Luke 5:4-7 (KJV) Says, "Now when He had left speaking, He said unto Simon (which is Peter), Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. (the word draught means "catch" of fish) And Simon (which is Peter) answering said unto Him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink."
In the above passage of scripture Jesus tells Peter to take his ship back out into the deep water, and to cast his nets to catch fish. Peter responds by telling Jesus that he and the men with him have fished all night long, and have caught nothing. These men were more than likely exhausted and discouraged after fishing all night, and coming up empty. Pause and give their physical and mental state true consideration. Most of us have experienced staying up all night, and how that makes us feel. Now think about how heavy the nets were, and how much labor they had spent casting them out, and dragging them in against the force of the water only to find them empty repeatedly. Imagine how they felt, when Jesus comes up as they are folding their nets in preparation to leave, and tells Peter to go back out into the deep water, and cast his nets again. Peter could have very easily said I am a professional fisherman, I fished all night and caught nothing, the fish just aren't out there, continued folding his nets, and left the vicinity. Instead, Peter responds by addressing Him as Master, which lets us know that Peter was aware of who Jesus was. Peter then says to Him even though we haven't caught anything all night long, since it is you telling me to go back out into the deep water and let down my nets I will do it. As the scripture tells us, when Peter and the other men went back out into the deep and cast their nets they drew up so many fish that they filled two ships to the point that they began to sink. Peter had trusted God, stepped out in faith, and was blessed in abundance for doing so.
Have you ever felt God was instructing you to do something, and found yourself listing all the reasons in the world why it won't work until you talk yourself out of even making an attempt at it? Have you always had it on your heart that you should be doing something specific, something God has gifted you to do, but you've allowed negative thoughts sent from Satan to hold you back? Has God called you to do something that you are running from because you are afraid of failing?
Peter did not hesitate to follow Jesus' instructions, if he had he would have missed out on an abundant blessing. Fortunately Peter opted to trust God, step out in faith, and follow the instructions Jesus' gave him, and as we read in the above passage of scripture, it certainly paid off. When God calls you to do something or He instructs you to do something, large or small, do you hold back? Or Do you react like Peter, step out in faith, trust God, and following His instructions without hesitation?
Friends are you holding yourself back from something God has called you to do, if so you are doing two things. Most importantly you are demonstrating a lack of trust in God. He would never call us to do something He hasn't equipped us to do, and He would never call us to do something that He would not work through us to accomplish. He would never instruct us to do something in order to set us up for failure. The second thing is you are operating according to your fleshly feelings. You are allowing your doubt and fears to rule your actions, and prevent you from being all that God has called you to be. You are also missing out on the many blessings God has in store for you. Peter could have allowed fleshly feelings to prevent him from casting his nets back out. He could have said I'm tired, I don't feel like it, it won't do any good because the fish aren't out there, and I won't catch anything, but instead he trusted God. I urge you not to hesitate to respond as Peter did to God's instructions. I urge you to step out in faith, trust God, and be all that he has called you to be.
If you have a prayer request and would like me to pray for you, leave me a message and I will be more than happy to do so. May God bless you.
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