Get Out of the Boat!

 

He said, “Come ahead.”

Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, “Master, save me!”

Jesus didn’t hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, “Faint-heart, what got into you?”

The two of them climbed into the boat, and the wind died down. The disciples in the boat, having watched the whole thing, worshiped Jesus, saying, “This is it! You are God’s Son for sure!”

(Matthew 14:29-33 MSG)

During the storms of life, when the boat you’re in is a place of refuge, it will surely take more than a little faith for you to get out of the boat.

As a matter of fact, it takes confident faith to hear the howling wind, feel the blustery weather against your skin, see the billowing waves and taste and smell the salty air yet get out of the boat. But that’s exactly what Jesus wants us to do.

Jesus is beckoning us to look at Him, remain strong in faith, and get out of the boat.

When you look away from Jesus and begin to focus on nothing else but your stormy circumstances, your faith is replaced by fear, and you start to sink into a state of utter uncertainty.

Instead, fix your gaze upon the One who can save. Ignore all your natural senses and trust Him and His love for you.

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

(Matthew 11:28 NLT)

Get out of the boat and rest in Him.

Beloved, as you enter a new year, keep in mind that God knows the plan for your life, He designed it after all. His plan for you is not for disaster or harm but it’s to give you a future full of hope and promise (Jeremiah 29:11).

God loves you dearly and His plan for your life is sure and good and bigger than your circumstances.

 Amen †

 

 

Shelley Johnson “Get Out of the Boat!” ©2013, revisited December 31, 2025

Jesus walked on the water; you must walk on water too!

 

And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. – Matthew 14:25 (NRSVUE)

Jesus’ walk on the water is an example for us to follow and, even though His was a physical walk, ours, on the other hand, is a symbolic walk.

Throughout Scripture, water is symbolic of the Word of God and even though in this instance it is sea water the symbolism expressed remains the same.

Isaiah 11:9 (NRSVUE) tells us,

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Jesus tells us,

If you know me, you will know my Father also…The Father and I are one.
 (John 14:7; 10:30 - NRSVUE)

And we know that Jesus is the Word from reading John 1:1 and 14.

When Jesus walked on the water, He was trusting in the knowledge of His Father to hold Him up in the midst of the raging storm. He knew without doubt that His Father was able to keep Him and sustain Him even in the worst situations.

Beloved, Jesus operated solely by the Word of God the Father (John 12:49). He listened and was completely obedient to God and in this account of Him walking on water, Jesus is teaching us to do the same.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Jesus walked on the water: you must walk on water too!” ©2014, revisited December 30, 2025

With Every Breath you Take

 

The Lord is God. He is the God who created the sky. He hung it up like a curtain. He created the earth and everything that lives on it. He gives life and breath to all the people who live on it.

(Isaiah 42:5 EASY)

Isaiah lets us know that God gives breath to all the people on earth. Isn’t it interesting that when it comes to “life” and “breath”, Isaiah uses the verb to give in the present tense? God gives life; God gives breath. Without God’s constant giving of breath, we cannot remain alive.

When you take away their breath, they die, and their bodies return to the dust. But when you send out your life-giving breath, things come alive

(Psalm 104:29-30 ERV)

Job understood, “the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33:4).

The breath of God brings our mortal bodies to life. When God created Adam, He breathed into His nostrils, “and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).

With all this in mind, lets ponder for a little while.

It is believed that the unpronounceable Name of God, YHWH, resonates with the aspirated sound of breathing, where YH is the inhale, while WH is the exhale. Try it if you haven’t already done so.

When you breathe in, it sounds like “YH” and when you breathe out, it sounds like “WH”, especially done deliberately through the mouth.

Beloved, this means that with every breath you take, you say the true Divine Name of God.

God breathed His precious Name into every human being, and that breath gives and sustains life. Upon our death, we release the breath that God gave us, perhaps returning it to Him together with our souls.

It is said that we take our last breath and sadly I have witnessed it for myself, it’s a quick breath in and a quick breath out, as if calling on the Name of our Creator.

Beloved, as you enter the new year, do not take breathing for granted, instead be conscious that with every breath you take, you utter the true Name of God.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “With Every Breath you Take” ©2025, December 29, 2025

 

A Good Life

Beloved,

This message is from the Lord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future. Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”

(Jeremiah 29:11-12 ERV)

Let us pray...

Dear Lord, You are the only foundation of my life. Your wisdom and Your love are without end. You are the Creator of all things, and You have planned all things from the beginning of time. So Lord, I know that You have planned a good life for me, to prosper me, to give me hope and a great future.

I thank You that I have such a good life. I thank You that I have love in my relationships with my family, and I live in a happy home. I thank You that I live life in harmony, peace and love.

Lord, remind me to keep You as the central focus of my life.

Help me to understand that when I accepted Your Son, Jesus Christ, as my Lord and Saviour, a holy and divine covenant was established.

Help me to understand that being in relationship with You does not preclude me from challenges and that even in the midst of those challenges I can still find joy in life as I place complete trust in You.

Lord, I realize that if there is any unhappiness and distrust, it is because I have shifted my focus and strayed from the example which Christ set for me.

