“Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”
I want to stat with asking this simple question what is holding you back, what is keeping you from experiencing Jesus to the fullest of your ability? I want to ask what are you hanging on to that you are scared to get rid of? What is holding you back? Me, its letting my sister experience a relationship, and being free to do what she wants, even though her decisions got, and get her hurt. Jesus is saying let her go, and it is something I am dealing with, another would be lust. What is the thing you are holding on to and your kneeling to that instead of letting Jesus take it, your being beaten by it.
Matthew 14:22-33
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Peter saw Jesus walking on water, he saw him moving and Jesus said don't be afraid. Peter asks Jesus to tell him to come. He does.
Sometimes I feel like Jesus is calling for us to walk on the water, to follow him to go where there is nothing keeping us from him. In order to follow him efficiently, and effectively you have to be willing to get out of the boat when he says come. You have to be willing to look through the distractions, and give him the things that are keeping you from him. In Psalms 2:3 lets break these chains, because he designed you to follow him, he desires a relationship, he desires to be in all parts of your life.
This post could also be called getting out of the boat, what this means in order to get to where Jesus wants you to go you have to be willing to step into the unknown. To do things that maybe seem insane, but have a purpose to Gods plan. For example Paul was in prison when he wrote the letter to the churches he helped build, but without God making and touching Paul's heart and saying write, we wouldn't have gotten Ephesians 6: 10-18 (armor of God). We would not have gotten the encouragement to stand firm in faith, and to keep building and expanding and telling people about God. Sometimes its not the circumstances God puts you in that is the issue, sometimes its are lack of faith within the circumstance that is the issue. Look at verses 30-31
30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Sometimes Jesus says take a step by faith, and the things Jesus calls you to do seem impossible. He is there to help you, and when you feel like the stress and things are beginning to get to you, and you feel yourself falling, he reaches down and picks you up. The step of faith, you can then grow out of, and its a start. In Luke 17:6 it talks about having faith as small as a mustard seed then with that small amount of faith able to do the impossible with God.
All of this starts with you being able to take the first step, but once you take the first step, will you take another? This means the first step, you see what is at stake and you look at everything else all of the distractions, are your courageous enough to take the next, after you have seen the storm, and have witnessed Jesus not leaving you. Sometimes I feel like we show up give our lives to Jesus, and then go off ignoring the very thing that saved us. That we have faith enough to go and get to heaven, but once we know we're getting to heaven we stop making progress because the storms and the stretching of your faith is to hard. As said in the beginning of this post, "what is the thing you are holding on to and your kneeling to that instead of letting Jesus take it, your being beaten by it." because maybe your afraid to give up the thing that's keeping you from him, maybe your happy knowing that this thing has control on your life. Maybe your afraid to let go?
