Steven Furtick - Water Walking 101
Welcome to class. We're starting a brand-new school. I know a lot of kids aren't going back to the classroom in August here where we live, so I thought today, since I have the opportunity to teach the Word, I'm going to teach you a lesson today. This is more than a sermon; this is a class. I can't teach you how to cook. I can't teach you how to speak Spanish. I can't teach you CrossFit. I can't teach you hot yoga. I can't teach you any of that. But today I want to teach a class, and I need to know who's present. Let's have a roll call. Put your name and your city in the chat. Say, "Present". Get your #2 pencil.
Welcome to Water Walking 101. I thought we would get a jump on the school year and see what God would teach us today about the situations in our lives that he has placed us over. I just declare over your life today: you're not going under. You are not going under! I declare it! So, consider this your introductory class: Water Walking 101. Our syllabus is from Matthew 14:22-33. I want you to find that in your Bible. This Scripture is the first Scripture I ever preached on. Earlier this week, I showed some of our staff the second sermon I ever preached in the Woodmen of the World building. WOW. Walk On Water.
This is the first sermon I ever preached at Moncks Corner United Methodist Church for Youth Sunday. Shout-out to my mom who brought me up in church. Shout-out to the poor people who endured my first sermon. The beauty of the Methodist church is the sermon is only 12 minutes, so if it sucks, it's mercifully short. It's not like it is now where I don't even have a time clock because there's nobody coming in later. I'm just recording the message with a few staff in the room who are socially distanced. The horrible thing was I did not know the basics of preaching. Maybe you would say, "Well, that hasn't changed". You may be right about that, but back then, I didn't even know you should practice your sermon before you preach it.
I got up there with, like, 12 note cards, and I thought each note card would take a minute. My whole sermon was done in two minutes. I cycled back through the cards and said the same stuff again, and that polite home crowd love got me through it. It's a wonder I ever did it again. But this is the passage I preached my first sermon from. Sometimes it's good to go back to basics. Everybody wants to use basic as a slang term these days. "Man, she's basic. It's basic". Well, what's so bad about basic? Sometimes I need to go back to the basics of faith, and this passage really helps me do that for all of those who are needing God to get you over a situation you feel like has overwhelmed you.
The Bible says, "Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone…" We talked about that a few weeks ago. We talked about lonely places. Jesus chose the lonely place so you and I could experience him in the loneliest seasons of our lives. Now Jesus sent the disciples out into the boat. "…and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake".
Here's our instructor for the class. Here comes walking on water, right into your situation. The Bible says, "When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. 'It's a ghost,' they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: 'Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.'" Then Peter, Jesus' star pupil, that one kid in the class who always wants to ask another question… "'Lord, if it's you,' Peter replied, 'tell me to come to you on the water.' 'Come,' he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?' And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God.'"
Lord, we thank you for your Word today, and we thank you that it transcends time, space, and geography. We ask you now, Lord, that in this moment in our lives our hearts would be still in your presence so we can hear your Word and move toward your purpose. I thank you for each person you brought to this sermon today. I believe they're here for a reason. I believe you're calling and drawing. I thank you that you are on the scene and help is on the way. Bring forth your Word in our hearts. May it bud and flourish, prosper, and do what you sent it to do. In Jesus' name, amen.
In my life I've read this text so many times, but I fear that sometimes we skim what God wants us to plunge into. In our syllabus today, there are a few details. You're not going to believe this. I actually have real points to this sermon. Every note-taker who has ever been frustrated by my abstract mode of teaching is going to be in heaven today, because I at least have six thoughts from this passage. Water Walking 101. I might put in a seventh for extra credit if God blesses us with the time. I've noticed that, a lot of times, when we get into a situation like these disciples were in, and maybe like you're in right now with your job or maybe like you're in right now trying to figure out what to do with your family, those kids… Your quiver is full right now.
How many of y'all, your quiver is full and, to be quite honest, your quiver is quivering? When we find ourselves in these situations, there is a tendency to blame. The disciples liked to fight and argue with one another any chance they got, yet the storm brought them together in a unique way in Matthew, chapter 14. Trials sometimes tighten our focus. One thing we don't see in this storm is Peter and John going back and forth or Andrew and Bartholomew talking about who's rowing the hardest. They just need to make it through the storm. What really got my attention was a detail I must have skimmed over, like I mentioned.
