Gen 44:1-45:28; Matt 14:14-36; PS 18:35-50; PR 4:11-13
GE 45:5 - "God sent me before you to preserve life." This is the OT version of the principle that God can take what our enemies meant for evil and use it for good. When you live your life for God and you strive to serve Him in all situations, it doesn't matter what people try to do to keep you down because God will always be sure you fulfill the dreams He put in your heart. I'm constantly reminded of what we read a few days ago..."The Lord was with Joseph." Those are some mighty powerful words and they keep resonating in my spirit.
MT 14:16-21 Have you ever really thought about this story. It says Jesus took the loaves, blessed them and then gave them to the disciples and they passed them out. That means the disciples started walking through the crowd breaking of chunks of bread and it never ran out. Stop for a second and picture that, cause when you do it kinda blows your mind.
MT 14:28-31 This is a very often quoted story. We all tell each other to "step out of the boat." I'm reading this story today and something really jumps out to me for the first time. Peter stepped out of the boat in the midst of a storm because Jesus said "come." Then when Peter starts to sink Jesus reaches out His hand, helps Peter back up and then says to him; "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Can you imagine that? You've just stepped out of a boat to walk on water and you're not the Son of God and when you start to sink after a few steps, you're told you are lacking faith. I think though I can relate to this story. I have to say, when God leads me to do something outside my comfort zone I'm a little nervous and a little excited and it doesn't take a whole lot of convincing for me to "step out of the boat." However, once past the initial excitement the shine wears off and suddenly I'm very aware of the fact that I'm out of the comfort zone. Once that awareness kicks in I become very nervous and I start to doubt whether I really belong where I am out there "on the water." When that happens I begin to sink spiritually, I panic and try to get myself out of it of course with no success. It takes faith to "step out of the boat." But it doesn't stop there. Do you have enough faith to see it through when the situation God calls you into starts getting rougher than you expected? Faith isn't a one time decision, it's a daily one.
I love the accounts of Jesus walking on water. Something that was shown to me in this story was about faith in general. Peter had enough faith to ask Jesus to command him to come out on the water. Jesus commands all of us to come to him, he is a magnet, it is part of our very DNA. Peter came to him but as the wind kicked up and started blowing it caused Peter to become afraid and it took his focus off the lord. How often does the enemy throw things at us to causes distractions and it takes our attention away from God? Here is the best part; Peter in his fear and skepticism still cried out "Lord, save me" and Jesus stretches out his hand and saves him from drowning. This is powerful to me. Even though Jesus seems disappointed at Peters lack of faith "O you of little faith, Why did you doubt?" He still saved him, he is always there to save, no matter what we are drowning in, no matter what we are faced with, no matter what we have done, all we have to do is turn to him and cry out "Lord, save me" and he will stretch out his hand and save us...He is Might to Save!!!
ReplyDeleteWelcome back Jason, we missed your post!
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