You know the scene…this storm comes out from seemingly nowhere and invades the disciple’s space. The violence of the waves begins to rise up pounding their boat, and the wind stirs a consuming fear in their present reality. Despite their efforts to control the boat, the storm pushes them off course out into the midst of the sea. Being the fourth watch of the night, they had been straining at their oars for hours and they were totally exhausted.

Then out of nowhere Jesus steps into the scene, piercing the darkness. Unaffected by the crashing waves around Him, Jesus approaches the boat on the waters surface, with an invitation to Peter simply just to “Come!”

—Germany Kent Step out on faith and walk into your purpose.

Stepping out of the boat onto a surface he had no business being on, Peter begins his walk of faith towards Jesus. Peter does the impossible, but then things change when he takes his eyes off Jesus, his source of power and peace. Just moments earlier he was hiding in the boat from the storm and now the storm has fully exposed him. Jesus is showing him that what we fear defines the boundaries of our freedom.

Consumed by the storm raging around him, Peter begins to sink…Jesus reaches into the depths of the darkness and pulls Peter back to safety saying, “you of little faith why did you doubt?” When it comes to Peter walking on the water, people are quick to call him out for his lack of faith, but what about the others who stayed in the boat? If Peter had little faith, then they had none. It’s so easy to criticize others from the safety of the boat, isn’t it?

Here’s the rub…we all need to remember that we’ve been in this place before. We have all faced problems, a crisis or a storm before and we overcame them, forgetting how resilient and strong we truly are. We have all hit the wall without stepping into the tailwinds of God.

Imagine being the guys in the boat watching Peter and Jesus outside the boat, standing on water, having a conversation about faith? I could image Jesus sharing something like this with Peter, “you know before we go back to the boat we’re going to have a conversation right here in the middle of the miracle because I want you to learn how to trust Me!” Jesus wasn’t in a hurry; the wind was still blowing; the waves were still crashing, and the storm was still roaring all around them…and Jesus is having this conversation with Peter about his doubt and faith.

Most of us would rather have the conversation back in the boat, right? And then there’s Jesus who says that there’s no need to get back into the boat because you’re exactly where you need to be…having a conversation with Me! There was a distance between where Peter was and where he needed to be if he was going to walk with Jesus. Imaging the conversation Jesus has with him, “you think you’ve hit the wall and can’t go any further, but I’m not going to let you swim back and I’m not going to carry you back…you’re going to walk back to the boat with Me, step into My tailwinds and keep going!”

—Matthew 14:32 …And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

Jesus and Peter walk back to the boat and when they’re back in the boat the winds die down. Do you think that’s a bit coincidental? Perfect timing? For the wind to be raging while Peter’s outside of the boat and then for the wind to die down when he gets back into the boat? Seems like Jesus was orchestrating the storm, doesn’t it?

Sometimes we have to face our fears, embrace the adventure, and take the plunge. But what holds us back from risking it all? How do we overcome our fears? What do we do when we doubt that the new chapter of life God is writing is for us? How do we keep our eyes focused on the goal when everything is trying to distract us?

For some of us, we don’t know how much faith is waiting to be unleashed in our lives, we don’t know how much strength is waiting to be unlocked with us. We don’t realize how resilient, how powerful and how strong God is going to reveal to you — who you are. He’s going to take you to the wall where you will think you have nothing left. He’s going to take you to the wall where you’re at the end of yourself where your worried, exhausted, depleted and then when you get to that point where your only choice is to trust Him with your life. This is where He will empower you and regenerate the strength inside of you…you’re going to walk back to the boat and go further than you ever thought you could go. I think this conversation took place to teach Peter to once again to lock onto who Jesus is.

We will never step into the tailwinds of God if we never pressed into that wall!

—Matthew 14:33 …Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.

Some of us are drowning right now, overwhelmed by life and suffocating! Jesus wants to meet us there to refocus our faith on Him! What’s interesting is when they get back into the boat the others don’t talk about Peter and Peter doesn’t take center stage. There’s nothing about Peter in the epilogue of this great adventure — it’s all about Jesus and maybe that’s why we keep missing our opportunity to step into the tailwinds of God because we think it’s about us, when in reality it’s about God revealing Himself in us and through us.

So, stop living small and ask God to take you to the limit, to the place where you’ve given everything you’ve got just to ask Him to meet you there in that moment! It is in Jesus where we can find the strength to push through that wall and press on. God wants to put faith and courage inside of you and He wants to take you to the edge of the wall and show you that there’s breakthrough waiting for you!

If we keep focusing on all the winds blowing around us, we’re going to just sink every time, but if we start paying attention to tailwinds that God is waiting to unleash within us we become unstoppable!

The time to play it safe is over! Get out of the boat, step onto the surface you have no business being on and focus on Jesus!