Home Faith in Action Keep your eyes fixed on Christ, not your troubles

Keep your eyes fixed on Christ, not your troubles

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By Pr Isaiah White

In Matthew 14, Jesus sends His disciples before Him, promising to meet them later.

They enter into the boat and on their way, they are attacked by a terrible storm that strikes their small boat.

The situation is life-threatening because it is midnight and they are stuck in the middle of the sea.

There is no way these disciples will survive this storm however much they try.

They are twelve, and nine of them are professional fishermen, well-versed with water. However, their experience with the waters can only delay but not stop their death.

As they struggle for their lives, someone (Jesus) shows up walking on and above the storm.

They knew it was impossible for anyone to walk on water, so they concluded that it was a ghost.

They still could not recognize it was Jesus due to fear and doubt; and in order to prove that it was Him, Peter asks Jesus to command him to walk on water as well.

Jesus did, and Peter obeyed, becoming the first human being to walk on water in the history of humanity (Matthew 14:29).

Peter walked on water by the power of Jesus. (Source/Word of Hope)

The command
Peter walked on water because Jesus commanded him. There are things you cannot do until God ordains you for them.

It is one thing to do what you are trained for, and another to do the things God has ordained you to.

There was no innate ability in Peter to walk on water but it was a divine command. Because he obeyed, walking on water was that easy.

There are those things you have tried to do and have failed, the projects in which you have invested your resources, energy and time, but have not kicked off because God has not commanded.

Once Peter stepped out of the boat, he too could walk on water by Christ’s power at work within him.

There are things that nature will work with you to achieve, yet there are those particular achievements that are exclusive to the command of God.

It should be our prayer and request as it was Peter’s to ask God to command us.

“Lord if it is you, command me to come to You on the water” (Matthew 14:28).

It should be our prayer that the Lord may command activity in our lives.

We should exhibit the faith that can be commanded by God to act.

Our weakness ought to be commanded into power by the Lord.

Apostle Peter teaches us the importance of divine command in our lives.

He demonstrates that your faith, however right and good it may be, might not get effective unless the Lord commands it into action.

It should be our prayer that the Lord commands us into actions that will lead us to our destiny and serve our purpose. May the Lord command my faith into actions.

Focus or sink
Peter heeded the command of the Lord and walked out of the boat and onto the water.

However, Matthew writes that “when he (Peter) saw the wind, he was afraid and, began to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:30).

When He walked out of the boat, his focus was on Him who called him. He was walking to Jesus and that is what mattered to him.

To Peter, the attention was getting out of the boat and to Christ and not necessarily the magic of walking on water.
His focus was on Jesus, not on what he was stepping on or on the storm.

He kept his eyes on the Jesus who had commanded him out of the water.

When he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the waters, he saw the storm and began to sink.

Like Peter, sometimes we keep our eyes on our achievements and forget the God who gave us these things.

We come out of dangerous boats and when we start walking out of our storms, we become celebrities instead of celebrating Jesus who has enabled us to walk over these situations.

Our faith should remind us to focus on Jesus Christ who is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

The writer is a life coach and pastor.
Contact: +256 775 822 833
whitemwine@gmail.com

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