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Posts Tagged ‘walking on water’

Why Not Walk on Water

Posted in Eastertide, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Art by Brad Moody

Art by Brad Moody

Honestly, it never occurred to me that walking on water might be normal behavior. Think about it. The way the story goes, Jesus finished praying and then headed out by the most direct route (across the water) to meet up with his friends. It’s not like he stood at the shore and said to himself, “wait til they see this!” It was simply a means to an end. It could have been a true turning point for the disciples. Instead, it was one more picture lesson in faith.

O you of little faith. Why did you doubt and dance back and forth between following Me and heeding fear? [Matthew 14:31b, The Voice translation]

Most Christians, when they get a hold of the possibility that miracles are still possible today, focus on healing. After all, Jesus did a lot of healing and when faced with the pain and suffering of those around us, we want to help, we want to save them, we want to keep our loved ones with us. Heal them Father, we cry out. Have mercy.

When danger is before us, we cry out. When death is near, we shout. When fear feeds on our hearts, we beg for relief.

But no one, at least no one in my circle of friends, asks to walk on water. What’s the point? Walking on water won’t change the world around me, it won’t heal or alleviate suffering, it won’t bring the dead back to life, it won’t change anything. Except for myself.

That’s right. Walking on water is a personal transformation. It’s an assurance of faith within. It’s a breakthrough in surrender, full and complete. All in.

If I walk on water, then all is possible. It’s not the cliche of being perfect at all. It’s something totally different: it’s trust and fearlessness in the face of the natural laws of nature. It is outside 3-D experience. It is Spirit leading flesh, in charge. What it really means is to live in mutuality with the Holy Spirit. “At that time, you will know that I am in the Father, you are in Me, and I am in you.” [John 14:20

Walking on water is the antithesis of fear. Perfect love casts out fear [I John 4:18] and sets the stage for that journey.

Miracles and water walking are a natural outgrowth of a focused faith: love God, love others. This is our part of the bargain–the covenant. Simple. Impossible? Possible.

 

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Greater Than My Heart

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Anyone want comfort or rest? Then it is right here: God is greater than our hearts–my heart. God’s spirit occupies more of me than myself, if I so allow. Where many of today’s protest encampments are full of angst and anger, this occupation is mutually agreed upon and full of promise.

I John 3:19-20
This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

But, as I tell my children, over and over again, “Ya gotta want it.” We all know, whether we are in our twenties or in our sixties, life is difficult. There are brick walls that rise up along the way and, in our own strength, we can either choose to climb over, break through, or walk away. Within the presence of God however, these life choices can be different. Why? Because living in the Presence, is walking out an enormous set of paradoxes, one after the other. The brick walls can shift before our very eyes, the pathways re-orient, the solutions morph, the night become day, the sorrow become joy.

In the presence of a Holy God, anything can happen. In the presence of a Holy God, I transform and I can stop the old games, the old scripts, the old desires. I can because I want, I desire to participate in this interior life.

OK, a lot of this is still theory. I mean, I am so sure that this is what can happen within, but I have not quite gotten the hang of it yet. I have not quite surrendered to that Holy Spirit. There are glimpses though, and that’s why I know it’s real. But then, like Peter walking on the water, I become fearful: it’s not the norm, it’s a different “matrix.”

This is where some of the “new age” folks are closer to the truth that the Christ-followers. We keep putting God in a box, as they say, or confine God to our limited understanding. We keep putting a white-haired, long-bearded man on the “throne of heaven” and teach our kids that God is like this – some white-robed Santa or friendly Zeus.

It is my own heart that limits the wonder of God in my life, that constrains the grace of Christ, that distrusts the benevolence of the Holy Spirit.

Lord, forgive me. I want to walk on water in your Presence.

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