#68 – When Jesus Says “Come”

Welcome to season seven of Presently Engaged with Mandy Pallock. Here you will find short, friendly, Jesus-focused encouragement to live intentionally right where you are. In this episode, we will have a devotional thought source from life, and then we’ll end the podcast with a scripture reading. I’ll be reading from the English Standard Version of a passage, and this will give us the opportunity to center our minds on Jesus and our hearts on his word, because lives will change as we engage with God’s word.

Would you be willing to share this podcast with a friend or with someone that you’re mentoring? Listen in and then join me at presentlyengaged.com. I’m so grateful for your time and glad that you are here, because you, friend, are making a difference. If Peter had tried to walk on water by himself at any point, he would have sunk to the lowest depths every time.

The only things he would have gained from that adventure would have been wet clothes or a swimming lesson. Let’s look closer at Peter’s point of decision in Matthew 14, 26-29. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost, and they cried out in fear. But immediately, Jesus spoke to them saying, Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.

And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. And he said, Come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. When Peter said, Come, that is when Peter walked on water.

Like you, I found myself facing decisions and choices. This or that, this worthwhile work or another, this wise use of time or another one, does it even matter? Do I just make the best and most logical choice with the information that I currently have? Today, I am inspired and encouraged by Peter’s prayer.

Lord, if it is you, invite me to come to you. And as I pray through the tasks and vision of both the short term and the long, I will pray these words. Lord, if it is you, invite me to come to you. Ask to be invited into Jesus’ work and presence and included in what he is doing.

Peter put it this way, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water. If you are not sure what you are supposed to do, keep working and serving right where you are, asking to be included. But when Jesus says, Come, step out and go. May this prayer not be an excuse for inaction.

Peter was exactly where Jesus had placed him. Jesus had directed his disciples into a boat and told them to go before him to the other side of Galilee. His followers were exhausted and terrified, but they were precisely where God had told them to be. I love how Henry Blackaby puts this in his book, Experiencing God.

He says, Biblically, God always gives the assignment first, then God equips the person by the Holy Spirit to accomplish what he assigns. Right now, God is working all around you. You’ve probably heard it said that it is easier to direct a moving ship than a parked car. Jesus directs the parked car, the moving ship and the storm tossed boat.

Ask Jesus to say, Come and then step out to where he is. This season, we are reading what I call the Apostle Paul’s Power Prayers. So join me in reading Philippians 1-2-30. This is the word of the Lord.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I’m sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit and righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill, the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and I rejoice.

Yes, and I will rejoice for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now, as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet which I shall choose.

I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith. So that in me, you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God.

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. Amen. So by now you’ve probably heard that I’ve written a book, right? You’ve actually heard that.

The question habit is all about building relationships with God and others one question at a time, because asking questions and listening well can take every relationship deeper. So maybe you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, because life is really busy these days. Well, you friend are officially invited to our book club, where we’ll go through the book in four sessions via Zoom. We’re going to work our way through the question habit, have amazing conversations, and make application to your own life and your own relationships.

This is a free book club and all you need is your own copy of the book. We’re going to kick it off on Monday, September 23rd. So drop me an email at mandyatpresentlyengaged.com to register. It won’t be the same without you.