The Fifth Step — Believers with a Faith of High Mountains and Deep Valleys

1He brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, waters flowed out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the front of the house faced toward the east. The waters came down from underneath, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar. 2Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me around by the way outside to the outer gate, by the way of the gate that looks toward the east. Behold, waters ran out on the right side. 3When the man went out eastward with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles. 4Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through waters that were to the waist. 5Afterward he measured one thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass through; for the waters had risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be walked through.

Jesus worked the miracle of the five loaves and two fish and gave the crowd food. And before the crowd had even scattered he hurried the disciples off across the water to Capernaum. He did this because he was concerned that the disciples, having seen the miracle of the loaves and fish, might forget their own part and hold a faith that looks only for miracles.

The disciples going to Capernaum by boat met a storm, and as the boat rocked hard fear came over them all at once and the terror grew heavier still. In a storm where they could not see an arm’s length ahead, the disciples did their utmost to find the way, and it was not easy.

Crossing a dark sea without Jesus, the disciples could remember nothing of the words they had heard until then, nor the miracle of the loaves and fish. The waves swelling in front of them were the only object of their fear. You too, when you meet a problem you cannot carry, will go blank and forget every word and all the faith you have learned until then, and only the problem you cannot solve will loom large.

Satan gives believers worry in order to shake their faith. Watching a believer wrapped in fear and unable to hold on to faith, he can mock God to his heart’s content. The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, good for food and pleasing to the eye; a temptation as beautiful as a bright-colored snake; waves rough enough to kill you at any moment — these are Satan’s temporary schemes, made to bring a believer down.

But the world’s tests, which look impossible to overcome, disappear in an instant when the light of Christ shines. Only by believing this can believers drive off Satan’s temptation. But sadly, not one disciple applied the Word to his life. When the disciples saw the high waves they forgot that God is almighty and forgot their assurance that Jesus is a savior who would never abandon them.

To take a simple example, an athlete can fight skillfully in a match, as his body has learned to, only by repeating training exactly like the real thing. In the same way the disciples too could block Satan’s attack easily only by training to overcome any problem with prayer and the Word. A captain with much sailing experience knows the sea’s changes well. He knows from the direction of the wind alone, so he can respond flexibly in any situation and sail safely.

In the same way a believer who lives by faith can know what is going to happen from Satan’s movements and people’s behavior alone, and so can prepare. Live with faith and life set apart from each other and you can do nothing but tremble with fear whenever a problem comes. The Bible was given not to be carried about to church but so that you would live a life of faith by the word of life written in it. Only when believers live by faith can God use that faith.

Romans 8:34

34Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

Life is given the same to a believer and to an unbeliever. But a believer has a true king who is praying at God’s right hand. Believers who believe this need only live hard, wrestling with how to make their way through a harsh world and how to reveal God’s glory.

God keeps turning the bow of the boat back toward land, in case a believer’s faith loses its way in the storm. So do not be afraid; pray for the storm to stop and live a good life. If you are trembling with fear looking only at the rough waves, you may not see the Jesus who comes walking on the rough sea. The disciples were so busy looking into their own pain that they forgot Jesus was working for them.

They had set the Jesus who works to complete God’s plan apart from the Jesus who works within their lives, and so they could not overcome their fear even while looking at the Jesus walking toward them on the water. Wrapped in human fear like this, a person does not lean on the Lord who comes walking on the world’s waves, and gives in to suffering.

But that he stilled the sea even while looking at the disciples’ unbelief was in order to show that Christ is the Creator who made the universe and everything in it. Only after the waves quieted did the disciples confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and since that confession was made after seeing a miracle it was not an honest faith.

What faith do you hold right now? Is it a mature faith that believes the suffering you are in will pass in the end? Or do you blame God whenever suffering comes and look only for a person and a method to help you?

Is the boat of faith you are riding in safe in a storm? The day is growing dark; do you have the faith and the wisdom to reach the destination? If you have a faith that can fight even when rough waves come at you, you will be able to overcome even when Jesus is not visible to your eyes.

Hold a weak faith and you will think of Jesus only as a rainbow floating in the sky. Such a believer thinks of him as a god who exists for them only when something good happens or a prayer is answered. But Jesus is not an illusion like the idols the world serves. He is not a rainbow that disappears when the sun rises; he is the protector who is beside you when the sun is hot, when the rain pours, and when you are floating alone on an open sea. It is because they do not see the Lord who leads them to an oasis away from the burning sun and leads them to a way of escape in a downpour that people beg for the hot sun to be blocked this instant and pray the foolish prayer that the downpour stop this instant.

