“Now it shall come to pass, if you
diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God,
to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of
the earth.”—Deuteronomy 28:1
There are times that our heavenly
Father requires us to take a step of
obedience. He requires us to step
out of our “safety-zone” and into our step
of obedience. While doing so may
create uncertainty in our lives, there are some things of which we can be
confident. Let’s look at what happened
when Jesus required His disciples to take a step of obedience.
Immediately Jesus made His disciples get
into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes
away. And when He
had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.
Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea,
tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of
the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples
saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And
they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do
not be afraid.” And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to
come to You on the water.” So He
said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down
out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that
the wind was boisterous, he was
afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to
him, “O you of
little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind
ceased. Then those who were in
the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God” (Matthew
14:22-33).
Jesus required His disciples to get
into the boat and go to the other side.
It seemed to them that they were going by themselves. There are times that it seems as though God
is stretching us. And through our obedience, we may have feelings of doubt,
indecision and fear, even as the disciples did when they were in the boat and the
winds were blowing very hard and thought they were seeing a ghost. However I want to encourage you to see these as
opportunities to trust the Lord, instead of, being seized with fear.
When you trust the Lord, you can
count on His presence being with you for He has said, “…I will never leave you nor
forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). The relationship that we have with our
heavenly Father is permanent through Jesus Christ. Our Father’s love for us is deep and abiding,
and His promises are sure. When He calls
us to venture outside of our comfort zone, we can obey because He is right
there by our side.
When it seems as though we are not going to
make it, the Holy Spirit makes us stronger to be victorious. When we falter, He strengthens us. When we stumble, He steadies us, and when we
fall, He picks us up.
I want to encourage you today that
when the Lord requires you to step out
in obedience that you can: Rely
on His presence and His power to equip you.
Prayer—Father
I thank You that as I step our in obedience to You that You will never leave me
or forsake me. And that I can rely on
Your presence and power to equip me, in Jesus Name. Amen.