Today, since we're in class, I want to study it a little more deeply. Blame doesn't get you through a storm. The detail I noticed in verse 22… It said, "Jesus made the disciples get into the boat". You know how people say, "The Devil made me do it"? Jesus made the disciples get into the boat. He didn't ask them. He didn't recommend. He didn't suggest. It would be one thing if he didn't know, but he's the Son of God with all wisdom. So, how did the one with all wisdom send them into something that threatened their lives? The first point is: certain storms are unavoidable. I just need you to know that certain storms… You know what I mean by storm, right? It's not always physical.
Sometimes there can be an emotional storm. Sometimes there can be a psychological storm. Sometimes there can be a relational storm. Sometimes we are so busy trying to figure out how to get out of these storms we get into that we expend all the energy we could have spent trying to learn what God wants us to learn through the storm. There are two ways to get through the storm, and one is as a survivor. How many know it's good just to celebrate that you're still here? In case you had a bad week, I'm going to give you 15 unscripted seconds to praise God for the storms you have survived. You can sit there cute if it has been sunny in your neighborhood, but if you survived some depression and if you thought you were going down but you made it safe, give him praise.
To survive the storm is a miracle. To survive abuse is a miracle. To survive an economy that is falling apart but God provided is a miracle. God says you can be a survivor, but then, if you want to, there are certain people who decide "I'm not just going to be a survivor; I'm going to be a student of the storm. I am learning to learn from the storm". The thing about it is there are certain things I can only learn in storms. The second thing I want to point out to you in the text is that God's timing is designed to teach you to trust. When Jesus, who made the disciples get into the boat… The Bible says that when he decided to reveal himself to them was just before dawn. If the goal God has is to comfort us, then this is a late appearance, but if God's goal is sometimes to change us, then it makes sense that he would show up late.
Once upon a time, I taught a sermon called Trusting God's Timing, and the idea behind it is that when we're experiencing something and it's very intense, we just want relief. I get that. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you there were times I just wanted God to make stuff stop. I just want to check with you real quick. Have you ever just wanted God to make it stop? "Just make it stop. God, I'll do anything. Just make it stop. God, I'm sorry about that thing I did when I was in seventh grade. Just make it stop". It can be a heartbreak. It can be, a lot of times, a loss in your life, and you just feel like you're hemorrhaging and hurting. "God, just make it stop". In the King James Version of Matthew, chapter 14, it says it was the fourth watch of the night when Jesus came to them. That's the very last one. That's 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m., the fourth watch.
Yet interestingly enough, the Bible says, he went on a mountain to pray. I've actually been to this site, and when our guide took us to show us the mountain Jesus might have prayed on… Do you remember how he left us up there for a moment? He really tricked us, because when he left us up there, he was designing to show us that the sea the disciples were straining in was visible to Jesus from his prayer station the whole time. He said, "Just because they didn't see Jesus didn't mean Jesus didn't see them".
Point 2, part B. This won't be on the test. Just because I don't see him doesn't mean he's not watching me. The guide when we went to Israel left us up there on the mountain for an hour, and I cried about the times in my life where I thought he had left me. The fourth watch. The first watch isn't so bad. Second watch, third watch… I feel like we're in a moment right now, at least in our nation… I don't know exactly what it's like in your country. It feels kind of like the fourth watch right now…for a lot of us, not for all of us. The novelty has worn off of everything. When we first started going into quarantine, I was like, "Well, this is kind of cool. Life is slowing down a little bit. We'll have a little more family time".
My quiver is full now. I've had enough family time to last me until my daughter is 40, and she's 9 right now. I love my kids. But how about fourth watch faith? See, I've seen a lot of people with first watch faith, second watch faith, third watch faith. But God's timing is not designed to give us relief. So, if it's not designed to give you relief, what's it designed to give you? Revelation. I'm going to run a lap. I'll be right back. I know y'all can't see me, but if you can hear me, shout. Just because you can't see him doesn't mean he left you! His eye was on the boat the whole time. He's watching you. He's guiding me. He's leading me. It's interesting that God's timing…
You know, our timing is usually allocated around when we think God should do things. The longer it goes… This is just in my life. Please send me a critical email if you've found God to be different and your experience contradicts what I'm saying. I've found that the longer I wait, the louder my "What ifs" get. The third thing I wanted to tell you in Water Walking 101… Are you enjoying the class so far? This is the point in the semester where you need to cancel if you want to drop the class. This is the last point to cancel. I want to teach you something very powerful. This is what I really want to teach аbout: "What if…"? works both ways. The wind was against them, the Word was for them, and "What if…"? works both ways.
