Day 1 – Audacious, Against The Odds

Bible Reading:  Matthew 14:22-33

It’s one thing to have a drive in a direction, but it’s a totally new challenge when there are odds against you.

Let’s be honest, to walk on water when the seas are calm and settled is totally audacious!  It’s a big miracle. But to walk on water when the winds and waves are raging and are against you is another thing entirely! 

The truth is that in the world that we live in, it seems that the odds are against us. Keeping your head above the waters when the storms are raging is itself a big ask many times. Rising above the storms to be audacious and walk on the water is a whole lot to be thinking about. 

Can you be audacious in a world full of contrary odds?

The temptation is to get so swamped in trying to survive the raging storm, that we totally forget to be audacious and walk on water.

Do you get to those points? Looking to balance your feet or seeking survival, when God is calling you to audacity?

This economy makes you think that being able to feed yourself is a win enough, and you totally forget the part of dreaming to feed others;

Or when you check out the statistics of divorce or broken homes, you’re more concerned about your marriage not breaking up, than about dreaming what God can do with your home;

Or how in raising your kids, you’re so concerned abut them not turning out to be some bad, worldly kids, that you forget to be raising them as champion;

Or how ASUU has so roasted you like asun that all you want is to get out of school. Can all that talk of dreaming for the education system or dreaming of how God can use times of waiting, can it just ‘park well’ somewhere…

When survival seems like a miracle, can you still dare to be audacious? Can you be audacious against the odds?

God invites us to a life of audacity! 

But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.  Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.  So [Jesus] said, “Come.” Matthew 14:24-25, 29 NKJV

Think about it- the miraculous power by which Jesus walked on the storm was more than enough to first of all calm the storm before walking on the water or asking Peter to come, don’t you think? 

Jesus doesn’t invite us to a life of variables that are perfect for an audacity walk. He invites us to a trust in Him that is greater than every contrary variable. We don’t walk on water because the seas are quiet and calm. We walk on water because we trust Jesus. 

Has the raging of the times, or the pressure of career and of needs, or an inconvenient season of your life constrained you into a search for survival? Are you walking in survival mode or walking in audacity?

Something To Pray
Pray today for a faith that is greater than merely surviving the waves and storms around you; pray for a faith that gives you a vision of audacity in the directions of the life that Jesus calls you to.