Matthew 14:28-30 – "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" (NIV)

As I read these scriptures the other day, a song that my cousins sang some years ago began to play back through my mind. The words to this song were taken directly from these scriptures and have stayed with me through the years. I don't remember the song title, but the words went like this:

Jesus said, "Come," so Peter went.
But when the faith he had was spent,
Peter sank low, but Jesus had waves roll under His feet.

The part that always has caught my attention is the part that speaks of Peter's faith being spent. At first it sounded kind of odd to me, as I did not understand how a person could "spend" his or her faith. But, through the years, I have come to realize that indeed we do have to bank up our faith, so to speak, and that faith is not something that God just hands out in endless supply when we first come to know Him personally.

Faith is a gift of God, and He is willing to give it to us in endless fashion, but it is something that we have to ask for and seek after. So how is it that we get this faith, and how do we avoid losing it? Looking back at the scriptures, I think we can find the simple answer to this question.

Peter was walking on water along with Jesus until what happened? He "saw the wind". In order for him to see the wind, he had to take his eyes and his focus off Jesus, and that is when his faith savings ran dry.

So the simple answer is that in order to keep adding deposits to our faith, we must first and foremost keep our eyes and focus upon Jesus, the issuer and perfecter of our faith.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we cast our eyes upon You this day and stretch out our hands, anxiously awaiting a new deposit of faith to help us walk across the waters of this day. Amen.

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