Come In The Midst Of The Storm

 Come in the midst of the storm and uncertainty...take a step of faith

Matthew 14:26-32 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. ²⁷ But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. ²⁸ And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. ²⁹ And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. ³¹ And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? ³² And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

Sometimes the call of God requires a great step of faith.  In the midst of the stormy seas Jesus was standing on the water and called for Peter to “Come.” 

We often don’t give Peter any credit for responding to that call to “come.” We just focus on him sinking.  I remember a speaker talking about being in Israel in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, at or near where the above incident took place.  He said he was thinking about it being the place where Peter sank after he got out of the boat.  Immediately the Lord corrected him reminding him that this was where Peter walked on the water.  Peter may have had little faith and began to doubt once he took His focus off the Lord and focused on the surroundings, but Peter did walk on the water in response to Jesus’ call to “come.”

Peter’s experience is a good reminder to keep our focus on the Lord in the midst of difficult circumstances.  When our focus gets on the circumstances is when we begin to sink. Even when our faith wavers, Jesus will reach out and pull us up and walk us back to the boat.  He won’t let us sink and drown when we call out to Him. 

Peter’s experience is also a good reminder to respond to the call of the Lord to “come,” even when the circumstances around us look rather precarious, in the midst of a storm and uncertainty.  When we step out on His Word, with what faith we have and He will meet us there. 

Come Ye After Me

Mark 1:17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

Mark 3:13-15 And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. ¹⁴ And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, ¹⁵ And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:

Song of Songs 7:10-13 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. ¹¹ Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. ¹² Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves. ¹³ The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

The first call of Yeshua is to come and be with Him.  The relationship with Him is the most important part of our Christian life and ministry.  Without relationship with Him, we really have nothing to offer.  He is the vine we are the branches.  We must stay connected into the vine as the source of life and sustenance to have anything of lasting value to share. 

We see in the verses in Mark that Yeshua called the disciples to come and be with Him. Then He sent them forth.  He called for them to come after Him and He would make them to become fishers of men.  The onus was on Yeshua to prepare them for the work of sharing the Kingdom of God as kingdom ambassadors. That preparation came in time spent with Yeshua in everyday life, as well as watching Him minister, and participating with Him in ministry. Then he sent them out. 

In the passage from the Song of Songs we see that the call is also to come. Actually much of that book is about coming to Yeshua and growing in an intimate relationship with Him.  As already stated that is the relationship with Yeshua is essential.  Then going forth is done together. The going forth is into the harvest field of the unsaved.  The going forth is also to the villages, the places where there are believers dwell in fellowship.  In the villages there is ministry to the needs of those who are already believers. All ministry is done co-laboring with the Godhead. Yeshua only did what He saw the Father doing.  We need to learn to operate in the same way to be effective.  We function in this earth realm as ambassadors of the Kingdom realm.

It all has to start with “come” and then being sent out. Being sent is another key.  To just go of our own accord is not good.  We must look to Yeshua to send us in the right time to the right place.  As we are being sent we are going out to co-labor with Yeshua under the direction and anointing of Father and Holy Spirit.