Throughout the Season of Lent, we are exploring "5 Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith". So far, we've looked at practical teaching, providential relationships, and private disciplines. This week we talked about a tension everyone who walks with God experiences at some time in their journey.
At some point, God is going to allow you to see a need which creates a heavy burden in your heart. You know something needs to be done. You talk with God about it, pleading for Him to intervene. That's when things take an unexpected turn. Instead of somebody else stepping up, God whispers in your ear "You do something".
Matthew 14:13-33 is a perfect example of this. The disciples didn't know how to feed more than 5,000 people. So they asked Jesus to send them away. Instead, Jesus said, "You feed them." Huh? How do you feed 5,000 people on just enough food for 13? Simple... You do what you can do, trusting God to do what only He can do.
So the disciples started giving away what they had. And when it was over, they had 12 baskets of leftovers. Why? Because the disciples were great caterers? NO! They just did what they could do, while Jesus did what only He could do.
A little later, the disciples were in a boat, on a stormy sea, going nowhere. Jesus shows up, walking on the water, and apparently Peter has an insight. He connects what happened on shore with what's happening now. He figures that if Jesus invites him to do something, all he has to do is do what he can do, trusting Jesus to do what only He can do.
So he asks Jesus to invite him out of the boat. What a daring prayer! "God, invite me out of the boat." I don't know how to walk on water. But I know how to get out of a boat...I know how to walk...and I'll trust You with the rest.
Here’s the bottom line: at some point in your journey, God is going to say to you, “Do something about that”. Then you’ll have a decision to make. Will you do what you can, trusting God to do what only He can do?
Where is God nudging you? What’s the pulling you’ve been dodging?
This isn't about recruiting, it's about your faith. God wants to have an intimate relationship with you, and He's asking you to step out of the boat as an exercise of faith. Will you do what you can do, trusting God to do what only he can do?
If you do, you’ll experience God in a brand new way. If you don’t, you will never know what God might have done through you if you had said yes.
Will you do what you can do and allow God to do what only he can do?
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