Act on Hearing God’s Voice
ICS Daily Devotions
Luke 5:4-9 (NKJV) When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken.
The Lord can make a way in the wilderness and a path in the desert, but we need to act on what He has spoken to us through the prayer of consecration, and it takes faith to follow the path but the wonderful thing is we have the Holy Spirit to be our guide and helper.
In the above passage, Peter and his fellow fishermen had toiled all night but caught nothing, and were ready to call it quits. Peter could have two reactions when he heard the Lord’s instruction to launch into the deep, either to continue to stay on shore or follow the Lord’s instruction. He could have rejected the instruction and been offended by the suggestion, but he would have missed the miraculous catch of fish if he had either taken time to rationalise or reacted in his flesh against the idea.
Nonetheless, when Jesus told them to launch out into the deep and let down their nets, Peter chose to obey. By saying that “nevertheless at your word I will let down the net”, he acknowledged Jesus as Master and obeyed even though the instruction did not seem logical or professional. He acted on what he heard and obeyed the instruction, and they had such a huge catch that the boat began to sink under the weight of the fish! Peter knew that it was supernatural and repented of his ways.
What have you heard from the Lord? Are you willing to step out in faith to trust His leading? The safest and easiest place is to be in the will of God for our lives. God will carry the load if we are walking in His will, and it will be easier for us to exercise our faith in Him when we know we are walking in His will. We will have verses of Scriptures given to us to anchor our faith in Him if we had taken time to seek His face and His will for our lives, and it is much easier to be walking with the backing of the Almighty God than walking alone and having to face the consequences of the wrong choices that we make in our lives.
Sermon Series: It’s January 1st, 2023
