Page 12 - Of Course You Can Walk On Water - eBook

somehow never seem to have them.

The problem may be that they call, "Master, bid me come to You on the water," but they
do not respond to the command "Come."

They hear, but they stand in the boat uncertainly, fearfully, doubting. They look within
themselves for the resources to obey, and find they are not there. In fact, they never can
be. Obedience to Jesus' call never lies in our own power . We will never be able to walk
on water on our own. Nor does the call come on that basis. It comes on the ground of our
trusting in Him to provide the resources to obey the command. "All His biddings are

enablings." -Christ's Object Lessons, p. 333.

Our faith is tested by obedience. The one who does not obey simply does not believe, no
matter what he says. Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it this way:

"Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes." - The Cost of
Discipleship, p. 69.

God requires faith manifested in obedience, because He requires a kind of obedience only
faith can supply. At the time of the Exodus, only the obedience of the faith of Moses and
the priests made the waters of the Red Sea separate as they stepped into it. Without such
faith the waves would have mocked them, and the Israelites would have marched back to
Egyptian bondage.

Only the obedience of faith made it possible for Elijah to stride boldly into the presence
of King Ahab and announce that there would be no rain in Israel for three years. Without
that faith events would not have been as he predicted. Only the obedience of faith made it

possible for him to summon all Israel to Carmel for a spectacular vindication of the God
of heaven, and the subsequent coming of rain. Had he not demonstrated that faith he
would have failed before the altar-and been torn to pieces by the infuriated priests of
Baal.

And only the obedience of faith made it possible for Peter to walk on the water. Without
such faith he would never have trusted himself to the waves, for he would have seen it as
a foolhardy act. But if he had not obeyed he would have demonstrated that he really did

not believe in Jesus. Likewise, only the obedience of faith can make it possible for us to
have victory-complete victory-over our sins.

Paraphrasing Romans 8:2-4, we express the obedience of faith this way: For the law of
higher, spiritual dynamics in Christ Jesus has set me free from the lower law of

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