When we get into hypothetical situations, the longer we wait on God to change certain situations… Once again, how many are there right now? Maybe you even feel like you're drowning in what you don't know. You've analyzed it, and there's a certain element of it you can't control. The Devil didn't start this storm; Jesus sent them directly into it. A lot of us would turn around at this point and say, "Well, maybe we didn't hear him right," but they pressed to the other side. Watch this. What if there's something on the other side that is worth going through the storm for? Or is it harder sometimes for us to give faith to the "What if…"? than it is to give fear to the "What if…"? Just like the wind blows… The wind can blow in either direction. So can the "What ifs".
A lot of times in my life I've learned that fear is just faith in the wrong "What if…"? "What if we fail"? What if we don't? We're here with a lot of our staff. We had some training, and I asked them to stay around and help me preach to you. We told some of the stories, but we didn't tell all of the stories about when we started the church. Holly was reminding me of one the other day where, just as soon as we went to start the church, the resources that were supposed to be given for our salary were pulled back. Then somebody else was going to pay our insurance, and that got pulled back.
Now, if my faith in God was contingent upon the conditions, I would have taken that as a sign that God didn't speak to me to start the church, but what if the wind is proof that what's on the other side is so significant you have to push through to get there? A lot of us interpret the wind as an indication that we should turn back around and head home. In this particular situation, Jesus said, "I want you to go to the other side". Now here comes the wind. That represents resistance. For you, that may represent depression. For you, that might represent anxiety. We all go through different storms, and as I've taught from this pulpit before, comparing the size of your storm to my storm and the significance of my storm to your storm serves no purpose.
The greatest thing about the passage is that Peter didn't even really express faith; he just considered possibility. I'm going to show you this. He didn't say, "Lord, I know it's you. Tell me to come". He said, "Lord, if…" What if? "What if…"? works both ways. "What if…"? can make you give up, "What if…"? can make you freak out, or "What if…"? can make you step forward. I want you to notice something Jesus did. Are you ready? This is where it gets good. He said, "If it's you, give me a word," and Jesus took him really literally. He gave him one word. Did you see it in the text? "Come". Y'all, I had a Chihuahua. That's how we talked to the dog. Jesus talked to Peter like I talked to Yoyo. That was the dog's name. This is a confession. I had a Chihuahua named Yoyo. We would say, "Come," "Stay," stuff like that.
Jesus talked to Peter like I talked to Yoyo. Here's why, I think. Do you want to know what this makes me think? That sometimes the deepest things God speaks will also be the simplest. Sometimes we can confuse deep with confusing. I've noticed a lot of times I would rather learn something new than practice something old. Some of the deepest things God will speak will be so simple, like "Come". "Okay. Well, Jesus, I was expecting a little more. I've never walked on water before. Are you going to give me any pointers? Like, a little bit of coaching? Like, should I put all my weight on one foot"? You have to remember. We read these Bible stories and we just compare walking on water to paying our bills. He was walking on water! We make it mean whatever we want…changing a tire, walking on water. Right? Peter is transcending the laws of buoyancy, yet Jesus does not give him details, just direction.
So, if God isn't giving you details right now, ask him for direction instead. Some of the biggest words God ever spoke to me in my life were just directions, impressions in my spirit. Can I share one with you? Here's one. Sometimes God will speak to me, and he'll tell me, "Go say, 'I'm sorry.'" "Well, Lord, I would rather do a Bible study on forgiveness". Do you see how sometimes we want something deep so we don't have to do anything with it? I've been guilty in seasons of my life at highlighting my Bible, but at the same time I was highlighting my Bible I wasn't even willing to embrace the simplest habits, like gratitude. I know in my life that being grateful is the greatest way for me to have joy, so why is it the hardest thing to do? Because it's so simple.
See, right now in this season, maybe we need to simplify what God is speaking to us. We don't have to understand everything. Some of us have so complicated what we need from God to move forward in faith, but all he said was "Come". Sometimes all he'll say to you is "Peace". Sometimes all he'll say to you is "Love". Sometimes all he'll say to you is "Forgive". I found out that sometimes God will not give the details; he'll simply set the direction. "Come". "Wow. You really took me literally there. 'If it's you, tell me to come.' 'Come.'" Oh man. God was speaking to me studying this. He said, "You know how you want confirmation to obey me sometimes"? Like, "God, I'll do it if you give me a sign. Give me a sign that I'm supposed to do it".
