So Jesus Set Them Up

So Jesus Set Them Up

Matt 14:32

Anybody could claim religious but wait till pressure comes.

 Anybody can claim a good preacher and make wonderful posts online, but wait until trials come.

One would have thought that Peter and the rest of the Apostles would have known enough to call to God for their deliverance, but instead they resorted to the old fleshly methods they had used as fishermen. To worsen the matter, they still held to old superstitious beliefs which claimed that ghosts walk on water.

Oh my God, they even called their Pastor a ghost! What? Pastor Jesus who just led them in a miracle service few hours ago, a ghost!

They saw miracles, heard wonderful teachings from the Master, participated in ministering to others the grace of God, but deep down inside of them, nothing had changed.

Is it possible that it was for this reason Jesus set them up to experience that storm. Yes, it is possible, because if He had told them before then their true identity, they would have told Him that He was wrong. The storm brought them to see their real spiritual position. It did not come to kill them, but as a messenger of God, the storm set them up so that they can be delivered from things that otherwise could ruin their eternal destiny.

Yes, Peter walked on the water; he had faith but the faith he had lacked stamina. It was soon to dissipate. It was in this storm that Peter knew he was not yet ready to do the things he saw Jesus do.

Thank God for this storm.

Who knows whether Peter was already preparing his posters and billboards for the launching of his ministry? Presumptuously believing that he had enough to take off now. And then the storm……

So he cried, “Help Lord!”.

 Thank God the cry came earlier than those of most young preachers today who cry when they can no longer turn back. Some cry when the devil have them in the jugular and squeezing the last breath out of them. They may be delivered but an indelible damage had been done.

If you ask me, Jesus threw them into the refiner’s fire, yes, he released them into the crucible. Perhaps He observed how they shared that bread to the five thousand capacity crowd. He observed how they saw the other men as inferior, he observed their pride. He perhaps observed the way they avoided those with contagious diseases lest they contract them. Outsiders saw them as great servants of God, but Jesus knew their true state. (This reminds me the day a CSO insulted me at Camp of Faith, Okigwe. He told me he is in charge here).

So He set them up. Let my reader ponder now his real identity; if you judge yourself you won’t fall into God’s judgment.

Maybe you should pray with me, “Lord, thank you for the storm in my life. I know it has not come to kill me but to give me lasting deliverance”.

Emma your brother @PNUR