I Am the Change!
Matthew 14: 25-31 NIV
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Let me begin with this, history is a record of past events and times. This past week will be recorded in history as a time when wrong was front and center on so many levels. Not only wrong, but out of order, an injustice, an invasion of rights, pure evil! I’ve always said this, “In order to make a difference, one must be the difference.” Don’t miss this right here, ‘being’ speaks to the state of one’s existence, a continuance in life that’s dependable opposed to situational. So let me say what I’ve said before, we cannot be surprised when the world does what the world does! There is, however, a call for the church to rise and be who and what the church was chosen to be and that is THE DIFFERENCE! We were chosen to be set apart, leaders, the change and the change makers. Hear me here, change cannot be chained, locked up or boxed in. Change has to be displayed on purpose! Allow me to be vulnerable for a moment and say this, there have been times in life when I’ve made a move that looked right only to watch it play out wrong. In those moments, choices were presented to me. I could stay in it or learn from it. I have learned to cry! Not so much as in a boo-hoo cry, but a Jesus I need your help cry! Based on an array of bad decisions in the world, it’s time for the church to cry out and say to Jesus like never before, “We need Your help! In the midst of it all, before we make another move, God we need Your help!"
Watch me switch! The disciples are in the boat and based on what they see, they identify what is coming at them as unusual and at first they are not sure how to respond. The bible says that they were terrified and cried out in fear, not in faith. You do know that there is a BIG difference. The good news is regardless of where we are, HE STILL IS! In other words, our inability to see Him does not lessen His existence. The text records that Jesus spoke to them. He spoke to their fear and as a result, Peter requested permission to get down out of the boat and join Jesus on the water. Can I drop something on you right there? Make sure your faith matches the level of your request. Peter was fine as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. The shift came when the focus changed. The wind shifted him from Who was in charge to what was rising up. Like Peter, there is a wind coming at us. The design of the wind is to get us to not only feel it, but to fear it. Man of God, Woman of God, IT IS TIME TO CALL FOR HELP! Like Peter, we may have taken our eyes off the One that gave us permission to do the unusual. Thank God for His hand of help. Let’s declare an unusual cry so we can continue the unusual walk!
It’s going to take an unusual move to do the unusual. Not a move of fear, but a move of faith! To every attack designed as a setback, we cry out in permission to walk this thing out! We declare an unusual shift in the disciples of God! To every apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, pew member, we release water-walking faith! Remember that your response to this invitation will determine our outcome! Lord, shift our worship and hear our cry that we might respond with victory!
Change starts with us! Change starts within us, not without us! Declare on today, “I am the change!”
Remember to live your life without excuses!
