Jason Hooper: You're About To Launch Out Into 'The Deep'

Jason Hooper: You're About To Launch Out Into 'The Deep'

We are on the verge of a significant spiritual shift. Can you feel it? Spiritual tides are beginning to turn as the Lord is drawing many into extended times of intimacy and encounter in preparation for what He is prepared to pour out.

In Luke 5:1-11 we find Peter, a previously accomplished fisherman, who had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. He had come to the end of where his prior knowledge and previous understanding that had been gleaned from past seasons could take him in this "NOW new day."

To "come out and cross over," he was going to have to launch out of what he had known and leaned on in times past to now enter into where he had been created to be! He was going to have to trust the Lord and choose to lean not on what had been familiar and safe to his natural mind in order to discover that his entire life, up until now, was simply training for where he was about to go (see Proverbs 3:5-6). Where he had previously been a fisher for men, he was about to be called and commissioned as a fisher of men!

Peter and his buddies had just returned to shore and were cleaning their nets with heads hung low in disappointment when Jesus all of a sudden jumps into Peter's boat and asks that he push away from the shore, so that He can instruct the multitude who had gathered to hear Him. Once Jesus had finished teaching, He turned to Peter and instructed him to first, "Launch out into the deep," and, secondly, "Let down your nets for a catch."

To this Peter replied, "'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 5:5-6).

There is something about trusting and obeying the One who created the fish that you are fishing for that requires transparency and a willingness to let go of your personal concerns connected with what others will think if you really "go for it"! These "concerns," and the fear of man that typically empowers them, are oftentimes the hindrances that keep so many from finding their voice, their creative medium, and eventually their calling. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

It is time to trust Him, obey His Word, and let down your proverbial net.It is in this place that transition occurs as tides of desire begin to turn and you find that what you have longed for and pursued in your own strength in times past now longs for and pursues you by His grace and with His power.

So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. Luke 5:7

The Small Word That Releases The Most Power In Your Life

As the Lord begins to enter into boats that have been built for Him through willingness and obedience to His Word, powerful partnerships and Kingdom alliances are about to be formed that will bring with them a multiplied outcome in response to what we add to the Body with the Lord at the Head. This will result in individual and corporate breakthrough, allowing and empowering many to "break out" of the boxes of religious conformity that have attempted to capture and imprison the creativity of so many in times past through control, manipulation, and misunderstanding; these would try to bait individuals into performance requiring you to prove your self-worth and produce in your own strength for the approval of others. When He breaks open – we all break out!

The one who breaks open will come up before them; they will break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it; their king will pass before them, with the Lord at their head. Micah 2:13

As great as this "catch" was, it pales in comparison to how radically the lives of those who found themselves on the shore that day were about to be transformed as they were about to offer to the Creator of the entire universe what He had desired most in their lives – their "yes." They did not know where that "yes" was about to take them, what it would entail, and how it would change the world, rewriting history and setting into motion divine purpose for all who were willing to say, "Yes," to Him from that day forward.Oh, the power that can be released from such a small word that opens such big doors!

What Made the Difference?

Luke 5:11 says, "So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him."

The word "forsook" means to leave behind. In one day, they abandoned their entire way of life and everything that had been so familiar to them in times past to pursue Him and to know God!

Come, and let us return to the Lord... Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth. Hosea 6:1, 3 (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

What had happened? What made the difference? When Peter was willing and obedient to simply do what the Lord asked, the harvest of what he had previously longed and believed for came to him (see Isaiah 1:19).

We are about to step into a day where what we have previously chased in our own strength is going to now chase us as we enter into the fullness of fellowship with Him, bringing us into perfect alignment for our new assignments (see Psalm 23:5-6). In that moment of absolute surrender and submission in obedience to the Lord's invitation, Peter found a better way – "The Way."

The desires that had previously prioritized Peter's steps were in one moment of divine exchange replaced with a new desire – the desire to encounter and walk with the One who is the Desire of All Nations (see Haggai 2:7). In this place of undivided devotion to Him, He completely captures our hearts and, like the disciples, we willingly abandon everything that has held us back in times past to pursue Him wholeheartedly. It is in this place that we truly and fully find Him (see Jeremiah 29:13).

I believe Jesus' invitation to Peter is still being given to us today. Are you ready to leave the shore and become something more? Can you feel the depth of God's heart calling to you in this season, beckoning you to launch out and dive in? Can you feel the depth of your spirit desiring Him more than your next breath? If so, let's take a moment and respond in prayer to this invitation.

Let's pray: Dear Lord, I choose today to lay aside the weight of what's been and the fear of "what ifs." I ask You for Your grace to leave the shores of my comfort zone and dive into the depths of Your plans and purposes for my life. Today, I declare that I am crossing a line and my tide is beginning to turn. I trust You to bring Your Word to pass in my life as I launch out and dive in to Your promises and purposes for my life.

Jason Hooper
Senior Leader & Pastor, King's Way Church
Email: info@kingswaybirmingham.com
Website: kingswaybirmingham.com

Jason Hooper is a revivalist, prophetic teacher, and pastor with a passion to see God's Kingdom released through sound teaching, prophetic revelation, and demonstrations of God's power. His ministry focuses on equipping and encouraging Believers to function as witnesses of God's power and messengers of His heart from a place of intimate friendship with God.

Jason and his wife, Tina, serve as the senior leaders and pastors of King's Way Church in Birmingham, Alabama, with a heart to see the name of Jesus lifted high as His Kingdom advances in and through our incredible city. Their primary desire is to fan the flames of revival and awakening while training and equipping the Body of Christ to walk in the fullness of their gifts and callings as Christ is more fully formed in them.

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