I Want My Own Fish Story
Kingdom Journey: Day 49
Thursday, March 9, 2023
Today’s Reading: Luke 5
I have a prayer I pray that a pastor friend from Alabama taught me. It goes like this: “Lord, the answer is yes even before You ask.”
I want to be able to say yes to the Lord at all times. I want you to be able to do that too, so let me talk to you about fishing and your yes, Lord agreement.
I don’t really fish. I have been fishing but I am by no means a fisherman nor do I enjoy it.
You always hear of people telling their fish story where the fish seems to get bigger and bigger the more they tell it. In actuality they caught Nemo, but over time they hooked Jaws.
Today’s reading shows us a great fish story. This one is Peter’s:
Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken. (Luke 5:1-9)
Don’t miss those first few words, because they are significant.
Jesus saw two boats (verse 2).
He got into one boat (verse 3).
He saw two, He got into one. This leaves me with the question, had I been there, would it have been my boat He got into?
Why is that important? It’s important because that’s the boat the miracle came from. That’s the boat that had the big fish story attached to it. That’s the boat that caught so many fish that the net broke.
But something else happened. Verse 7 says when the fishermen saw that the net was breaking, “they signaled to their partners in the other boat.” That’s boat number 2 of the story—the boat that wasn’t chosen. Peter received the miracle; the other boat received the overflow.
The other boat didn’t have Jesus preach from it.
The other boat didn’t have Jesus challenge them to go out deeper.
The other boat didn’t hear fishing commands from a carpenter.
The other boat got to participate with the fish.
The other boat did not get a fish story but they got to tell another man’s fish story.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized . . .
I want God to choose me.
I want God to pick my boat.
I want God to pick my family.
I’m tired of telling other people’s fish stories. I’m tired of getting to experience other people’s obedience.
It’s time for me to go out deeper.
It’s time for me to hear from God for myself.
It’s time for me to let the carpenter tell the experienced man, “You don’t know everything, do what I say.”
It’s time for me to get my own fish story.
Tired of secondhand fish stories? There are always two boats ready! It’s time for you to say, “Yes, Lord! Use my boat, Jesus!”
Excerpt from:
Dilena, Tim. The 260 Journey. Colorado Springs, CO, Book Villages, 2001.
260journey.com
I have a prayer I pray that a pastor friend from Alabama taught me. It goes like this: “Lord, the answer is yes even before You ask.”
I want to be able to say yes to the Lord at all times. I want you to be able to do that too, so let me talk to you about fishing and your yes, Lord agreement.
I don’t really fish. I have been fishing but I am by no means a fisherman nor do I enjoy it.
You always hear of people telling their fish story where the fish seems to get bigger and bigger the more they tell it. In actuality they caught Nemo, but over time they hooked Jaws.
Today’s reading shows us a great fish story. This one is Peter’s:
Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken. (Luke 5:1-9)
Don’t miss those first few words, because they are significant.
Jesus saw two boats (verse 2).
He got into one boat (verse 3).
He saw two, He got into one. This leaves me with the question, had I been there, would it have been my boat He got into?
Why is that important? It’s important because that’s the boat the miracle came from. That’s the boat that had the big fish story attached to it. That’s the boat that caught so many fish that the net broke.
But something else happened. Verse 7 says when the fishermen saw that the net was breaking, “they signaled to their partners in the other boat.” That’s boat number 2 of the story—the boat that wasn’t chosen. Peter received the miracle; the other boat received the overflow.
The other boat didn’t have Jesus preach from it.
The other boat didn’t have Jesus challenge them to go out deeper.
The other boat didn’t hear fishing commands from a carpenter.
The other boat got to participate with the fish.
The other boat did not get a fish story but they got to tell another man’s fish story.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized . . .
I want God to choose me.
I want God to pick my boat.
I want God to pick my family.
I’m tired of telling other people’s fish stories. I’m tired of getting to experience other people’s obedience.
It’s time for me to go out deeper.
It’s time for me to hear from God for myself.
It’s time for me to let the carpenter tell the experienced man, “You don’t know everything, do what I say.”
