Carol J German

God makes Himself known everywhere, waiting to be found.

Martin Luther once said, “God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and the in the flowers, and clouds, and stars.”

All you have to do is look up and see. I mean, intently look at what is around you with God goggles. When you look at life through the eyes of God, you gain 2020 vision. God gives you eyes to see and ears to hear when you follow hard after Christ.

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, God could not have made it any easier to find Him. When you receive the amazing love of God which is found in His Son, your whole existence changes from me-centered to others-centered, from earth-bound to heaven-bound, from death into eternal life. God infuses you with Himself by means of the Holy Spirit.

You are not alone anymore.

Then the Holy Spirit takes you by the hand and leads you into abundant living.

You can liken your faith walk to hanging out at the beach. Worldly people love to party on the sand without ever getting their feet wet with God. They either are not interested or they don’t have time. When someone chooses to believe God and His Son, he begins to learn about faith and truth in the shallow part of the water. He wades and perhaps jumps around in joy as God transforms his heart.

There comes a time when God says, “My child, let’s go deeper. I have more for you to experience and you won’t discover it unless you lift your feet up and swim out to deeper waters. I want to teach you how to tread water as you trust Me.”

It’s easy to stay where you are comfortable and enjoy the shallow-style walk with God, but I know God is calling believers to take His hand and let Him lead them into deeper waters where they will experience His Presence in all its fullness.

The deeper you go, the closer you will experience the presence of God.

Swimming in the deep water will require stamina and humility. You won’t be sure-footed as you were near the beach. Nope, you will be treading unknown water where all you have to hold onto is God Himself. God requires one thing from you, trust.

This is the safest place to be.

Your flesh will struggle as you tread the dark depths beneath you. You will notice that many get scared and swim back to shore where it’s safer, where they can touch the bottom. They don’t fully abandon themselves to God, and they have to have control over where their feet is planted. God calls this lukewarm swimming. Look at the following verses:

In Revelation 3:16, Jesus says, “But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!”

Jesus says in Luke 6:46, “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?”

In Isaiah 29:13, you read, “And so the Lord says, ‘These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.'”

Jesus did not come to earth to be your Savior and Lord so you can frolic around in the shallows. Nope, look at what Jesus says in John 10:9-10, “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through Me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures…My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” To obtain this kind of life, you need to swim where its over your head, where you have to trust Jesus.

I choose to believe and trust that He will walk with me, on top of the water.

This my friends, is walking in faith. This abandonment is what God is looking for.

And what do you know? Those frolicking in the shallows will take notice. Those who are afraid of the water and remain on the beach will see what is happening. And maybe, just maybe, they will go, “Do you see that? If (put your name here) can swim out that far and walk on the water, maybe I can too!” And they begin to swim deeper.

It begins by putting on your God goggles and getting your feet wet. I promise you, God will walk with you. You can trust Him. He knows the way home, and home is out to sea, it is not by the shore.