Walk on Water - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Walk on Water

Steve Martin

“Peter said to Him, "Lord if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” (Matthew 14:28-29, NASU)

Someday I too will walk on water.

So will you.

We may not have the faith for it now, but we will. The Lord will get us to that point when our trust level in Him is so high that even as He spoke the word clearly to Peter, “Come to Me”, we too will get out of the boat and walk to Him, on water. Because it will be necessary.

Notice He didn’t ask Peter to come only if he thought he could. He simply said, “Come” and expected Peter to obey.

As I drove down the road to visit a friend, having hurt himself in a golf cart accident (and he wasn’t golfing at that!) I was praying in tongues and asking the Lord about the faith we need each day, sometimes just to do what it takes to get things done for that day.

The Holy Spirit’s response to me is what initiated this message.

In my mind came His word, “You may not have faith for all that I have planned for you to do yet. But the time will come, as you are faithful now to grow in the faith you have, little by little. Then you will have the required faith for when I will ask you to walk on water.”

I believe that. You can too. He gives to each of us according to our faith, which can enlarge.

We can come up with all kinds of excuses why we can’t hear and obey the Lord, and yet, in His patience with us, He puts us in situations where we just need to trust Him – have faith – and see Him respond with the provision, direction, and wisdom. And then our faith grows more.

Looking back, as you grew up, you faced challenges that at the time you said to yourself and probably others, “No way can I ride a bike.” “No way can I drive a car.” “No way can I play that instrument.” “No way can I move to another city, state or country.”

And what happened? You learned how to do it. His grace enabled you to get up, get out, get on with what had to happen, so you could move up, move out, and move on in His plans and purposes for your life. Those things now come naturally for you. That is how faith grows.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:11-12 (NKJV), “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

We begin as children, both in the natural and spiritual, and we grow into the things of an adult. As we walk with the Lord day by day, with our eyes fixed on Him (kind of like those Texans who keep “fixin’” to do things…), we do as in Hebrews 12:2 we are instructed to do. Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. Every day.

The time is coming, and for some, it has already, where your very next move will be critical for a life or death situation. If you have not been growing in your faith, focusing on the Lord Jesus, then will you be ready when it does happen? When He asks you to walk on water, possibly to escape something deadly serious, or to help another in their crisis, will you have trusted in Him up to that point already, and be able to step out and accomplish the challenge?

Get ready to walk on water.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$120 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

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Now Think On This #401 - in the year of our Lord 03.20.19 – “Walk on Water” – Wed. 3:45 pm

For the Love of God - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

For the Love of God

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:3 NASU)

For the love of God we are called to do what we do. Mostly that is to give our life for others, even as the Lord Jesus Himself demonstrated it – by showing us how to do it as He gave His life for us. In walking daily in the leading of the Holy Spirit, and choosing to let go of His natural pleasures in order to do what He came to do, He gave His life.

So when the nudge came to wake up from the night’s sleep, and get out of bed, even though the red numbers on the digital clock read 5:08 am, a bit before my normal rising time these days, I dismissed the urge to lay there, and got up. And I knew why.

The night before someone had shared with me some of their struggles and concerns from that day. And as we all so often do, we allow worry and fears of the future to sometimes rob us of the faith and assurance of the times ahead. Sure, we know the verse, “My times are in Your hands…” (Psalm 31:5), but at times it doesn’t seem to be as strongly settled in our spirit as we would like it to be. We let the certainties be not as certain.

After getting up, getting dressed, and going downstairs, I said to them that I wanted to pray for them before they left for work. A simple prayer for peace, assurance, and trust in the Lord’s guidance – to know once again that their times were in His hands.

I believe it was a meaningful action, both for them and myself. Encouragement can come in many ways. I trust my obedience would bring the results the Lord intended, and the love of God He wanted to be expressed to them had been.

Bearing one another’s burdens is part of the calling we each have who call upon the Name of the Lord. Being there for each other, in good times and not so good, helps the encouragement level in our spirits to be a bit higher than walking it out alone. And so we do these things, as acts of faith and obedience.

We can daily stand on the promise given to us in His Word. When life gets hard, we can always trust in Him.

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39, NKJV)

For the love of God will keep us until the end. We encourage each other with His words.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

  

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

Please be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$50 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc. 

P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This #346 - in the year of our Lord 04.11.18 – “For the Love of God”, Wednesday, 6:30 am

Open Hands, Open Heart - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Open Hands, Open Heart

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24, NKJV)

One would think that when a certain age is reached in this human life, the need to press on in faith is not as great, or as needful as when one is just starting out in a younger age. I for one am finding that that is not necessarily so. The call to walk in faith, on a daily scale, seems to be just as needed as when I was young and raring to go, full of energy and vigor - to conquer the world for God.

It isn’t done until it is done.

It seems to be true that in this life we are not meant to reach that point where we can sit back and say, “I am finished. I did it all. No need to press on any further. There is no more for me, so I can relax and watch the remaining days go by, with ease and full pleasure.”

For me, it isn’t so. I find myself just as often these days, my “golden years”, visualizing my hands raised, open to the heavens, saying to the Lord, “I need You today. I need You to guide my steps. I need my heart to be open to your plans and purposes in my life for this hour, as they were in my past years, to accomplish what You want.”

Did not the Lord Himself advise the one who thought he had accomplished it all, by speaking these words of truth to him? “'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."'  "But God said to him, ' You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?'  "So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:19-21, NASU)

Looks like we must never come to the point when we sit back and basically say to ourselves that we no longer need to seek, ask, or find what the Lord has yet in store for us. He is always calling us to Himself, to expect more from Him, to rest not in our accomplished laurels but in finishing strong to the end the full package He has in mind for each.

My heart is open to going further in the ways of the Lord, to have Him even more so perform the works of the Holy Spirit through me, bringing light and glory to the ones around me, and in the nations. Though I am content with what has come, what has been completed, grateful for what has been achieved in these past years, I will yet desire to press on to full completion.

Retirement in the Kingdom of God doesn’t seem to be found written in the Word of God.

You yourself may be one, like myself, who has reached the late 50’s, 60’s, or beyond. At times we have grown very weary in the pursuit and the fulfillment of it all, but with the strength of the Almighty One we serve, we have yet more to do. In His might we will accomplish it.

Keep your hands open and your heart also. Be encouraged in your pressing on. The reward is great. There is much yet to be won. And then we can sit back and enjoy the mansion in heaven that even now is being built for us.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

Please be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$50 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc. 

P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This #344 - in the year of our Lord 03.14.18 – “Open Hands, Open Heart”, Wednesday, 11:45 am