{"id":11332,"date":"2014-06-18T10:29:04","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T14:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=11332"},"modified":"2014-06-18T11:09:45","modified_gmt":"2014-06-18T15:09:45","slug":"keep-recognizing-jesus-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=11332","title":{"rendered":"Keep Recognizing Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>. . . Peter . . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid . . . \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?version=31&amp;search=Matthew+14%3A29-30\" target=\"_blank\">Matthew 14:29-30<\/a><\/h1>\n<p><!-- .entry-meta --> <!-- .entry-header --><\/p>\n<section>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tcuiuIwtpa4\" height=\"315\" width=\"620\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nThe wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn\u2019t see them at first. He didn\u2019t consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and \u201cwalked on the water.\u201d Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn\u2019t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter\u2019s continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus.We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you <em>are<\/em> real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, \u201c. . . why did you doubt?\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+14:31\">Matthew 14:31<\/a>). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, \u201cWell, I wonder if He really did speak to me?\u201d Be reckless immediately\u2014 totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything\u2014 by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness\u2014 being willing to risk your all._______________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">Journal Entry for Today-JDV<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">June 18, 2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Lord, I understand the lesson, I truly do; keep my eyes, heart and head focused on You and do not allow my circumstances to dictate my life. With my eyes fixed on You, I can walk on the stormy seas, slay giants, and rise up and fly on the wings of eagles. But Lord, like Peter who was there living with You in the flesh, it is so very hard to keep our eyes focused on You when the waves are crashing all around and the people around us are frightened as well. It is hard to stay focused on a faith and power we cannot see, when we are inundated by the potential disasters we can see.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Lord, how do we stay focused on You in times like that? How can I step out of the boat I\u2019m in in when I see the waves crashing all around me?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">And God says<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u2026\u201dIf you want to live the abundant life, the one I promised you, you must focus on Me, and not your circumstances. When you focus on the circumstances or storms of life, you will only be able to see the waves and turbulent seas. <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">If you are waiting for your circumstances to change, for the storms to recede, you are relying on your senses to tell you when it is OK to trust in Me. Trust in Me by keeping your eyes on Me even, and especially, when your senses tell you it makes no sense for you to step out of the boat onto the stormy waters.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u201cWhen you keep your eyes on Jesus, and not your circumstances, you can and will walk on water, slay the giants and rise up on wings of eagles. But you must choose to be connected to Jesus, and not your circumstances. Your circumstances can and will overwhelm you if you allow them to dictate your response. However, perfect love casts out fear, and Jesus is perfect love.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Trust in the Lord with all your heart and He will make your paths straight. Delight yourself in the Lord and receive the desires of your heart. Seek first the Kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and everything else you need will be provided. You can do this one minute, one hour, one day at a time. And you start just like you have this morning\u2026by coming to Me in the morning and trusting Me to meet all your needs the rest of the day.\u00a0 Simply remain connected and curious about how I will respond&#8230;I know you believe and I am here for you when your human nature succumbs to unbelief. When that occurs,\u00a0I will reach out as\u00a0I did with Peter, and lift you up\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>. . . Peter . . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid . . . \u2014Matthew 14:29-30 The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn\u2019t see them at first. He didn\u2019t consider them at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11332"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11338,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11332\/revisions\/11338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}