From Fisherman to Follower

It all begins with the heart. Faith is the quiet, inner submission that takes place when you know that you believe. It’s invisible in the sense that no-one can see the inward change that has happened but at the same time it has substance. Faith changes your perspective on the world and faith changes how you respond to it.

The first duty of a follower is to believe and it’s the only duty that is compulsory. You can be a follower by just believing and do nothing else. You'd still be a follower but you won't have followed very far and you shouldn't settle for that.

The first thing a fisherman has to do is believe too. He has to believe that there are fish in the lake today (just like there were yesterday) and that there will be fish in the lake tomorrow. Everything he does relies on his faith in that. If he doesn’t believe there are fish in the lake then he won’t spend hours mending his nets, preparing his boat or pay labourers to help him. It’s the same for a follower, so a fisherman and a follower have much in common. The follower’s faith is the same thing as the fisherman’s faith in many ways. The fish in the lake are unseen until you catch them yet they are always there. God is always there whether you experience Him or not – a follower’s faith is just believing. What is different about the faith of a follower is what you believe in.

You already have lots of faith. You couldn’t operate without it even if you don’t believe in God. Think about all the things that you can’t see at this moment in time but you still believe in them. For each person these things are different but everyone has them.

The planet earth has been in existence for a long time. Before you were born it existed and for many thousands of years before that. You accept that by faith… you weren’t there to see it. Even if you are accepting photographic evidence from before you were born, don’t you believe that the planet that you live on has existed for thousands or millions of years before that? And all that time has the earth been spinning with days and nights? How many days has the earth been in existence? Too many to count? And how many times has dawn followed the night? You get the idea… faith is nothing new to you.

So the faith of a follower is what your faith is in. A follower of God has to believe that God exists in every tense.


1. God is. God is God - you'd think that was obvious but I just love the book of Job in the bible where the guy doesn't know what is happening or why he is suffering and has lost everything. He desperately wants an answer but God is slow in giving him one, until eventually God speaks out of the storm not with answers but with questions.

"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!"

...and the questions go on and on and on! What God is saying to Job is that God is God - end of discussion. That's who He is, like it or not!

God is many other things too... He is a fortress. He's faithful, good, great and Holy. He's perfect, pure and 100% righteous. He's the same today as He was at the creation of the world and He will still be the same for eternity. He knows everything, sees everything, understands everything.

2. God has. To be a follower you need to believe what God has already done. He's created heaven and earth. He has shown mercy and has saved His people. He has forgiven us - removed our sin "as far as the east is from the west".

3. God will. God keeps all His promises. A follower needs to know that. Find out what God has promised and rely on them. If it's written in the book then it's true. He promises that if you believe in Jesus then you qualify as a follower and that means much more than just this lifetime.