You know you're supposed to do it. It's something you know you're supposed to do anyway. "God, give me a sign and I'll tithe". You already know you're supposed to do it. God said, "The command is the confirmation". "Well, God, I don't know if I can". "I wouldn't have told you to come if you couldn't". Let me bring this home. "I wouldn't have made you his father if I wouldn't enable you to raise him". So, when I don't feel like I'm enough, I don't realize if God gave it to me, he put it in me. When he said, "Come," when he gave the command, he also supplied the strength for me to step on, step out. "Yes, Lord. I can do it. Yes, Lord. I can make it. You wouldn't have told me to preach if you wouldn't enable me to preach".
The same voice that told him to come would be the same word that would enable him to do it. I don't need any more confirmation but that he told me to. "But, Lord, are there any subpoints? Like, 'Come' is Roman numeral I". This is a class. Right? "All right. So, left foot first? Show me how to do it". "Come". And Peter did, which is what makes the next part really weird. I mean, really weird. I'm going to lose some of y'all here, because it's really weird. How many disciples were in the boat that day? Twelve disciples. Let's not put Judas in. Eleven disciples who didn't suck. Eleven sincere disciples and Judas all going to the other side.
There's an assignment on the other side, but God is weird, because he gives the test before the lesson. They don't even know what's on the other side, and neither do you. None of us know what's on the other side of what we're currently going through. I told our staff today our new church logo… It used to be one of these. Now it's a question mark. That's our new church logo. "When are we going to open all of the buildings again"? Question mark. Yet at the same time, I love how Peter… Of all of the Eleven and Judas, Peter was the one who had the faith to step out. I get with that, because… Do it big. You know? If you're going to do it, go big, Peter. "If it's you, tell me to come". "Come".
So, he makes his big move. The Bible doesn't say how long he walked on the water. He must have made it pretty far. I'm going to tell you why I think this. Consider with me. They couldn't see Jesus up close enough to know whether it was a ghost or really Jesus. They needed to hear him to know. The only way they heard the word was the wind carried it. The wind that was against the disciples carried the voice of Jesus. Some of the things that are against you will enable you to hear God more clearly. The other thing is when Peter fell, the Bible says a word that started the passage as well, and you can look this up in verse 22. It says, "Immediately Jesus made them get into the boat to the other side". Then it says that when Peter got out of the boat… Immediately, when he started to sink, Jesus grabbed him. It doesn't say he fell immediately. It says that as soon as he started to fall Jesus caught him.
Now, when Peter fell and Jesus caught him immediately, the next thing Jesus said is something he said a few times in Scripture. He said, "You of little faith". That offended me. If anybody deserves to be called little faith, it's Judas. You're going to single out Peter? That bothered me that he called that little faith. I mean, if you think it's little faith, you go do it. When someone says, "That sermon was pretty good. It wasn't your best," I'm like, "Well, you preach one. I'll go listen to yours. I'll go listen to your best one. Preach your best one. You do it". "I just think you need to be more patient with your kids". "Good. I'll send them over to you and you can give them the patience I haven't been giving them lately. You do it". That's what I was thinking.
So I sat with it, because last week I preached about little. Did you hear that sermon? Take the Lid Off a Little. The whole phrase got me. "You of little faith". I thought, "Well, we're all doomed if he thinks that's little. I mean, it's all I can do to get in a five-minute prayer time right now and not get distracted and start checking my phone. If that's what he thinks is little faith, I'm definitely not making it to heaven". But the phrase "You of little faith" doesn't necessarily refer to quantity; it refers to quality. It's not how much faith; it's how far faith. Little faith. It doesn't mean it wasn't strong; it means it wasn't sustained. I want to show you something now, and I want you to lean into this. I thought, "Well, Jesus, if that's little faith, then what is big faith"?
