“Dancing on water” is a faith experience that is possible for every believer – IF you are prepared to (1) put your life totally in the hands of the Master (2) open yourself to learning new faith-steps from Him and (3) keep your eyes on Him and not on your feet. If you do these things then you CAN (and WILL) experience the wonder of “dancing on water”, even in the most frightening circumstances of life.

In 2000 I was travelling from Australia to Cairo to take up my new position as Associate Pastor at Maadi Community Church.  And as all dedicated and responsible church leaders do when preparing to commence at a new place of ministry (albeit not at the last minute and certainly not while travelling at a speed of 950kph in a Singapore Airline’s Boeing 737!) – I drew on my experiences of life, leadership and ministry and put together a “game plan” for our new work in Cairo.  I was really fired-up and ready to go! Well, that’s how I saw things at 35,000 feet. However, once I had arrived at MCC things were quite different – my well-intended plan didn’t even get off the ground …. it flew like a lead balloon.

It didn’t take me very long to realise just how ignorant and naïve it was of me to have presumed to know in advance the right steps to take in my new ministry – this was a new assignment, unlike any other assignment I had ever dreamed of, and ‘my plan’ proved to be more of a hindrance to the Lord, not a help.  I came to the startling realisation that the Lord did not call Beryl and me to MCC because “Bill has a good plan that will help Me” … He called us so that He would expose us to a new plan – His plan – that would bless people of 50 nations, bring hundreds of people to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, bring glory to Him – and that would spoil our taste for the ordinary.

It was only after this, and once I was able to see and understand His plan, that the Lord helped me see the importance of carefully and wisely “surveying the land” at MCC before doing anything else. In this particular situation (probably like in any other church) at MCC there were people with “giant” amounts of authority and influence (the powerbrokers), people with guarded and well fortified made-up minds (ready to lash out and resist new ideas that would bring-about change) and there was also others who, being “new wineskins” and dissatisfied with the traditional wine, craved for new wine … new ideas to follow and use to build up God’s church!

I remembered from Scripture (Numbers 13) the incident where a party of twelve men, led by Joshua, were directed by the Lord to enter the Promised Land to carry out a recognisance mission before leading the Nation of Israel into their new land. Upon their return they reported that there were giants in the land, and their cities were well fortified. Heck, MCC was my “new land”, and the circumstances at MCC were no different than those realised by Joshua and those in his party! Today, we know that the success of their conquest and settlement of Canaan did not rely on them having a prepared game plan but would result through trusting in the Lord, and His perfect plan for their lives. And I would testify that the growth of the church at MCC, and the ‘birthing’ of three daughter churches, and all those who came to Christ, and all those who left Cairo and took their servant-leader hearts to places around the world – did not rely on ‘my plan’ or any other man’s plan – they were all the result of God’s perfect plan!

Learning to “dance on water” requires us to continually “survey the land” of our minds and hearts for all thoughts and attitudes that would stand against the Lord and the fulfilment of all His promises in our lives. Surveying the land like Joshua makes it possible for us to take the necessary faith-steps in our learning to “dance on water”.

Do you ‘ survey the land’ when you’re stepping out towards something new?

This article was first posted on 2 May 2010 on Bill’s ‘Dancing on Water’ blog on wordpress.com, which is now closed.  To make sure that you don’t miss future articles in this series, please subscribe.