"Water World"

Mathew 14:28-33

28.And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

33 Then those who were in the boat came and[c] worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

Peter was walking on water, he must have felt on top of the world, literally. He was so confident he actually asked Christ to to enable him to come to Him on the water. As the winds blew his confidence turned to doubt. He was already defying laws of gravity, yet the winds intimidated him. Have you ever been so sure about standing with Christ at first, but then later some wind of circumstance intimidated you to doubt, and you went from walking above this world to sinking in it? When Peter got distracted and took his focus and confidence off Christ, he sank. He cried out to the Lord to save him, and Jesus' restored his footing above the water.

What distraction,sin, or circumstance, did you start to focus on and take your eyes off Christ which caused you to sink from where you stood with Him? Cry out to Jesus like Peter did and ask Him to restore you back to standing with Him (He can do it immediately like He did with Peter) . Regain the confidence you had when you first called on Christ. Or, if you've always been under the 'water' of this world of sin, and realize you have never been saved in the first place, call on Jesus like Peter did, Peter did not swim his way back to on top of the water, he had no confidence in himself, he simply called on the Lord to save him, and Christ did all the saving. Peter only had to trust, Christ did all the work to save him (Ephesians 2:8,9/Romans 10:13). 

For the falling believer, read what Jesus wrote to the church of Ephesus about remembering the height from where you fell (Revelation 2:5). What are the first works? I believe it is the first and greatest commandment (Mathew 22:37). Unless we serve Christ out of love and abide in Him, we will serve ineffective out of legalism. Jesus said,  "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me." John 15:4

Paul gave great examples of Christian service and said if he did it without love, he is nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

So without abiding in Christ and loving Him as we should, we will remain fallen,not bearing fruit, and nothing without love. Serving out of love is how we must serve or we will burn out. If you're burnt out, follow Jesus instructions (Revelation 2:5/John 15:4). Get refreshed by His living water and drop the weights (even non-sinful things) and sin that have hindered your running in the race (Hebrews 12:1). Something I'm working on as well (there are a lot of 'weights' God may reveal if you ask Him to, that may be painful to give up, but if you do, joy follows greater than the pleasure the weights you let go of gave).

p.s.- I highly recommend listening to Audio Adrenaline's song: "Walk on water" in relation to this article.