Faith Archives - Page 10 of 14

2 Amazing Ways You Can Walk on Water

Many of us have read or heard about the passage in the Bible about Peter walking on the water towards Jesus. There are many lessons that we can learn from the story. There are life and spiritual lessons that we can apply to our lives, so that we can walk on the water.

Walking on Water

What does walking on the water mean? In Matthew chapter 14, this is a literal walking on the water. Peter really walked on top of the sea. That alone is amazing. A closer look will show us some important things that we can take, apply to our lives, and then do amazing things.

28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

Directions from God

1. The first way we can walk on water is to have a Word from God. Another way to think of this is that we need to have directions from God. There is something special that we are all called to do. For us to accomplish this, we have to hear from God. This is one of the main reasons that prayer is vital to our daily lives. We need God’s direction every day. Jesus told Peter to “Come.” That was all the direction that he needed. One simple word from God caused Peter to do the amazing. What word is God telling you that will lead you to do the amazing.

30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

Fight to Focus

2. Peter was following the directions that God gave him. He was doing the amazing! He’s walking on the water. Then he gets distracted. In his case, it was the wind that disctraced him. It took his attention away from where he was going and focused on something else. For us, we live in a world full of distractions. We have to fight to focus on the path that we are walking. While Peter was doing what God told him to do, he was confident. It wasn’t until he focused on something else, the wind, that he became afraid. As long as we are focused on what God has told us to do, then we can be confident. Fear sets in when we take our attention off of the direction that God has given us.

There are many other things that we can learn from the passage, but prayer and focus are two key things that can get us started on doing the amazing.

What has God told you to do, that you haven’t?

Providing Spousal Support

Does being married mean that you have to support your spouse’s dreams? Isn’t it time that they grew up and lived in the “real world?”

Yes! You should support your spouse’s dreams. If those dreams are not putting yourself or your family in danger, then you should absolutely support their dreams. With that established we should ask ourselves “Do we know what our spouse’s dreams are?” If not, this is a great date night to have. A Dream Date and not Dinner and a Movie.

40-70% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. The dream that your spouse has may be the idea to get you out of that cycle. It could be the idea that moves you to a place where you are financially secure, fulfilled in your calling and doing something great. Notice that I said fulfilled in your calling and not fulfilled in your job. Pursuing a dream is more than just a job. It’s what God has put you on earth to do that will have an impact on the world. That’s more meaningful than the paycheck you get from your job.

Words That Build

1. So how do we support our spouse’s dreams? Many times, we can either destroy or cultivate our spouse’s dreams. The words that we speak are vitally important. Just by what comes out of our mouths, we can build up our spouse when they are down, tired and may want to quit. Our words can give them the boost they need to keep going, lift their spirit, and keep the vision of the end goal. The opposite is true too. Our words can depress them, stifle their progress, and make it so that they will not want to pursue the dreams or worse not open up to us and share their heart.

Listen & Respond or NOT

2. We support the dream by listening. This might be especially true for men, we don’t have to immediately fix the problem that our spouse is having. This is their dream. We should support them, not take over. Many times, when we are talking to our spouse they will give us indicators of what they are feeling. The key is to really listen and not just wait until it’s our turn to talk. Sometimes they just want to express themselves to us. Support them by listening to them.

Lend a Hand

3. Lend our skills and talents to support them. Many husbands and wives are different in personalities and in skills. This is one of the ways that marriage is great. Spouses complement each other. While your spouse is pursuing their dream, support them by lending your skills to help them. It may mean some sacrifice on our part. Maybe we lose an hour of sleep, or don’t watch the TV show that we wanted but those things fail in comparison to supporting our spouse.

These are a couple of ways that we can support our spouse in their dreams. Supporting those dreams strengthens the marriage, and the relationship between the husband and wife.

Do you know your spouse’s dream? Are you supporting that dream? Let’s start this weekend with Dream Dates. Go out and talk to each other about your dreams, and how you can support them!

Praying through the Hard Times

Everything is Going Wrong

Sometimes things look like they are not changing. We’ve tried everything that we can think of to do. Self help books didn’t do anything for the situation, the advice we got from our family and friends didn’t help, and when we prayed to God it felt like we were talking to a wall. How can we overcome and push through these life situations? Does prayer really work? Does God hear me?

What Speaks Louder?

When we are going through a tough time, we can ask what we should do, and inevitably someone will tell us that we should pray about it. The problem that we have is that praying can seem like it isn’t working because we don’t see anything change right away. Not seeing that change right away can dampen our spirits. The problem will still be there and it can feel like it’s screaming at us and that we need to do something about it.

Prayer Works

Prayer works because it speaks to our trust in God. It is us giving that problem to God and allowing Him to instruct us on what to do. While the problem may want our attention or there may be a deadline looming, prayer allows us to take our time.

The Struggle

It is the in between time that we struggle with. We’ve prayed about it and now we’re trying to wait to hear what God wants us to do. A day can go by, a week, maybe even a month, where we can question if God heard us.

The first step we have to make is Be confident that God does hear us.

1 John 5:14 (KJV)
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

Trust God

Knowing that God hears us allows us to then trust that He will do something about it. We pray because many situations that we find ourselves in require a strength and a peace greater than what we can muster.

Praying keeps our mind on God and not on the problem or the situation in front of us. Our prayers don’t have to be some super deep, super spiritual act, but more of a conversation between two people. It can be something like:
“Lord, I’m struggling with this situation. I ask for your guidiance and that my heart be open to hear from you. I’m giving this completely to you and trusting you to handle it. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

How has prayer helped you get through tough times? Leave a comment below and tell your story.