Herod the tetrarch heard about all Jesus was doing and in turn told his servants that it was John the Baptist who has risen from the dead and therefore those powers were at work in him. So Herod threw John in jail but really for the sake of Herodias, his brothers wife. John had called them out, stating their union wasn’t lawful, because Herodias whom was wed to Phillip left Philip to go live with Herod. So hearing what Jesus was doing and trying to accuse John of doing it through evil was the excuse they could come up with to throw John in jail for basically embarrassing them. Pretty mature, right? Herod wanted to put John to death but didn’t because he feared the multitude that would come after him.

            At Herods birthday celebration Herodias daughter performed a dance to celebrate and Herod was so pleased that he vowed to give her whatever she might ask. To please her mother she demanded John the baptists head on a platter. Herod didn’t want to do this because he knew the uprising it would create but he was too embarrassed to say no because he didn’t want to seem powerless in front of his peers who heard the conversation. So because of peer pressure and pride Herod demanded Johns head.

            When Jesus heard of this He wanted to be alone, so He left by boat to a deserted place. When everyone heard of this they departed by foot to go and find Him. Jesus was moved with compassion and healed all who were sick.

            It got late so His disciples told Jesus to tell everyone to go home so they could eat and be home for the night but Jesus said no, they were fine there. The disciples pointed out that they only had 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and that was enough to feed them (there was 5,000 men and woman and children too).

            Jesus said to bring the food to Him, He looked up to heaven and blessed the food and handed it to the disciples to pass out. All ate and were well fed and there was 12 baskets of food left over. We may think our contribution is little but Jesus can take what we have and multiply it whether its talent, time, money etc. Whatever we give to Jesus is multiplied. It is impossible for a normal man to feed over 5000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish, but nothing is impossible for God.

            Jesus then sent His disciples out on a boat and the multitudes left and Jesus went to the top of the mountain to pray by Himself. Even though there were thousands of people around Jesus made it a priority to devote time to God, and be alone with God. No matter what we have going on in our daily lives we need to be disciplined like Jesus and make time for God, we need one on one time with God daily just as Jesus did. If Jesus needed to go be with God alone how much more do we need God? As evening came a storm brewed and the waves began to crash over the boat that the disciples were in, in the middle of the sea.

            The disciples then saw an object walking on the water toward them and they immediately were frightened thinking it was a ghost. Jesus said, “Be of good cheer, it is I; do not be afraid.” How many times has God revealed Himself to you whether it be through a dream or a still small voice and fear then crept in trying to make you think it wasn’t God, it was a spiritual attack? We shouldn’t fear, we have the Bible to be our “fact checker” to let us know if something is from God or not, don’t allow fear to interfere with something God might be trying to tell you.

            Peter said to Jesus, ‘if it is you let me walk out to you on the water.’ He wasn’t testing Jesus and the situation they were in, he was the only disciple to react in faith to join Jesus. His radical and immediate response to Jesus allowed Him to do something amazing and supernatural, he didn’t allow His mind to convince Him as to why it wasn’t real or fake. Our minds can be our enemy, we need to hold our thoughts captive and match it to the word of God. If its not from God we don’t need it. Peter reacted in faith immediately and didn’t allow his mind to rob him from an amazing moment with Jesus that is shared by millions, until he entertained the storm. When Peter took His eyes off of Jesus and looked at the storm he began to fear and then he began to sink. We are not supposed to focus on the world and the storms in it, our focus should be in Jesus. When we take our eyes off the cross that’s when fear can creep in and that’s when our faith gets weaker and we sink. Jesus is reaching out, so we can walk to Him on water, will you look to Jesus or focus on the storm?

            Jesus immediately reached out to Peter and grabbed him when he started to sink and said, “you have little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got in the boat the wind stopped and there was peace. Doubt takes away peace, doubt is a dangerous thing to entertain. We don’t need to doubt because Jesus is there wanting to not only catch us but guide us to walk with Him on supernatural waters. We need to have faith in him and not faith in the doubt and fear of the world. Fear and doubt is faith in the devil. God is the most powerful and all powerful, and He is in us, so we need to stop with the doubt and keep our faith in Jesus and stand in Him and what He has already done for us at the cross. This is why it is a sin to fear, because you are literally putting your faith in evil with says that what Jesus did at the cross wasn’t good enough. It was enough!!! We need to stop fearing, repent and keep our eyes on Jesus and stop looking at life storms whether it be a physical storm or something like a flu.

            They reached lang and all of the men recognized Him and ran to merely touch His robe because they believed simply touching the clothes Jesus wore would heal them. And all who touched it were healed.