Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast : Ep 24
TRANSCRIPT
Today’s podcast is titled, If only I would have jumped.
Today’s verse is Matthew 14:19, “And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.”
I think we all have had situations in life where we looked back and thought, Boy, I wish I would have done that. At the time something was holding us back. But now looking back, we regret that we didn’t take the opportunity that was before us.
You are familiar with the story of Peter walking on the water. We know from the story that he was the only one who got out of the boat and actually walked on the water with Jesus. In this podcast I don’t want to focus on Peter, I want to talk about the other guys who were in the boat. All of this is just my speculation not actually backed up by scripture, but I have to imagine that the other 11 guys in the boat had to be saying to themselves, “I wish I would have jumped into the water.” They watched from the safety and security of their dry comfortable risk fee boat as Peter walked on the water for a while, sank into the tempest because he took his eyes off of Jesus, and then as Peter experienced an intimacy with Jesus that could only come while walking on the water. They had to have experienced some “If only’s”.
I am taking some of the following from an article titled “The 9 most common regrets people have at the end of life.” The focus of my podcast today is to encourage all of us to live life to the fullest, so that we don’t have to live with regrets like these.
The 9 regrets Grace Bluerock discovered when talking to people who were nearing the end of their lives were:
- I wish I had spent more time loving the people who matter most to me.
- I wish I had been a better spouse and parent.
- I wish I had not spent so much time working.
- I wish I had taken more risks.
- I wish I had enjoyed life more.
- I wish I had lived my dream.
- I wish I had taken better care of myself.
- I wish I had done more for others.
- I wish I had lived life with a purpose.
- I wish I had bought that motorcycle when I was younger. – Ok, I added the one about the motorcycle.
From this list I want to focus on three of the regrets that we can do something about while we are still in this life. I wish I had taken more risks. I wish I had lived my dream. I wish I had lived life with a purpose.
Most people live life within the confines of safety and security. Most of us are afraid of taking risks. When something is uncertain, the easiest thing to do is to play it safe. And that is the way most of us live life. But the great men and women of faith were the ones who were willing to take risks. The founder of the Vineyard Movement, John Wimber says that faith is spelled R-I-S-K. The problem with taking risk is not in the failing, but in the fear that keeps us from taking risks. What is wrong with failing, anyway? I love the quote by Theodore Roosevelt from The Man in the Arena. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,…..who spend himself in a worthy cause; ….if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.” I would rather fail while daring greatly. And who knows, in the risking, you might just succeed.
Cindi and I held an Issue-Focused Activation in 2012 along with our good friend Pauline Ezell. We only had 10 people signed up for the activation so we seriously considered cancelling due to the low numbers. We felt like God was saying, trust me and take a risk (faith is spelled R-I-S-K). We went ahead with the seminar and one of the people in attendance was Rock Hobbs who has trained more RTF ministers that anyone else in country. You never know what God has planned when you step out and take a risk and say Yes to Him.
The second regret I want to focus on is “I wish I had lived my dream.” True confessions. All of my life I have dreamt of being a race car driver. Really spiritual, right? The reason I never pursued my dream was due to the lack of the money needed to succeed in racing, and the fear of failure. The major thing that held me back was the fear. I believe that if God was the one who placed that desire in my heart, then He would provide the money needed. So it was fear that stopped me from pursuing my dream.
What is your dream? Deep down in your heart, what is something that you want to do before you leave this life? It may be something ministry related. It might be traveling to that place you have dreamt about all of your life. It might be creating a platform to life others around you to up so they can go beyond you. Whatever the dream is, find out what is in the way so you can fulfill your dream. Don’t live with regrets. By the way, I have discovered that at 65 years of age I still enjoy taking my motorcycle to the race track for what are called Track Days where I can rent time on the race track and can ride as fast as I want. I get my racing fix without all of the expense of actually racing.
The third regret I want to focus on today is the last one, I wish I had lived life with a purpose. Many of us as believers in Jesus know we have a purpose here on this earth. However, I get concerned that as we get older, it is easy for us to believe that our purpose has passed us by, that it is now time for the younger ones to take over. For some things I believe this is true, but not for everything. As we get older, hopefully we gain wisdom. The younger ones have the zeal, but we have the wisdom. 1 John 2 talks to the young men because of their zeal they have overcome the evil one. But it says to the Fathers, to the mature ones, I write to you because you have known Him who is from the beginning. Our role in the life of the church changes but it does not stop. The body of Christ needs what we carry more now than ever.
I want to encourage some of you hearing this today to examine what is holding you back. I can hear some saying “Well, I am not able to do ministry like I use to do”, or “I have no one to minister to, I am not getting any ministry receivers”. Let me encourage you with a story. Our friend James Gall is known around the world as a prophet and incredible bible teacher. He traveled thousands of miles literally around the world for many years. When covid hit James had to stop traveling. Instead of just sitting around and doing nothing, James took to the internet. He began to develop online teaching classes. He also began doing online mentoring where he met with groups of people on a weekly basis. James is touching almost as many lives now as he was the years he was traveling because now instead of him going to the people, the people come to him through the internet. Why am I telling you this story? There are many ways for us to be effective in the Kingdom of God. For some of us it might be a stretch to learn how to do internet ministry and teaching. When we encounter those places in our lives that are holding us back from “Risking”, RTF ministry is the best tool I know of to find freedom.
Start by looking at the generational curses that are standing in the way of your freedom. Some very typical SOFC’s, Sins of the Fathers and resulting curses, as we call these generational curses, are things like fear, or unworthiness, or shame, or orphan lifestyle. Walk yourself through the RTF ministry steps to break off the pressure that comes from those generational curses.
The second area that must be dealt with are the lies you are believing about yourself, about God, or about other people. Let me give you a few examples.
Lies about you might be,
“I am too old to learn this new technology”
“No one wants to hear what I have to say”
“There are other people much better than me who can do this”
“What if no one wants my help?”
“What do I have to offer?”
“This is a young mans game.”
“What if I try and it fails?”
How about lies about God
“God has let me fail before, He might do it again.”
Think of some lies you might believe about other people.
“They don’t want to listen to me.”
“Younger people don’t care what I have to say.”
Once you have broken the lies and heard what God has to say to you, ask God if there are any wounds that need to be healed in the area of risk.
Now you are ready to tell any demonic influence that is holding you back to leave in the name of Jesus. The demons are going to correspond with the generational curses, SOFC’s, you dealt with earlier. You have the authority as a child of God to tell them to leave, and they have to do what you tell them to do.
My friends, don’t live with regrets. Don’t be like the other guys in the boat looking at Peter walking on the water and wish you would have jumped out with him. To walk on the water you have to take some risks. To walk in faith you have to take some risks. Remember John Wimber, Faith is spelled R-I-S-K.