And it hit me… a Scripture I read about one of the two times Jesus was actually amazed. There are only two times in the New Testament that the Bible says Jesus was amazed. One time was in his hometown where they had no faith in him because they were too familiar with him. That's a whole sermon that we don't have time for in this class. That's Familiarity 101, and we'll do that class on another day…how familiarity can be the enemy of faith, how you can start getting so comfortable in your life you're afraid to do anything else. So, that's one time that he was amazed at their lack of faith, but what I want to show you is in Matthew, chapter 8. If you go with me to Matthew, chapter 8, we're going to see one of the times Jesus was amazed. The Bible says there was a centurion, a military official, who had a sick servant. He had an issue. His storm was not a hurricane or rain and thunder and lightning. His particular need revolved around the sickness of someone he cared about.
Matthew 8:5: "When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him…" Listen. This word is right for you. The Spirit of God gave me this passage, because I couldn't figure out, "If that's little faith, then what's great faith"? This centurion asked Jesus for help. "'Lord,' he said, 'my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.' Jesus said to him, 'Shall I come and heal him?'" Now let's contrast. Peter said, "If it's you, tell me to come". Jesus asked the centurion, "Should I come"? What I saw next blew my mind. I never saw it before. I've been preaching since 16. I never saw this before in the Scripture. "The centurion replied, 'Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, "Go," and he goes; and that one, "Come," and he comes. I say to my servant, "Do this," and he does it.' When Jesus heard this, he was amazed…"
He was blown away. He was exploding head emoji. "…he was amazed and said to those following him, 'Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.'" The Lord spoke to me this. One disciple said, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come". Jesus said, "That's little faith". One man said, "Jesus, I know who you are. You can stay". The Lord said, "Sometimes it takes greater faith to stay". "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee". I hear the Lord saying, "You can come, and that's fine. That's little faith. But sometimes the greatest faith is when you stay because you trust that the one who spoke the word has authority over every situation".
See, right now, we're in a storm where we don't really have anywhere to go and there's really only so much we can do, and I don't really have a whole lot of options. God said, "When I see you staying in praise, staying grateful, staying encouraged, staying on the job, and staying in the ministry, just staying, that's great faith". It's great when you stay. You can come if you want to, but Jesus said, "Great faith is when you know that if I said, 'Let's go to the other side,' there's no storm in Galilee, there's no Devil in hell, there's no virus in the world…" So, the fifth point is big moves don't always prove great faith. I'm preaching to somebody right now. You're walking on water, but you're doing it in little steps. I mean, some of these people walk on water fancy, but you're just like, "Uh…" God said, "That's great". Great faith. He said, "I don't even need you to come".
Peter said, "If it's you, tell me to come". He said, "I don't even need you to come. I don't even need all that. I don't even need a feeling. I don't even need a confirmation. The command is the confirmation. If you said you'd never leave me or forsake me, if you made that promise, you gave the guarantee, that's good with me. I know what authority looks like". Jesus said, "That's great faith". It's great faith. Sometimes we think people have faith when they're really just freaking out, really just doing stuff. "Wow, man. That's great faith". This man said, "I don't even need a dramatic sign for you to do it". God doesn't always need drama to do it. Such a simple word, such a deep expression of faith, yet that's really not the message, is it? Because he still fell.
This encouraged me. He failed the test, but he still got the lesson. Everybody who wasn't a really good student, this is your part to shout on. Everybody who's nervous about homeschooling your kid, this is your point to shout on. He failed the test, but he got the lesson, because it really wasn't a lesson about water; it was a lesson about worship. "Truly you're the Son of God". And they began to worship him, and the wind died down when he got in the boat. The essence of salvation is this: by grace through faith you are saved. "And this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). I never saw this as a picture of salvation because I was so focused on the storm.
Sometimes we go through things that we get so consumed by the test we don't even get the lesson. I want to show you in the text that Peter, beginning to sink… I don't know who this is for. It might not even be for anybody who's in this room, but Peter's faith was not in his ability to make it to Jesus. The Bible says that when he started to go down, immediately he reached out his hand and caught him. Reach out and catch my hand. You can't unless I'm close. My faith isn't in how far I can walk. Do you remember when Graham started playing at catcher? He got pretty good at catcher. I was so proud that my kid was good at a position in baseball. Just like me. I was a catcher when I was a kid. I was proud. The league they were in… Usually, they wouldn't even try to make a play at home, because all of the catchers sucked except ours. Our kid was the only good catcher in the whole league. The coach kept trying to get the third baseman to make the throw at home, but he wouldn't do it.
