Episode 81: Following Jesus into the Deep
At Gutsy Faith we talk a lot about “going deeper” and “living braver.” But what does it mean to go deep into faith? How does that feel and look?
Most of us are in one of three stages:
The shore
The shallows
The deep
The shore is the beginning stages of faith when we are new or beginning to desire to mature. The shallows are where we start to move closer to the Lord. Sadly, many believers never move past the shallows. The deep is where we surrender our lives to the plan of God and allow Him to move us and lead us. The deep can be scary because we can’t see the bottom…at times we may feel out of control, but God is in control, and anyone who’s lived in the deep understands that the deeper we go with Jesus, the more we want to go even deeper.
Psalm 42:7 says, “Deep calls to deep at the sound of your waterfalls. All your breakers and your waves have rolled over me.” The further you go with God, the more He invites you to go further.
Luke 5:1-11 gives us a great picture of what it means to go towards the deep. Peter was standing by the lake washing out his fishing nets as Jesus was teaching on the shore. Jesus asks Peter if He can borrow his boat to teach from (intentionally) and when he was finished teaching, Jesus tells Peter to “put out into the deep waters for a catch.” Peter essentially rolls his eyes and says, “We’ve already tried that…”
Often, what keeps us from the deep waters of faith is the sense we’ll be disappointed, or we’ve already tried to go deep and God didn’t come through. However, we must remember that:
Understanding is not a prerequisite for obedience. We have to learn to obey even when it doesn’t make sense.
The good news is Jesus was promising a catch if they left behind what they thought they knew, and trusted what only He knows! The boat was so full of fish it almost sank. At that point, Peter was filled with humility and true awe. He was in the deep, completely broken of selfish thoughts and independent actions. This is the entry to the deep - a mature way of viewing ourselves and the ultimate authority, power, and joy of trusting Jesus.
It's interesting that Jesus chose FISH to be the way he worked with Peter’s heart. Maybe it’s because fish meant the world to Peter. It was his livelihood, what he knew and took pride in. It was his heritage. Jesus knows and cares about what means the most to YOU! What’s your fish? This week, ask God to take you deeper and don’t be surprised when you see Him take you places you never could have imagined or orchestrated on your own.
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