Matthew 14:28-29
28 Peter replied to Him, “Lord, if it is [really] You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 He said, “Come!” So Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
As one preacher put it, “If you want to walk on the water, you must first jump out of the boat!”
Put yourself in the disciples shoes; it’s in the middle of the night, you are out in the middle of the sea and the strong winds are against you. The waves are beating hard against the boat and things are not good. You are already terrified and then you see this ghost like figure walking on the water. That would be enough to cause your heart to stop in fear.
When Jesus identifies himself, only Peter responds to him and says “Lord, if it is really you, command me to come to you on the water.” (I find it interesting he did not say Lord if it is you save us. It was Peters idea to go where Jesus was and Jesus simply said come)
John 10:27-28 (AMP)
27 The sheep that are My own hear My voice and listen to Me; I know them, and they follow Me.
Peter heard the voice of Jesus, the other disciples probably heard the voice of a ghost and that is why they did not respond. To walk on water you must first hear the voice of Jesus and then walk in obedience to it. When Jesus said “Come!” Peter did not hesitate; he jumped out of the boat and walked on water. The situation had not changed, the strong winds were still against them and the waves were beating hard against the boat. The sea was not calm as many of us would like to think, the waves were high and rough, the situation seemed unmanageable and yet in faith Peter who a few minutes earlier was terrified jumped out of the boat to walk on water something his natural instincts knew was impossible.
That’s the place many of us get stuck, we wait for the situation to change before we can jump out of the boat in obedience we allow our natural mind to drown the voice of faith that is telling us to jump. Jesus never calls us to jump out of the boat when things are looking calm, no, that you can do without his help. He calls you to jump out in faith when things are rough, when it does not make sense, when it seems like you will surely perish and all those around you think you are crazy. The thing you have to understand is that they have not heard the voice of Jesus saying “come” as clearly as you have heard it. There were 12 disciples in the boat but only one heard the voice clearly enough to act on it because remember;
Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.
When you jump out of the boat in obedience then the impossible becomes possible. The very thing that was a threat to your life, the very thing that was the source of terror and fear in your life, becomes the very thing that you walk on.
So, are your knuckles white because you are holding on so tightly to the boat overcome by terror because of the storm and the ghost on the water or are you like Peter walking on the water? The choice is yours to make.
