GROW PLAN

May 5-11, 2025

Day One

Matthew 14:22-24

Faith and Fear
Jesus had fed the crowd, and the crowd wanted to “take Him by force and make Him king.” (John 6:15) Jesus sent the disciples away in a boat, and He dismissed the crowd. Jesus is capable of defusing any situation or mob. Then Jesus took some time to spend alone in prayer. Even Jesus needed to spend time in prayer to maintain His relationship with the father and to stay centered in the Father’s will, to be spiritually refreshed. If Jesus needs time alone in prayer, how much more do we need to spend time in prayer. Much later, the disciples were out in the middle of the lake, in deep water, fighting the wind and the waves. The disciples had done just as Jesus had commanded them, and they were running into the storm. This isn’t a punishment from God for disobedience, they were doing as they were told, and still hit the storm. We can be doing what God wants and still hit a storm. God had His purpose for this storm, and it wasn’t to punish the disciples. The Lord was going to teach them more about His power and His glory and who Jesus is. The Lord teaches us through the hard times, and we can rarely see that until it’s over.

What are the strong winds in your life that toss you about and keep you from making progress? Pray about these and tell the Lord you are willing to accept what He is teaching you and you look forward to growing closer to Him.

Day Two

Matthew 14:25-29

 A Step of Faith

The disciples didn’t expect Jesus. They knew He can calm a storm, but they didn’t anticipate Him walking across the sea to them. When they saw Him coming, they were afraid it was a ghost. Jesus told them to “take courage” because it was Him. Jesus often tells the disciples not to be afraid. Later, He would tell them: “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world.” They would likely remember Jesus walking on the water through a storm as an image of Him overcoming the world. Peter asked to come to Jesus on the water. Peter was willing to take the leap of faith. They were all afraid, battling the wind and waves. Then, they were all afraid of seeing someone on the water. Now, Jesus has told them to take courage, it is Him. And Peter was willing to follow Jesus’ command. He was willing to put aside his fear to experience more of Jesus’ power. He had asked for the command to come to Jesus, and he was willing to obey. He was willing to take a great leap of faith and step out of the boat. All the other disciples stayed in the safety of the boat.

 What risks are you willing to take to experience more of Jesus and His power in your life? What fear does Jesus want you to overcome as He tells you to come to Him?

 Day Three

Matthew 14:29-36

 Faith Frustrated by Fear

Once Peter got out on the water, he started to look around him. He felt the wind and saw the waves surrounding him, and his fear returned. He saw that Jesus could walk on water, but he wasn’t sure He could make Peter walk on water. Jesus saved and him and asked him why he doubted. Peter didn’t have enough faith in the Lord. He doubted Jesus’ ability to reproduce the miracle in him. We know what the Lord has done, and we know what He has done for others. But sometimes we doubt whether He will do the same for us. We look around at the situation around us, and it feels too dangerous. It feels like too much. And we are afraid that the Lord will not handle it for us. Maybe we worry that His will is not really best for us. We worry that what the Lord promises will somehow not apply to us. But, even in that instant when we flounder, when our fears push us underneath the waves, He reaches down and pulls us to safety. He is faithful, especially when we fail. The disciples’ fear and struggle through the storm and through Peter’s close call are rewarded by a new discovery about the Lord, and renewed faith that He is the Son of God.

 Are you letting your fear swamp your faith? Ask yourself the question Jesus asked Peter: Why do you doubt? Call out to the Lord and He will rescue you. Like the father in Mark 9:24, we can beg Jesus: “I believe; help my unbelief.”

 Day Four

Matthew 15:1-9

 False Obedience

The Pharisees asked Jesus why His disciples broke “the traditions of the elders,” not the law. The teachers and Pharisees had built a system of detailed rules around the law that was supposed to keep people from breaking the law. Here, the Pharisees asked why the disciples didn’t perform a ritual washing of their hands, which had little to do with cleanliness. In His response, Jesus went straight at the Pharisees’ rules. They had a system called corban, which allowed them to dedicate possessions to God, but they could continue to keep them and use them as long as they lived. As Jesus pointed out, God had commanded the people to honor their parents. But the Pharisees allowed people with plenty of resources to devote those resources to God, but keep them. Instead of using their resources to take care of their older parents, they would claim that their property was devoted to God so it couldn’t be used to help their parents. In verse 6, Jesus points out that they had allowed their own traditions and rules to contradict and nullify the Word of God. Instead of requiring people to obey God and take care of their parents, the Jewish leaders were giving them an excuse to disobey God and neglect their parents. Jesus further condemns the Pharisees by stating that Isaiah 29:13 applies to them. They worship with their mouths and not their hearts.

What would be a modern example of worshiping with your mouth and not your heart? Is there any of that kind of worship in your life?

Day Five

Matthew 15:10-20

 The Heart Matters

Jesus called to the crowd to make sure they heard His point as well. It isn’t what goes into your mouth that defiles you but what comes out. He went on to explain to the disciples that what matters to the Lord is not ritual washings and all the intricate rules of Jewish tradition. What matters is the heart. Is your heart devoted to the Lord? Do you really worship and try to obey His principles? Jesus pointed out that what truly defiles a person is when lies, slander, lewd suggestions and other evil things come out of his or her mouth. Our words reveal our heart. When evil comes out of our mouth, it originated in our heart. And that evil in our heart is what truly defiles us, not eating with hands that weren’t washed in the particular way demanded by the Pharisees. Jesus has been telling the Pharisees this. It’s why He asked them why they didn’t know that God wants mercy rather than sacrifice. He has been trying to push them past their rules into focusing on relationship with God, but they won’t give up their ways and power. Jesus told the disciples that God didn’t plant the Pharisees, but He will pull them up by the roots. They stumble along in spiritual blindness, pretending to lead others.

 Does anything come out of your mouth that defiles you? Think about the things you say and what it reveals about your heart. Ask the Lord to purify your heart and therefore, what proceeds from it. 

 Day Six

Matthew 15:21-28

 An Example of Faith

Jesus’ ministry was to the Jews. That’s where He focused His teaching and His miracles. And He pointed that out in a rough way to this Canaanite woman. She was persistent in begging Jesus to cleanse her daughter. The disciples begged Jesus to get rid of her, not to help her, just to get rid of her. Jesus told her that He had been sent to the lost sheep of Israel, and that it wouldn’t be right to take the children’s food and give it to the dogs. Gentiles were considered unclean, like animals, particularly a Canaanite. Jesus’ remarks seem dismissive and insulting but look at the message Jesus was teaching. He had just finished condemning the Jewish leaders for their false worship and disobedience. He had criticized them for not having real faith in their hearts. Here was a woman reviled by the Jews, someone they considered an animal, who was outside the covenant and disqualified from faith and worshipping the Lord. But she didn’t defend herself. She didn’t get angry at being called a dog. She continued to beg for healing. And so, Jesus praised her faith and healed her daughter. The contrast would have been obvious to the Jewish disciples and people with Jesus. The people in charge of their religion were as far from God as they could be and had no legitimate faith. Someone who should have been outside the possibility of faith had “great faith.” Jesus showed them that faith is matter of the heart, not birth, not training, not class. Any of us can be people of great faith.

 Thank the Lord that He has opened His family to all of us. Ask Him to draw you closer to Him and make you someone of “great faith.”