You Call Me Out Upon The Waters
Miracles usually manifest in deep dark uncomfortable places. It's when the impossible improbable and implausible clash head on with the God of miracles. Everything yields and relents to the voice and command of our Creator. Whatever He decrees is established! He spoke Light into existence - He breathed life into dry bones - He calmed the raging seas and His miracle of Salvation and Redemption continue to reverberate from the foothills of Jerusalem. Almost always the key ingredient, the common denominator in a miracle, is the element of faith. Scripture says faith as tiny as a mustard seed is able to move mountains. We can liken faith as 'kinetic energy'. The simple definition of kinetic energy is that it is the energy of motion seen in the movement of an object, particle or set of particles. An object in motion is using kinetic energy, example a person walking, kicking a ball, or a spoon falling off a table.

We exercise our faith best when it is in motion - "In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead!" James 2:17. It is one thing to have faith, sure we can all admit to having faith, we've all been apportioned a measure of faith, BUT it is only as effective and operational when it is converted into action. The lady with the issue of blood, when she had determined to crawl to Jesus to but touch the hem of His garment to receive her healing; Abram, when he left his country, his relatives, his father's home to go to a place he had no prior knowledge of; Zacchaeus when he climbed up a tree to get a glance of Jesus; Peter when he walked on water; the woman with the alabaster box who emptied herself of her troubled past at Jesus' feet - are great examples of people who put their faith into action. They shifted their belief system, they determined with reckless abandon that it was then or never; they had a window of opportunity and they grabbed it. Jesus' words, His promises and invitations had stirred and fanned the flames of faith from deep within them, enabling them, compellingly and magnetically drawing them unto Himself. Each of them received their miracle just from stepping out, no questions asked, no judgment or condemnation passed, no prerequisites or conditions attached - ALL who sought Him, all who came received. They received because they believed.

I think of Peter's timeline, a rugged fisherman about his business, (the only job he knew to do), when out of the blue he found himself in discussion with Jesus over fishing nets that needed mending and empty boats left bobbing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. I believe Jesus saw more than lost opportunity, He looked within Peter and saw gold! Beneath the rough and boorish exterior Jesus identified a vessel of purpose. Sure like the nets and boats, Peter needed mending and filling of his own. Step out into the deep Jesus commanded, to the place where miracles happen, out of comfort zone, out of safety and familiarity - Launch into the deep where the fish are! Cast your net on the other side - just do something differently, however irrational, unscientific, unreasonable, illogical even absurd. It is at the intersection of this proposal and the 'nuclear' reaction of faiths works that set off something phenomenal. I tried it all Lord, BUT I will give it a go because YOU instructed me to.

Peter's boats may have been filling to capacity but so was his heart. In the same way that he was unable to contain the fish, he struggled to grasp the change and transformation that was taking place on the inside of him. Hurts were being mended, emptiness filled, newfound meaning came into view. Peter experienced the miracle touch of Jesus, who had ministered to his inner most being just from nets full of fish. The monetary value of the fish paled into insignificance by Peter's calculation, for the transformation he experienced proved priceless. Peter calculated well! Small wonder he left it all to follow Jesus, to become a fisher of men. God never calls you into something you cannot fulfill, however deep, however threatening and uncertain. "For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable!" Romans 11:29.