I pray that as time goes on, Your Holy Spirit will bear in me the Christ-like characteristics of, patience, kindness, faithfulness and empathy.

I pray that I will always listen to Your small still voice.

I pray that I will always speak words that lift up and not tear down.

I pray that my attitude toward others would create a positive environment and that I will love and accept others unconditionally, just as You love and accept me as I am.

Holy Spirit, if I am the cause of another’s hurt or if someone is the cause of mine, help me to quickly forgive, and be swift to heal our wounded emotions.

Forgive me for those times when I was insensitive, and when I was so self-absorbed that I failed to recognize the needs and the pain of those close to me, those around me, and those I meet along the way.

Lord, continue to bless me; let me never yield to temptation but deliver me from the destructive plans of the evil one.

Remind me to pray, not just for myself, but for others, and help me always to encourage others in the Lord.

I make this prayer in Jesus’ Name. Amen †

 

 

Shelley Johnson “A Good Life” ©2014 revisited December 28, 2025

Already In The House

 

And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us [a]joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

(Ephesians 2:6 AMPC)

Scripture tells us that when we accept and receive Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we in Him and He in us, we are seated together with Him in our Father’s House – that’s why Jesus tells us that as His followers, even though we live in this world we do not belong to this world.

I have given and delivered to them Your word (message) and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world [do not belong to the world], just as I am not of the world.

They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world.

(John 17:14, 16 AMPC)

Spiritually, we are in the Heavenly realm, the House of God.

As a Believer, your position is in Jesus, so that means that you are already in the House – the Heavenly places found in Him.

You must understand that in Jesus you were chosen before the foundations of the world were even laid. God picked you out to be His own child through Jesus Christ because it was His intention and His pleasure for you to be a part of His family, to be a part of His divine plan long before He spoke Creation into existence.

Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.

For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [[a]because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]—

 In Him we also were made [God’s] heritage (portion) and we obtained an inheritance; for we had been foreordained (chosen and appointed beforehand) in accordance with His purpose, Who works out everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His [own] will,

(Ephesians 1:4, 5, 11 AMPC)

Beloved, knowing this Truth, and as a new year approaches, let today be the beginning of a new phase in your life in the One Who, in love, willingly sacrificed His life for yours, to provide you with the opportunity to be a part of His household, ushered in through the Blood that Jesus shed on the cross, accepted and approved by God.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Already In The House” ©2013 revisited December 27, 2025

Take Every Opportunity

 

Yesterday, Christmas Day, was a day of giving gifts and receiving gifts. We would have been careful to give gifts that we know our loved ones would like, appreciate and use. Just as we have been particular in our gift-giving, so too the Holy Spirit.

As it is written,

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines.” – 1 Corinthians 12:4-5, 11 (NIV)

Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit of God gives gifts to each person, every one distinct and different, though He remains the same.

We are expected to use these various gifts that we’re given to lift up high the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and not in any way to give glory to ourselves.

Our aim is to take every opportunity to use these precious gifts in service to Christ; be it in the form of possessions, words of knowledge, spiritual understanding, wonder-working faith, power to heal, prophecy, the gift of interpretation of dreams, visions and of tongues, the ability to discern between true spirits and false ones, and all other diverse spiritual gifts.

Beloved, from today, resolve to take every opportunity to use your Spirit-given gifts, your time and your possessions to advance the cause of Jesus Christ.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Take Every Opportunity” © 2013 revisited December 26, 2025

That’s Not Ephemeral

 

Imagine our great and mighty God entering earth as a newborn baby, helpless and clueless just as we did but that’s where the similarity halted, for He was still God; that’s not ephemeral.

Then she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him snugly in cloth and laid Him in a feeding trough—because there was no room for them at the lodging place. – Luke 2:7 (HCSB)

His birth may have been natural, but His conception was supernatural; that’s not ephemeral.

Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?” The angel replied to her:“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” – Luke 1:34-35 (HCSB)

 By the power of the Most High, the Roman emperor, unknowingly, was instrumental in the fulfilment of prophesy concerning our Saviour’s birth; that’s not ephemeral.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered…And Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, to be registered along with Mary – Luke 2:1, 4-5 (HCSB)

Augustus did not realize that by making this decree, what he was in fact doing was making possible the birth of Jesus to occur in the place appointed for His birth.

Beloved, nothing concerning the incarnation of Christ Jesus, happened by chance. It was all “predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will” (Ephesians 1:11 HCSB); that’s not ephemeral.

Jesus’ birth is not without significance; this wasn’t a mere run of the mill birth, this was God Himself manifest in flesh, born in human likeness, entering this realm to accomplish the salvation of all mankind. That’s not ephemeral, indeed it is enduring, it is eternal.

So, as you reflect upon the events of Jesus’ birth on earth this Christmas Day, take a moment to also reflect upon Jesus’ birth in you, keeping Jesus’ own words in mind, “Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 HCSB).

May the power of the Most High overshadow you this celebration day, spiritually conceiving and birthing the life of Christ within you. Merry Christmas!

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “That’s Not Ephemeral” © 2025, December 25, 2025