The Stupid Question: Father may I?
My favorite story in the whole bible is when Peter gets to walk on water. It is my favorite because that story really relates to life as a Christian and I do use it all the time. It's a wonderful faith builder, but a tough one at that.
I always say that as long as we are focused on Jesus, we can walk on water. With our eyes focused on Him, we will not sink in life. The wind and the waves are scary and threaten to tear us down and pull us under the surface, but with our eyes on God we cannot fail!
What a wonderful idea!! But this message isn't about not failing in life. Nononono! We all have our failures. We often take our eyes off of Jesus and sink and that's not the problem. God uses failures. In fact, I don't think He will use anyone but a failure and turn them into champions. It's the meek who will inherit the earth, not those who have it all going on.
But this message isn't about God picking you up when you fail. It's about getting out of the darn boat in the first place. It's about actually having the faith required to believe you can actually step out onto the water and not sink!
I mean, who actually does this? The water is deep! They're in the middle of a lake and a storm is blowing through and the wind and waves are nasty! And stupid Peter stands up and says, "Can I walk on water?" Hello! Of course you can't! You're going to sink! You can't walk on water. How impossible!
But...he did it, didn't he?
So the idea is real, right? The things in life that are impossible, are actually possible to God? We can really walk on water and do it successfully? Can you imagine the amount of faith this actually requires? Do you have this kind of faith?
I only ask because I know so many Christians who are missing out on the walking on water experiences of their faith. They're too afraid to JUST DO IT! Step out of the boat and know everything is going to be okay. They're afraid to live life to the fullest because of what man says they cannot do. See, that's what Satan wants. He wants to tell you what you can't do. What is impossible. What won't work. And when he does this, it brews up fear and self-doubt in your life and you never get to fully experience God. I'm sure it was Satan who whispered into Peter's ear to look down at the waves and it created a sudden panic and fear, taking his eyes off Jesus. When you live your life through that kind of panic and fear, you are not looking at Jesus. It means you have no real faith in your life at all.
Fear is designed by the enemy to get us to back down and not be ourselves. I have lived too many years with self-doubt. Today I had an epic moment of self-doubt and jumped to a conclusion I shouldn't have and I feel very stupid for it. If I would've kept my eyes on Jesus, I wouldn't have fallen.
Only when we live by faith and not by sight do we begin to live a rich Christian life. Because things may "appear" to be impossible, unable to work, too many obstacles so why try? But it's then that you need to let God do what man says is impossible.
Father may I? What a stupid question according to the world. But if you listen to what the rest of the world says, then you won't get to have those life changing experiences of being able to walk on water. You'll be the one still sitting in the boat who didn't have enough courage and faith to step out yourself. And when you get back to the beach you're life will be so full of regret that you never took the opportunity to do something great! Even worse you may spend the rest of your life wishing something awesome would happen and why your faith and life is just so dry and empty.
Father may I? You don't even have to ask.
My favorite story in the whole bible is when Peter gets to walk on water. It is my favorite because that story really relates to life as a Christian and I do use it all the time. It's a wonderful faith builder, but a tough one at that.
I always say that as long as we are focused on Jesus, we can walk on water. With our eyes focused on Him, we will not sink in life. The wind and the waves are scary and threaten to tear us down and pull us under the surface, but with our eyes on God we cannot fail!
What a wonderful idea!! But this message isn't about not failing in life. Nononono! We all have our failures. We often take our eyes off of Jesus and sink and that's not the problem. God uses failures. In fact, I don't think He will use anyone but a failure and turn them into champions. It's the meek who will inherit the earth, not those who have it all going on.
But this message isn't about God picking you up when you fail. It's about getting out of the darn boat in the first place. It's about actually having the faith required to believe you can actually step out onto the water and not sink!
I mean, who actually does this? The water is deep! They're in the middle of a lake and a storm is blowing through and the wind and waves are nasty! And stupid Peter stands up and says, "Can I walk on water?" Hello! Of course you can't! You're going to sink! You can't walk on water. How impossible!
But...he did it, didn't he?
So the idea is real, right? The things in life that are impossible, are actually possible to God? We can really walk on water and do it successfully? Can you imagine the amount of faith this actually requires? Do you have this kind of faith? I only ask because I know so many Christians who are missing out on the walking on water experiences of their faith. They're too afraid to JUST DO IT! Step out of the boat and know everything is going to be okay. They're afraid to live life to the fullest because of what man says they cannot do. See, that's what Satan wants. He wants to tell you what you can't do. What is impossible. What won't work. And when he does this, it brews up fear and self-doubt in your life and you never get to fully experience God. I'm sure it was Satan who whispered into Peter's ear to look down at the waves and it created a sudden panic and fear, taking his eyes off Jesus. When you live your life through that kind of panic and fear, you are not looking at Jesus. It means you have no real faith in your life at all.
Fear is designed by the enemy to get us to back down and not be ourselves. I have lived too many years with self-doubt. Today I had an epic moment of self-doubt and jumped to a conclusion I shouldn't have and I feel very stupid for it. If I would've kept my eyes on Jesus, I wouldn't have fallen.
Only when we live by faith and not by sight do we begin to live a rich Christian life. Because things may "appear" to be impossible, unable to work, too many obstacles so why try? But it's then that you need to let God do what man says is impossible.
Father may I? What a stupid question according to the world. But if you listen to what the rest of the world says, then you won't get to have those life changing experiences of being able to walk on water. You'll be the one still sitting in the boat who didn't have enough courage and faith to step out yourself. And when you get back to the beach you're life will be so full of regret that you never took the opportunity to do something great! Even worse you may spend the rest of your life wishing something awesome would happen and why your faith and life is just so dry and empty.
Father may I? You don't even have to ask.
