Peter grew up fishing. Not the go to the lake and throw a line in the water. Like fish all night in the cold with a net, this is my job not this is my hobby fishing. His dad fished, his grandpa fished, and his great grandpa… you guessed it… he fished. He was set up to do what everyone 
expected him to until one day something changed. After a full night of fishing and catching nothing, a rabbi shows up and says something that seems so demeaning. “Throw your nets on the other side of the boat.” Can you imagine? You have come from a line of fishermen and know how to fish these banks and maybe what is wrong is you are fishing on the wrong side of the boat. However, since this is a man with authority he does it, probably just to humor this rabbi who clearly knows nothing about fishing. Then it happens. He has no idea following this simple suggestion is about to change the course of his life. The net gets overwhelmed with fish to where the nets start to break. Peter goes to meet this rabbi. The rabbi gives an invitation.
Matthew 4:19 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”
This was a call to leave the family business, walk away from his family, and leave everything he has ever known. He has no idea what he is about to sign up for.
vs 20 And they left their nets at once and followed him.
I think for many of us, we had no idea what we were signing up for when we decided to follow Jesus. We prayed asking God a dangerous prayer… LEAD ME. We signed up to follow Jesus to let Jesus lead us and our life changes.
Not all prayers are created equal. There are safe prayers. Bless me, protect me, give me traveling mercies. Then there are prayers that are not safe they are dangerous. When you pray these prayers your life changes… Lead me. He will lead you. The place he leads you to is not where we expect. He leads us out of slavery to our sin. The hardest part of that is not getting us out of slavery it is actually getting slavery out of us. Slavery to the way of this world and getting the world out of us when it is all we ever know. Then He leads us to purpose. He has a specific plan for each of us. I think many people do not ever get to know their purpose because they struggle to get the slavery out of them.
Are you ready to pray a dangerous prayer? “Lead me out of slavery and into purpose.” Where is the slavery still in you? Have you given it to the Lord? Have you sought Him to find your purpose? He is for you and paid a high price for you to pray this dangerous prayer.
Recklessly, obsessively following Jesus
Brandon Sereg
