Do you ever find yourself asking, “Am I Called?” You have a place in God’s plan, and it’s important to act, even when it may be confusing. Even before we understand how we’ll get to where He wants us to be, Jesus calls us to walk on the water. And if we stay focused, if we ignore distractions, if we keep our eyes on Him, our circumstances won’t be any match for what we can do IN HIM.

Have you ever followed God into something you felt He wanted you to do, and then looked around you and felt that your circumstances were completely out of control? All of a sudden you’re feeling overwhelmed, confused, maybe even a little fearful.

Peter understood that feeling BIG TIME.

In Matthew 14, we see the story of Jesus feeding five thousand people with only 5 loaves and 2 fish. Could you imagine having a front row seat to that miracle? Can you imagine passing out food and reaching the bottom of the basket only to discover that it was still filled!

That’s where Peter was! He was front and center to the miracles of Jesus!

After everyone ate and was filled, Peter was there, gathering up all the leftover pieces (12 basketfuls in fact)!

The Bible says that immediately after that, Jesus made His disciples get into a boat and go ahead of Him to the other side. Jesus stayed behind to dismiss the crowd and pray by Himself.

Something out on the water

Later that night, the boat was being tossed by the waves because the wind was against it, and so Jesus went out to His disciples walking on the water. When the disciples saw Him, they were afraid. But Jesus said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Peter stepped out, and said, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.”

And Jesus said, “Come.”

Come to Me

Could you imagine? Jesus calling to you and saying, “Come, defy the wind and the waves. Defy the laws of this world and come to me.”

So Peter did. Matthew 14:29 says, He got out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar place?

You’ve seen the miracles that Jesus has preformed in your life and in the lives of others.

You follow His leading.

When He tells you to get in the boat, you get in the boat.

When He tells you to come, you walk to Him.

It feels like you’re doing everything you’re supposed to do. Your following Him!

When there’s still wind and waves around you

Sometimes that wind and those waves can make us doubt our place in God’s plan. That’s where Peter was.

He was doing great! He had stepped out and followed Jesus.

But he started looking at the circumstances that were surrounding him.

He got distracted by the wind and the waves.

In other words, he took his eyes off of Jesus.

We are usually quick to judge Peter. We think, “What a sissy. He was right there! He was walking on the water. And he got scared.”

How often do we do the same?

We feel confident enough to get out of the boat. We know we’re called and we’re walking in that calling. But we get distracted.

We start to see others who are “more qualified” than we are.

Things start to get difficult.

Someone says something that hurts our heart.

We don’t have any help.

The list could go on and on.

The the result in the same. We start to sink.

Thankfully the story doesn’t end there. Matthew 14:31 says, “Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.”

And Jesus does the same thing for us!

That’s why we can be secure in our calling no matter what our circumstance.

I think this story stayed fresh in Peter’s mind for the rest of his life.

A New Peter

In Acts 2, we see a completely different side of Peter. It was the day of Pentecost and many believers were staying in an upper room in Jerusalem. All of a sudden, they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

The people who were around them started asking questions and some even made fun of them and said they were drunk.

Peter could have shrunk back and not said anything, but he was a different person. He had his eyes fixed squarely on Jesus.

He stood up, addressed and crowd, and gave a sermon that resulted in 3000 people being added to the Kingdom of God that day.

Peter knew that he had a place in God’s plan, and when he stepped out in faith, he was able to live it out.

How can we live our lives that way? All we have to do is be confident in our calling. We can CHOOSE to look past our circumstances and look straight into the eyes of Jesus.