The Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan takes us to Psalm 14 and Matthew 14 today. Here is the first verse from Psalm 14:
1THE [empty-headed] fool has said in his heart, There is no God.
Enough said about that one! Just don't BE one! :) Then Matthew 14:22-33:
22Then He directed the disciples to get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent away the crowds.
23And after He had dismissed the multitudes, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. When it was evening, He was still there alone.
24But the boat was by this time out on the sea, many furlongs [a furlong is one-eighth of a mile] distant from the land, beaten and tossed by the waves, for the wind was against them.
25And in the fourth watch [between 3:00--6:00 a.m.] of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea.
26And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost! And they screamed out with fright.
27But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage! I AM! Stop being afraid!
28And Peter answered Him, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.
29He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and he came toward Jesus.
30But when he perceived and felt the strong wind, he was frightened, and as he began to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me [from death]!
31Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and caught and held him, saying to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?
32And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
33And those in the boat knelt and worshiped Him, saying, Truly You are the Son of God!
I have always liked Peter! He reminds me of ME sometimes! Everyone likes to quote Jesus from verse 31 and laugh at Peter for his doubt. But I would like to point out that Peter was the only one bold enough to get out of the boat in the first place! Peter may have doubted later, being distracted by the wind and the waves, but Peter actually WALKED ON WATER! Just like Jesus! He is the only person besides Jesus that I know of that has ever walked on water (unless it was ice)!
Lets all be a little more bold to get out of OUR boats and see the power of God in action! After all, we're here for the sole purpose of showing forth JESUS to the world! AMEN!
Shalom in Him!
