Unabashed Faith

What does it look like to have unapologetic, reckless faith in God? What do you think would happen if instead of fighting God on the things He tells us, we just obey? I don’t know about you, but when God speaks my first reaction is to ask questions. Why me? What does that mean? Where are we going with this? It’s a foreign thing to my nature to just follow blindly into the unknown. I also like to give responses contrary to what He said. But I’m not strong enough. But I’m scared. But i can’t..... Isn’t it just so like us to automatically assume God must be mistaken? That somehow He chose the wrong one, gave the wrong instructions, or simply was incorrect in our abilities. We may say we know that God never lies or is never wrong. But more often than not we argue with Him under the assumption something just isn’t right. But, what if we didn’t doubt? What if we just obeyed?

I love the story of Peter walking on the water. In Matthew chapter 14 Jesus had just fed a whole bunch of people with an unforgettable miracle and went away to pray alone. He had sent his disciples on a boat to go to the other side of the sea. The water was choppy and wild as you can imagine it would be in a storm. I’m sure they were getting pretty nervous and uncomfortable. And I’d guess at this point they’re looking for Jesus wondering why He hasn’t shown up to help. Sound familiar? How often are we in a storm, demanding that God fix it? Let’s be honest...... a lot.

The boat was far from the shore and the waves didn’t seem to be stopping. But the next thing you know here comes Jesus walking on the water towards the boat. They all freak out, think its a ghost, and start to panic even more. I mean, can you really blame them? I’d probably freak out too! So Jesus says, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” Now, they’d been walking with Jesus for some time, they know His voice, His nature, the way He moves. And lets not forget they just witnessed a divine miracle. But even still, they doubt. So Peter pops off with what feels like a challenge to me, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Now, lets pause for a minute and reflect on this. Peter, who knows Jesus well, knows His authority and power, knows His ways, asks something like this of Jesus. The storm is raging, the boat is probably 2 seconds from flipping over, they’re all in panic, and He wants to ask, no demand, something of Jesus. How bold to assume that Jesus would condone such a thing. How reckless of him to believe that Jesus would make the journey from the boat to His side even possible.

So, Jesus, in all His patience and love, simply says, “come.” I don’t know about you, but I imagine Jesus shaking His head and thinking, “of course Peter wants to say something.” So, in an unimaginable moment of faith, Peter gets out of the boat and steps on to the water. STEPS ON TO THE WATER! Can we just for one second think about how insane that is?! He’s in the middle of the sea, with a raging storm, probably 6 feet waves crashing around them, and yet he has enough faith in that moment to walk on water. The one place that might be safe, he abandons for the sake of faith. He had to have had so much trust to even get out of that boat, let alone take steps on the water! We like to focus on the fact that he fell after a few steps. That he took his eyes off of Jesus and focused on the storm. That because of that he fails, and sinks. And don’t get me wrong, there is a huge lesson in there that’s important and relevant (keep your eyes on Jesus, got it.) But y’all...... He. Got. Out. Of. The. Boat! How many of us would even dare to ask Jesus to tell us to come, let alone have enough faith to try?!

I think we can take a lot from Peter and his boldness here. I think that if we look at Jesus, and see anything other than the impossible becoming the possible, we’ve missed out. Peter may have fallen shorty after, but he had enough courage to be called and to go forward. He left safety and went into the unknown. He was bold enough to ask Jesus to beckon him, and then WALKED ON WATER. He did the impossible because he believed Jesus, without question. Maybe, if we can stand in reckless faith, trust Jesus, we too can walk on water. Maybe, if we stop fearing what we don’t understand we can trust in what God says. Maybe, just maybe we can indeed see God do the things that don’t make sense. As we walk into this new season of whatever it is that God is going to pour out, I know I, for one, want to be the kind of woman with that kind of reckless, crazy, impossible faith. I want to not only ask God to beckon me, but to follow Him where ever He calls me. Without questions, without doubts, without thinking twice about it. I think that’s when we’ll see God move in miraculous and outlandish ways. I think that’s what’s going to take us to the next level in this walk of ours. And I believe that’s what God is waiting for. Revival is going to start when we submit ourselves like never before. When we get the faith and boldness of Peter and step out into the storm unabashedly. When Jesus says, “come,” we need to stand at attention, and go.