But a believer who believes God will act and waits quietly and patiently will be protected by God, like the seven thousand who were kept hidden.

Matthew 22:4-6

4Again he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My cattle and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the marriage feast!”’ 5But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise, 6and the rest grabbed his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them.

Heaven is like a wedding feast God prepared for his son’s glory. God prepared everything perfectly and sent his servants to invite people, and they all refused, because they did not know how precious a place the wedding feast of the Lamb is. Their excuses were that they had bought a field and were too busy to go, that they had to look after cattle and could not go, that they had married and could not accept the invitation. All of them said they could not go because they had to look after what they owned in the world. Seen in worldly terms it is understandable enough.

But the wedding feast that leads into heaven is not a matter of the flesh that will rot but a matter of eternal life, so it deserves another thought before it is refused. They did not know what came first, so they refused and missed the opportunity.

Just as people made all sorts of excuses when God’s servant brought the news of the feast of heaven, what is your reason for not going to God? It will probably be the same reason.

Receiving Jesus also means that you have put down the world you treasure and boarded the ark of salvation. You have left both property and family behind in the world and set out on the road of faith, and floating on the sea you cannot look after them.

Now you must fight the fierce waves and concentrate on reaching the destination. Then God himself will guard the things you put down in your heart for Christ’s sake. He knows that you can preach the gospel only if you have peace, and that you need the things of the world to keep a life going.

For example, the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, who had taken the land east of the Jordan, went ahead of the other tribes across the Jordan and into Canaan. While they made war until the other tribes had taken their land, God kept the families and the livestock they had left behind in safety. This is exactly the peace believers enjoy within God. And if believers cannot believe this and set out on the road of faith with their hearts still tied to the world, they will not take part in the wedding feast because of the world’s worries.

The war between Satan and believers is a fierce spiritual war fought in heaven and on earth together. To win it you must discern spiritually by the Word and must hold a faith as large as a warship, able to hold many souls. When you believe that God will act and set out for God’s kingdom with a poor spirit, you will become a mature believer.

Matthew 14:28

28Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters.”

Peter, who had been thoroughly frightened by the surging waves, saw Jesus walking on the sea and suddenly wanted to walk on the water himself. Peter’s feelings swung more sharply than the other disciples’. While Jesus was not in sight the fierce waves looked like death; and once he saw him walking boldly on those waves, he thought he could do it too. Jesus walks on the sea because he is the Creator who made the world, so he can come not only on the sea but in the air. But Peter cannot walk on the sea simply because he wants to. Peter is a frail person who could stand on the sea only through Jesus, by leaning wholly on him. In the same way, for a believer to overcome the world he must lean wholly on God.

Until a moment before, the waves had looked like death to him; and seeing Jesus walking on the sea he was suddenly full and said he would walk too. But faith is not something that can be shown through human feeling. Our faith is a thing you can show, weak as it is, only by resolving “if I die, I die” and working at it endlessly. Had Peter leaned on Jesus a little longer, he would have been the first person to walk on the sea with Jesus. But even with Jesus standing in front of him, fear came over him when he saw the surging waves, and he fell into the sea. Jesus at once put out his hand and took hold of him and rebuked him: you of little faith, why did you doubt?

Friends, we need a faith that believes Jesus to the end. If believers show faith, Satan will shake the world’s sea harder still; but look only at the Jesus standing in front of you and you can walk even on rough waves.

Mark 5:7

7and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don’t torment me.”

Peter and Satan both confessed to Jesus that he is the Son of God; look at that, and you see that a word known only in the head amounts to nothing but knowledge. Acts 2 records that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The believer who is saved here means one who works at letting go of human righteousness, believes in the heart and so arrives at righteousness, and confesses with the mouth. *Whoever* is not *anyone at all* but a believer who has received Christ.

Peter made the astonishing confession that Jesus is the Son of God and then committed the sin of denying him three times, and Satan knew Jesus was the Son of God and trembled in fear. But Peter, who denied Jesus three times, was saved, and Satan, who recognized Jesus and feared him, fell into the eternal lake of fire.