I remember one time the coach was yelling at the kid playing third. He was like, "Make the throw at home! When he's going home, you throw him out"! He said, "I can't make the throw". The coach said, "That's all right. You've got a good catcher". Something in my mind brought me back to remind you today in Water Walking 101 that you have a good catcher. I don't know if I can make the throw. I have little faith. But I'm going to go ahead and throw it out there. Not because I'm going to make it all the way, not because I know how this ends, not because the wind is dying down, not because I'm so good at walking on water. I'm trembling, and my legs are weak, and I don't really know, but he's close enough…
My sixth point is grace and faith go hand in hand. When you don't really believe in the grace of God, you don't have faith in God, because until you really believe he's close enough to catch you, you will always stumble. Peter's faith was not in his feet; it was in Jesus' hand. It is by grace through faith that God is going to get you through this storm. I need you to praise him right now for little faith. Watch this. I have little faith, but I have great grace. Oh, I have great grace! I have a big God! I have a good God! He's got me and he won't let go! Throw up your hands and give him worship. I found out how to walk on water. I don't walk on water with my feet; I walk on water with the Word. He said, "Lord…" Isn't it crazy that when Peter's legs failed him his mouth saved him? He cried out, "Lord, save me".
And immediately… I'm telling you, if you reach for grace right now… My confidence is not in the fact that I'm able to walk so perfectly; my confidence is in the fact that he's close enough to catch me. My message today is that sometimes the way you go to deeper faith is to just fall in the right place. This concludes Water Walking 101. If you know he's the one who can make the wind die down with one word from his mouth, give him praise right where you are. Give him praise and honor. I have a good catcher. I'm a wobbly walker, but I have a good catcher.
So I'm going forward! I'm not going under! You know what? That wind is tricky. Peter came toward Jesus, but he looked at the wind. Right now, in your life… Listen to me. I want to say this like I would say it to one of my kids. What you have to learn to ignore is just as important as what you have to learn to walk toward. Some of us are walking toward the right thing, but we are not ignoring the others. You have to get your eyes on the grace of God. You have to get your mind on the goodness of God. You have to get your thoughts on the possibility. I mean, what if he does it? What if he's guiding you? I know you've been thinking, "What if I fall"? What if he catches you? What if you worship? What if you put your worry in reverse?
"O Lord, I believe that all things are working together for my good". I don't know who this class is for, but it's just basic faith. My faith is not in my faith; it's in the grace of God. Listen. I hear him saying, "Come," the same thing he told Peter. I hear him saying to me, I hear him saying to you in this season, and that means something different right now for each of us. For you, maybe that means to draw near to God in this season because you haven't been hearing his word. You've just been blown by the wind. For some of you, that may mean you stopped walking toward what God gave you to do because of what was against you, but remember, the wind can carry his word into your heart. For a lot of us, it means that in this moment I just need to stop and say, "Lord, I'm drowning. O God, I can't stay out here by myself. Would you save me? Would you help me up? Would you show me how to do it"? "Just say the word," the centurion said, "and my servant will be healed".
Lord, I thank you for the privilege to minister your Word today. Your Word is powerful. Your Word is eternal. Your Word is living. We put our hands in your hand right now. We put our faith in your grace. We open our mouths to say that truly you are the Son of God. It's the fourth watch of the night for somebody. Literally, they've been wondering, "Am I going down and is this it? Is there even another side? I don't know it anymore". I thank you that your eye is upon them and that you sent your word today to speak right to that situation. After all, we can't really walk on water, but we can walk on your word.
Say the word, Lord. Speak it to their heart right now. You know what they need to hear. Calling them closer and telling them to come, upholding them with your righteous right hand. I speak your word today over every city, over every country, over every child of God who has joined up with this ministry in this moment. Send your word and heal them. The centurion said, "I don't even need you to come. If you'll just send the word to my house…" Send your word to their house, God. Send it with power and authority and glory and break strongholds and speak peace by the power of your word. In Jesus' name, amen.
Say the word, Lord. Speak it to their heart right now. You know what they need to hear. Calling them closer and telling them to come, upholding them with your righteous right hand. I speak your word today over every city, over every country, over every child of God who has joined up with this ministry in this moment. Send your word and heal them. The centurion said, "I don't even need you to come. If you'll just send the word to my house…" Send your word to their house, God. Send it with power and authority and glory and break strongholds and speak peace by the power of your word. In Jesus' name, amen.