Faith responds

Matthew 14:26-33 (NKJV)

26. "And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear.

27. But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I, do not be afraid."

28. And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."

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

30. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"

31. And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

32. And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

33. Then those who were in the boat came and worshipped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."

Amen, thank you LORD.

The Bible says faith works through love (Galatians 5:6). This tells us that for faith to be activated, there has to be the presence of God's love and Jesus Christ is the perfect example. Ephesians 3:19 says, "to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with the fullness of God."

It is undoubtedly clear that Jesus loved His disciples, just like He loves you and I, and no wonder He walked on water to save and rescue them from storms. When Jesus was also performing miracles, His compassion that was as a result of His love activated the miracle of healing for those who came to Him seeking healing.

For our purposes in line with the above lead Scripture, I would like to share something about Peter's faith. When Peter saw Jesus walking on water, he said to the Lord, "...command me to come to You on the water." (Matthew 14:28). Prior to this, Jesus had sent His disciples and given them the power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of disease (Matthew 10:1). With the command from the Lord, came the power to do. I believe Peter was mindful of this truth because He asked Jesus, command me to come to You. He understood that with the Lord's command came the power to do and obey.

In addition to the power found in the LORD's command, Peter also had the revelation of the Person of Jesus as God to whom all power belongs. Colossians 1:13 speaks of Jesus Christ and says, "And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."

This revelation of Jesus as God started with Simon's faith response to Jesus' command in Luke 5. In this chapter, he and three other fishermen had gone fishing and caught nothing all night. During the day, Jesus used one of their boats during his time of ministering the Word of God and when He was done, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." (Luke 5:4). The fishermen were exhausted as they had been working all night and caught nothing. So Simon answered and said to Jesus, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your Word I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking." (Luke 5:5-6). The men were astounded at the miraculous catch of fish to the point that Peter said to Jesus, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" (Luke 5:8)

Simon Peter had a direct encounter with Jesus which opened him to Jesus' heart and today, you have the same opportunity as well through intimacy and fellowship with Him by reading God's Word with the help of the Holy Spirit.

As a child of God and with the revelation of the person of Jesus as God, you also have the privilege of using the name of Jesus. In Acts chapter 3:1-6, Peter and John were walking to the temple to pray and they saw a lame man begging for money at the gate called Beautiful. Peter commanded the man to raise up and walk in the name of Jesus and indeed he started walking, leaping and praising God (Acts 1:8). However, when people around marvelled at this miracle, Peter and John immediately said, it was not their power but faith in the name of Jesus that made the man who was once lame able to walk. In Acts 3:16 Peter says, "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." So we see that with the revelation of the person of Jesus as God came the understanding of the power that is found in the name of Jesus.

Prayer: Father, thank you for the understanding and revelation that is found in the power of Your command and faith in the name of Jesus that You have given us today as Your sons and daughters. We ask that You seal this revelation in our hearts and may we walk in the revelation of this understanding in the name of Jesus. Thank you LORD that with Your command comes the power to respond, the power to do and to obey so we choose to follow You Lord Jesus putting our trust in you and not in our abilities for it is not by power, not by might but by the Spirit of the LORD in the name of Jesus, Amen. Thank you LORD.

I'll end with this Word found in 2 Corinthians 3:4-5 (NKJV)

4. "And we have such trust through Christ toward God.

5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves but our sufficiency is from God,

6. who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

Amen, thank you LORD.

Invitation to salvation: If you would like to be born again into God's Kingdom, that is saved and have a personal relationship with God as Your Father and you as His child by receiving His Son, Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life, I invite you to say this confession:

"I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that; Jesus Christ, the Son of God came in a human body to die for my sins so that I could have a new life where I am dead to sin and alive to God. I repent of my past sins and enter the Kingdom of light where I choose relationship with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and with God as my loving Father today and forever." AMEN.

Congratulations, YOU'VE BEEN REDEEMED by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. To the glory of the Almighty God. Amen. In case you do not already, please join a church community and get water baptized!