Dare to Trust

 

Jesus Walks on the Water

²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, ²⁴ and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
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.

[Let’s] fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of Him.  - Hebrews 12:2 (CEB)
 

Sitting in church, I heard a fellow member offer a prayer of thanksgiving for a new family attending worship. Earlier, when members of the church had visited the family, they chose to open the door in welcome. Opening their door to strangers took a certain amount of risk for that family.

 I thought about today’s passage from Matthew where the disciples encounter Jesus walking on the water. I imagined myself in that scene, looking at the immense sea from my vantage point in the boat. Then I heard Jesus call to me as he called to Peter: “Come on out!” I thought of Peter’s faith to leave the safety of his boat to walk out to Jesus, and I wondered: What would I have done? To be sure, Peter became afraid and began to sink, but only after he trusted Jesus enough to leave his boat.


Jesus is asking us to trust him with our lives and to go where he commands us. If we look and listen with eyes of faith, we know Jesus’ power will be with us wherever we go. No waters are deep enough to hold us back if we place our trust in the power of Christ. So let us wade into the water — no, step out onto the water — and truly follow the One who calls us.

The Author - Ivelise Batista M. (Dominican Republic)

Thought for the Day

Volunteer to visit prospective members of your church.

Prayer

Thank you, God, for loving and calling us to your work. May we trust you to help us move across the waters of life without fear. Amen.

Prayer focus  Visitors to my church