It’s time for me to get my own fish story.
Tired of secondhand fish stories? There are always two boats ready! It’s time for you to say, “Yes, Lord! Use my boat, Jesus!”
Excerpt from:
Dilena, Tim. The 260 Journey. Colorado Springs, CO, Book Villages, 2001.
260journey.com
Recent
Archive
2023
January
Getting Rid of Your LabelsAlways One Step AheadHearing the Most Important VoiceWhy You Are a TargetJesus’ Prescription for HappinessThe Paycheck is Really Good—So Show UpLogs and SpecksEight is MondayHow Big Is Your Faith?God’s People Are Different and That’s GoodHow Exclamations Turn into Question MarksTaking My 18,000 Real SeriouslyWhy Is It Hard for Me to Read the Bible?When Someone I Love DiesFighting to Get My AnswerSome Days Simon, Some Days Peter, and Some Days SatanA Private “Why”An Incredible Promise of His PresenceDo You Know Someone Who Needs to Be Saved?God’s Generosity Goes Beyond What’s FairTwo Hurdles Away from Moving a MountainChange Starts with Love
February
Hypocrite!The Day the Curtains Come DownThree Stories That Remind Me of ForeverHow Can You Be That Far Off?The Tearful Eye or the Broken NeckThe First Words of the Resurrected JesusDemon Prayers and Fever PrayersFour of a Kind Beats a Full HouseJesus Pulls a WebsterTwo Storms StoriesThe Man Who Lived in a CemeteryLimiting JesusPutting the Word of God in a WheelchairI Don’t Want to Be Known As 409Seized StatementsJesus Gets a TestWhat Stops Mountains from Ending Up in the Ocean?When the Renters Think They Are the OwnersThe Best Way to Study End TimesWhat Were You Thinking at #1?
March
Can You Imagine if Your Dad Carried Jesus’ Cross?The Big Rock Story Sounds like a Big Bang StoryYou Never Know What Could Happen if You just Show UpLosing JesusJohn the Baptist’s Water Baptism Instructional ClassSatan Quotes the BibleI Want My Own Fish StoryA Christian’s Retaliation ResponseWhat Do I Do With All These Tears?Living a High-Def Life“Jesus, You Promised and Now I Can’t—I Don’t Understand”Helping People I HateI Am Not Going to Have Another Unused GiftMy, My, My, MyHow to Face Tragic DeathExcuses! Excuses! Excuses!The Father Is More Prodigal Than the SonHell Is a Real PlaceGetting More Than You Asked ForIt Should Be Easy to Pick Out Who God Likes Best . . . or Maybe NotDesperate Times Call for Desperate MeasuresTaking a Page From Jesus’ Method in Hostile EnvironmentsNo Noise Offerings
April
Plotting Satan and Praying ChristJust BreatheA Fire Seven Miles Outside of JerusalemThe First 10:00 A.M. ServiceBad Stuff Is Always Trying to Make Its Way Back in My LifeDon’t Make It Harder Than It IsTwo Truths for FreedomYou Don’t Need Bubbles AnymoreYou Should Have Stopped at the FishNow You Know the Rest of the StoryTrying to Declaw the LionI Once Was Blind but Now I SeeSheep Need a ShepherdNot Till It StinksParadoxical ChristiansFour Shouldn’t Follow ThreeOne Comes After Thirty-EightWill You Accept the Challenge?The Warning Sign or the HospitalLift Up Your Eyes in Prayer
May
What Kind of Pilate/Pilot Are You?You Can’t Hide One Hundred PoundsA Sunday-Night Message From JesusDropping the Light BulbHow Your Problems Can Be the Fulfillment of Your DreamHow Do You Face the Worst Times?3 P.M. ChristiansThe “Can’t Help It” ConditionIt May Look Exactly the Same but Be Drastically DifferentThe Reason It’s a Requirement: Because It Will Be Needed for a WeaponWhere Do Aliens Come From?Be Careful of Playing With FireHow a Really Bad Man Becomes the Greatest ChristianHow an Italian Met a JewOne of Three