It's here: Part 9 of the 9 part series - how to get prayers answered
The Rhythm of The Gospels - D15
DAILY DEVOTIONAL
7/16/20262 min read
Launch Out Into the Deep.
"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.'" — Luke 5:5 (NKJV)
The nets were already washed. That detail is not decorative. In the fishing world, washed nets meant the workday was over. You fish at night, when the temperature drops and the fish move toward the surface. If the nets came up empty, you washed them and went home. Peter had given the lake everything he had, and the lake had given him nothing back. The labor was finished. The accounting was done.
It was into that specific exhaustion came Jesus, pressing through the crowd on the shore, asking to use Peter's boat as a teaching platform. Peter said yes. He sat and listened while Jesus taught the crowd from a few feet offshore. And when the teaching was finished, Jesus turned to him and said launch out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. It was still daytime. They had caught no fish during the night. Jesus' request went against every piece of professional knowledge Peter had built over the years on this water.
And yet, Peter answered with four words that changed the rest of his life: nevertheless, at Your word. It did not make sense. The conditions were not right. He did not think that a carpenter from Nazareth had more expertise than he had when it came to fishing on his own lake. But there was an authority in Jesus' voice that made him willing to look foolish on the water one more time.
The bible tell us the words Jesus said to Peter, but it does not mention Him saying anything to the fish or any prayer to the Father. The obeyed their creator. The nets on both boats were filled almost to the point of sinking. Peter didn't shout in triumph. He fell at Jesus' feet and said depart from me, for I am a sinful man. The miracle had done something beyond filling the nets, it had revealed who was in the boat. And in the presence of that holiness, Peter suddenly saw himself with a clarity that humbled him to the floor. Obedience didn't just produce a catch. It produced an encounter.
What is Jesus asking you to let down into the deep — a ministry, a conversation, a creative risk, a step of faith — in a season when experience says the conditions aren't right? Today, practice the four words: nevertheless, at Your word. Say them out loud. Then act on them before the feeling catches up to the decision. The encounter is waiting on the other side of obedience.
Scripture Promise:
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us." — Ephesians 3:20 (NKJV)
Prayer:
Father, all of creation obey you, even when you don't say a word. Lord help us to be as obedient as those fish, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.
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