ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Of all the crazy things that people did in the Bible, Peter volunteering to walk on water might be the craziest. I don't know exactly what he was thinking, but I don't think that thought would have even crossed my mind.
This request is physically impossible to satisfy, but in the presence of God, nothing is impossible. Even though it was Peter who asked to walk on the water, it was Jesus who extended the official invitation. He invited Peter into something impossible.
God loves to perform the impossible, and include us in it. He involved the entire nation of Israel in the "impossible" parting of the Red Sea. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego got to experience the impossible by surviving in the king's great furnace. Gideon experienced the impossible when God helped him defeat an army of 135,000 with 300 men.
God is not shy about asking us to do impossible things. Luckily, because He is with us, we only have to trust and obey what he says, and they will be done.
But He is not going to do all of the work for us, we still have our part to contribute. When you face an impossible challenge, God will downgrade it to something that is only extremely difficult. Isn't that kind of Him? But then He will give you the strength and wisdom to accomplish that difficult thing.
There are 3 principles that will guide you along so that when you encounter a difficult challenge from the Lord, you are already prepared to accomplish it.
1. You must be willing to do hard things. God is looking for volunteers. Sometimes he does choose people out of a crowd, but often he looks for those who already desire to take up a challenge, like Peter. If you are not willing, you will not get very far at all into what God calls you. Like a sailor going through Navy Seal training, it is better when you decide that doing something hard is what YOU want. It will lead you to actually accomplishing what God desires for you.
2. You have to be consistent. When you start doing the work of God, it is easy to become frusturated and discouraged and give up. But we must remember that the pain and the waiting is all worth it. You will never know what God could have done through you if you don't keep pushing, keep going, keep perservering. At the end of the day, when you look back on the trials and the disappointments, they will just be feathers in your cap, adornments of the wonderful story God has written in your life.
3. You must develop a yearning for difficult things. Peter had this yearning. He saw the opportunity to experience something incredible with Jesus and he decided to go for it. When you come across a challenge, you have two options: you can avoid it, hoping it will go away, or you can face it head on, seeing it as an opportunity to grow in your faith. Let us all develop the desire to grow in faith in Christ.
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