Walk on Water

I get several e-devotionals and one I just read made me stop and think, and I just had to pass it on. The writer was talking about Peter walking on the water to Jesus and after he starts to sink and Jesus saves him, Jesus asks him, "Why did you doubt?" (See Matthew 14:22-32) So the question is, who did Peter doubt, Jesus or himself? And the answer.... Same thing. If God lives in us (Galatians 2:20), then when we say we can't do something, we're really saying we don't believe God can.

And yet, just a few short chapters later, Jesus said "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). That doesn't necessarily mean that everything we plan or attempt will work out. Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." So if it is the Lord's will, and He lives in us and empowers us, why are we doubting that we (He!) can do what He's directed us to do?

So here we are at the beginning of a new year. What is God calling you to do this year? It's doubtful He's asking you to actually walk on water, or slay a giant with one stone, or lead an entire nation through the desert, but even if He was, couldn't He give you all you need to do it? Oh yeah, He's already done all those things!

"This seems impossible for me. But nothing is impossible for the God who lives in me. That means all things really are possible for me too. I can do this with Him."
Now that's good news for a new year!

Can I get an "amen" and a "woo-hoo" too?1

Ruth

Ruth Schmidt is on full-time staff at America's Keswick, and grateful to be a daughter of the King.

1 copied from Heart to Heart with Holley

DIGGING DEEPER
James 1:6-8
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.