We too can do the impossible | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: March 25, 2024 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 47

Beloved: grace and peace be yours abundantly from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to the last week of the month of March 2024. My prayer is that God will strengthen you to continually fix your gaze on Him and on His word, so that you can walk in victory over every limitation of life and become all that He wants you to be, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

In the gospel of Matthew, he records an incident for us in which Jesus walked on the water. As the account goes, one night and after a meeting, He had made his disciples get into a boat to go on ahead of Him to a place called Gennesaret, while He went to pray. And none of them bothered to ask Him how He would join them. They just left because He had said that they should leave. (Cf. Matt 14:14-22)

However, when He was done praying, seeing that the wind was contrary to them, He went out to meet them, walking on the water. And when they saw Him, they were all terrified and began to cry out in fear, thinking that they were seeing a ghost. But He told them not to be afraid and that He was the one. (Cf. Matt 14:24-27)

Now, as soon as Peter heard that it was Jesus that was walking on the water, he just said, “Lord, if it is you, then, tell me to come to you on the water.” Did he think about this before saying it? No! But somehow, in his heart, he just knew that if it was indeed the Lord Jesus that was walking on the water, He was in a position to speak the word of authority and power that would enable him also to do the same thing. And that was exactly what happened. When he made that request, the Lord answered and said, “Come!” (Cf. Matt 14:28-29)

Did Peter, then, walk on the water or not? He did! He walked on the water in the full view of the other disciples with him in the boat. However, Matthew goes on to tell us that when this man saw the wind, he became afraid and began to sink. Then he cried out to the Lord to save him. And did He save him or not? He saved him and they both walked back to the boat on the water. But He told him that the reason he began to sink was that he doubted and that it was his doubt that weakened his great faith and turned it into little faith. (Cf. Matt 14:28-32)

In any case, it will always be on record that Peter did the impossible by walking on the water with our Lord Jesus. Yes, it will always be on record that he did what no other disciples of the Lord did. Why? First, it was because he desired to do so. Second, it was because the Lord gave the word that he could do so. See, desiring to do or have something is not enough. If there is no word from God to back it up, it can only result in pains or in disasters. That means faith in God must be based on His word and not on our desires or feelings or on the experiences of others. And there have been those who ignorantly injured themselves because they were trying to use faith that was not based on a sure revelation of God’s word.

The third reason Peter walked on the water with Jesus was that he acted on the word of the Lord that said, “Come!” If he had not acted on that word, he would not have walked on the water as he did. But note that when the Lord answered Peter, He did not say, “Come, Peter!” Instead, He said, “Come!” That means that word of authority and power was for every one of them in the boat. But it was only Peter that acted on it. It was only Peter that stepped out of the boat and walked on the water. Others just simply stood in the boat in amazement, watching their friend and partner walk on the water to meet Jesus.

Why was that so? It was so because Peter was the only one at that time that had in him a desire that was strong enough to do what the Lord had said that all of them could do. And the lesson for us simple, which is that we too can do the impossible through our faith in the Lord Jesus. Yes, we too can separate ourselves from other people and walk on the waters of sicknesses, poverty, stagnation, fear and death. And that is because the word of God has said that we could. All that we need, then, is to strongly desire to do so, to daily take those steps of faith that God is asking us to take and to fix our gaze on Jesus. Then, before anybody knows what is happening, we would have done the impossible and opened the door for many to praise God on our behalf.

Do have a splendid week.

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