Jesus said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 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.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.

Luke 5:4-6

Do you sometimes think that you need a lot of faith to obey God?

It actually brings God delight when we obey Him out of revelation and not out of our circumstance. It does not mean faith is not important, but rather our Father is looking for us to obey and respond to Him as daughters and sons.

The story of Peter catching a miraculous quantity of fish is a good illustration of this truth. God deals with each of us individually in accordance to our measure of trust in Him. Like Peter, Jesus did not tell him that he needed great faith to receive a great catch. Jesus simply told him to cast his nets into deep waters, but Peter was reluctant to wholeheartedly obey because what Jesus was asking of him did not make sense in the natural world. From his experience as a fisherman, the best time to catch fish in deep waters with nets was at night.

Perhaps Peter just wanted to humour Jesus and so he decided to meet Him halfway. Instead of casting all his nets as Jesus had instructed, he threw just one. Peter then caught so much fish that his boat started to sink from the weight of the catch. It was at this very moment that he repented and fell at the feet of Jesus, becoming a lifelong follower and disciple.

Having faith in God has a follow through to obedience.

If God is involved, there is never a bad time or a huge effort to obey Him.

The best time to obey God is at this very moment, even when everything around you does not make sense. Moses obeyed God by lifting up his staff and the waters of the Red Sea parted. Gideon obeyed God and was able to defeat 120,000 Midianites with an army of just three hundred men. Jesus obeyed God and by His one act of perfect obedience on the cross, we and everyone else were all made righteous.

If we find obeying God difficult, it is because we are still relying on our strength instead of receiving God's abundant grace to empower us.  Ask the Holy Spirit to give you His grace of obedience, just like that of Christ, so that you can always walk perfectly in the will of the Father. It is this kind of prayer that God will answer unreservedly.