"Launch Out Into The Deep"

"Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." Luke 5:3

 

Another year is behind us and a new year is before us. What will this year bring? What is God's plan for the new year? What does He want to do in our lives? For weeks the Lord has been speaking something to my heart, I believe it is a word for the year ahead. I would like to share it with you. The word I have been hearing is-- get out of the shallows. 

 

The Lord is calling His people, as He did Peter, to launch out into the deep. In Ezekiel God gave the prophet a vision of waters coming into a house. Those waters started off as ankle deep in depth and continued to rise until they were deep enough to swim in. The people of God- His children, the church- have been hanging around the shallow areas of this great river. We have been wading in "ankle deep" waters content and not pressing out any further. The time has come when we can't do that any more. If we are going to be light and salt in this dark and thirsty world, if the commission that the Lord commanded us to do is to be fulfilled, if we are going to have the fullness of God in our lives, we are going to have to launch out into the deep. 

 

The deep river to swim in is simply God Himself. He is the River-- and He said out of us would flow rivers of living water. What does it mean to launch out into the deep and how do we do it? It means to submerse yourself in God. It means to draw near to Him. It means to surrender yourself and will to Him. It means to desire as Paul did to know Him, and love Him with all your heart. 

 

We have hung around the shallow places because they are comfortable, they don't require much of us, or we have been afraid to go deeper. When you are in shallow water, you feel in control because you can "touch bottom" or easily make your way back to the safety of land. Going out into the deep you lose that control and power. You can't touch bottom and all you have surrounding you is water. You are, in a sense, at the mercy of the water. That's where the Lord is calling us-- surrender to Me, trust Me. 

 

This is a word to all of us-- launch out into the deep. Some of you have never made that step before, you have been in the shallows your whole Christian life-- a little reading of the word, a little prayer, a little church, a little service, etc. For some of you it is a call to get back into the deep. The word for launch is also translated-- return. You were once out there. You were once serving God, loving God, surrendered to God, anointed powerfully of God, but you started turning back toward the shallow areas- for whatever reason- and that is where you have been for a long time. God's plan for you is that you not stay there. He is calling you to return to the deep waters- the same call that He gives in Revelation when He admonishes the church of Ephesus to return to their first love and do the first works again. It is not too late. He is calling you to return. He is calling you to move out this year into a deeper relationship with Him. Don't be afraid Jesus is in the "boat" with you. He didn't get out of Peter's boat at the shore, He went out into the deep with him. 

 

Have a great day. Are you wading around in the shallow areas or swimming around in the deep waters of God?

 

For further reading:

Luke 5:1-11

Revelation 2:4,5

 

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

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