So what is the reason? In the end it is a matter of who showed the acts of faith that God’s word calls for. Faith works together with action, and faith is made complete through that action. Salvation is of course God’s absolute choosing and his grace; but knowing that Jesus is the Son of God and not doing what Jesus Christ intended is not true faith. It is not faith because you confessed that you believe in Jesus; it becomes a faith God recognizes when you reveal that faith fully through action. To reveal faith through action you need the training of buffeting yourself into submission by the Word, and the patience of working at living by it.

James knew that living by the Word is hard, and he said that faith without works is not true faith, wanting believers to live it out. Rome persecuted the church and the believers showed acts of faith all the same, so the people of the world called them Christians. Anyone can speak as though full of faith, and they are not trusted because they do not show it in action. The believers were persecuted, and they gave their lives to set an example of faith, and were acknowledged by those people as Christians.

A believer who reveals faith through action is a child who lifts God up, so God will pour out power on that child to preach the gospel with strength, and will guard their life.

Revelation 2:10

10Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.

If water is pouring into the boat and you are lazy and do not bail it out, you can only die. Just as the one who dies when a boat goes down is the one who was asleep, a person who watches the water of sin rise and sleeps spiritually can only fall into death. A lazy or slack believer can only lose the spiritual war. A person who does not show faith in the middle of suffering does not give thanks even when a prayer is answered, and does not show a holy life.

The believers of the early church kept their faith even while persecuted by Rome. They knew how precious the crown of life is, and so they were loyal to the death and did not refuse even martyrdom. But once Rome made Christianity the state religion the persecution disappeared, and believers slowly came to take worship lightly and forgot how precious Christ is. It is grievous, that they could settle down when the victory had been won at such cost.

When the sea grows calm you must row hard toward the destination, and put out a hand to someone who has fallen into the sea and pull them into the boat; but human nature grows lazier the more comfortable it becomes, and comes to live for its own pleasure. Human beings with a sinful nature know a person is dying and do not put out a hand, because taking them into my boat means sharing what I own and having less room for myself. That is why believers must grow the boat of faith as large as a warship. A warship has plenty of food to share and no need to agonize over losing room, so God’s command can be carried out.

But when the boat of faith is small you begin bargaining with God. You show a hard heart, bargaining: I will share the spiritual food I received from God with someone else, so what will you give me? May you load the spiritual food full into a faith like a warship and sail out boldly toward the world’s sea.

A shallow stream runs with a loud noise, and a deep river runs quietly. An immature person, like a small stream, is always colliding and complaining at church or at home and cannot give the people beside him a settled heart. When suffering comes like a fierce sun his heart hardens and even the little faith he had dries up, and that is why he is not used by God. But just as a river flowing on quietly raises many lives without a sound, a believer mature in faith devotes himself without a word and is loyal so that people may be saved.

A fisherman draws many fish from a quietly flowing river. And he shows enough care to clear the rubbish thrown onto the riverbed and to dig it deeper, so that more life can live there. Only by becoming a deep river can you become a believer Jesus treasures. For that you must be patient, and humble, and pray. If you, who know that heaven is the destination, do good by faith and set an example as a believer, God will guard you to the end.

Stand on the rock of faith and you can know Satan’s schemes beforehand by God’s wisdom and live the life of a holy believer. God will give believers with a holy faith like this an abundant blessing, so that they are not put to shame in the world.

What God wants of you is one thing only: that you carry beautiful heaven to people who look at the world alone. Telling everyone you meet on the road of life to believe in Christ and go to heaven together, and setting an example of love, is exactly what evangelism is. Take as your pattern the Jesus Christ who set aside his throne and came to this earth, and may you too love souls with Christ’s heart and show a holy faith.

Build your home and your church on the rock of faith with a faith that overcomes the world’s rough waves, and love God deeply, and wisdom will come, and with it the strength to drive off Satan’s temptation and the strength to overcome the world’s suffering. Only with the experience of having lived this way, doing your utmost, can you become a holy believer who does not sin; so take heart, friends, and pass through the suffering.

To believers who shine a bright light in the darkness God gives a fuller grace, and that is the blessing that cannot be taken away, and a blessed life that experiences God’s grace day by day.

May you be a believer who always leans on the Jesus who comes walking on the sea and, with a bold faith, does not let go of that hand. I ask it earnestly.