Jesus is Your Model

I remember the lesson God taught me one year after reading of Peter's walking on the water. It wasn't the walk that God used to teach me anything at that time. It wasn't the sinking and taking his eyes off of Jesus that was Peter's example to me, but it was what happened between Jesus telling them to cross to the other side and the disciple stepping out of the boat. It was a thought. Remember it? Matthew 14:26, "...And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 'It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear.." That word troubled is talking about being disturbed/burdened in the mind in other versions of the same scripture. They had a thought according to their circumstance. We often think according to our circumstance and not the character or word of God.

The beginning of Day 2 talks about using the word of God to dictate our thoughts. Going back to the word to prove our response. The disciples thought a ghost (something that caused fear and could cause them harm) was approaching. They thought that because they had never seen Jesus, or any man for that matter, walking on the water before that this was a problem coming. They didn't understand in their thinking what was going on. The dim light, the boisterous sea, the loud crashing waves...but then Jesus spoke to calm their fears (that's another blog, I'm going somewhere else with this one! ha!) and my guy Peter did something that God taught me to do the rest of my life. He looked closer and made a request of God! He said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." We must stop looking at every situation that is uncomfortable or unfamiliar as something not God. We have to ask every time.

We cannot let our circumstance dictate our responses to things without seeking God first. We have to begin to interpret our circumstances according to scripture. What does the word of God say? We can no longer respond according to the word or our flesh (our own understanding).