27/05/2018 - PETER DID WHAT NOBODY MANAGED TO DO

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So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.  Matthew 14:29

Jesus taught that before we start building a tower, we should sit down first and count the cost to see if we have enough to finish the work. If it is unfinished, we will be scorned. When God gives us a mission, He has already given us the means to fulfill it. However, the divine power needs raw material – your faith – to execute the work. We receive this conviction by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word (Romans 10:17). It is the substance of things hoped for. 

Impulsively, Peter asked if the person that was walked over the sea was really Jesus. Then he said that if it was Him, that He should command him to walk in the water towards Him. The disciple was in doubt. His faith was small; however, if he believed, he would also walk on the waters. He did not measure the cost of that unprecedented event and obeyed the Master. He walked on the waters until he noticed the wind and the waves. Then, he was afraid and started to sink. 

At first, he went well, because he trusted in the word he received and walked where no one else had been. However, when he looked to the circumstances, he disconnected himself from Jesus´ voice and felt that he would perish. How many people have done something similar after believing in God? When the trials and attacks of the evil one come, they believe that the sickness will come back and remove the determination that they would be healed by faith. Then, evil really comes back.

Do you think that if Peter had not sunk, many other people’s faith would be strengthened? If we notice the example of those who walked continually with the Master, many of them even dared to give the first step. Now, what increases our faith is not someone’s good example, but the understanding that we receive as we observe the divine Word. It is necessary to grow in the faith and in the knowledge of God and of our rights in Christ in order to please Him.

Jesus would not have allowed Peter to go to Him if it were something impossible for those who believe. Similarly, He would not have allowed you to go through a crisis if your faith was not enough to face it and defeat it. However, the divine power needs our determination in the Word in order to operate. Thus, we need to be in communion with the Father, through prayer and fasting, for there are hosts of demons that only leave by these means. 

The disciple did what was right: he cried out for help. Those who have not been victorious must be sincere. When King Asa saw that Zerah, the Ethiopian King, had come against him with two times the number of soldiers, he realized that if God would not help him, Judah would be destroyed. Then, Asa cried out to the Almighty and obtained his answer (2 Chronicles 14:9-12). If you have not calculated well and will not be able to finish the work, cry out for help. The Almighty listens and answers!

How many plans have been born in the Lord’s heart, but did not go ahead because people stopped to notice the devil’s threats? We must capture the lesson learnt by Peter: do not observe the circumstances! The disciple was rebuked because he doubted. Thus, he went back to the boat together with the One who speaks to the winds and to the sea, and they obey Him. Do the same!

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares