concerned about the storm at all, He is God! Yet, there He was awakening the faith of God in Peter to say, " let me come." Jesus reply is startling! He says to Peter, "COME!" Peter doesn't see the storm anymore, but His eyes are fixed on Jesus. He gets up in the boat and then places his foot out of the boat unto the water.

Then the miracle happens. The water becomes like concrete under his feet and He does something that is impossible for a man to do. He walks on the water and starts to come to Jesus. Wow! A human being walks on the water, the natural law of what makes water, water is suspended and it becomes like concrete under his feet. Most of you know the rest of the story, He walks a little way and then starts noticing the storm instead of being fixed on Jesus and begins to sink and cries, "Jesus save me." Jesus reaches out to him, and rescues him and puts him back in the boat and says, "why did you doubt."

That is the real work God is trying to do in us in the midst of the storm, remove all the doubts that He is God alone. For a moment, Peter stood where no man had gone before. He did the impossible in the midst of the storm, he overcame it. So it will be for us, if we look to Jesus in the midst and listen for His voice say, "COME!"

The storm may be still there, but we are lifted up above the storm to walk in a new place of rest in His presence, knowing just one word to the storm from Jesus will quiet the winds and the seas. Just one word from Jesus, "COME" will allow us to walk over the waves and the winds. The bible tells us, that the just shall live by faith. That we walk by faith and not by sight. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

This is the lesson Peter had to learn and the lesson the Lord is teaching each one of us. We are called the people of faith and by faith alone do we live and by faith alone do we walk. Paul wrote that his new life in Christ would be by FAITH of the Son of God, who loveed him, and gave himself for him. Should we not follow his example in believing. Should we not live our new life hidden in the secret word Jesus says to Peter, "COME?" The bible asks the question, "when the Son of man returns will He find faith on the earth? Will He?