Matthew 14:22 says, And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.  Jesus sent His disciples by ship to the other side of the sea.  We must always be willing to go where Jesus sends us, even if it is away from the site of a great miracle.  Verse twenty-three says, And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.  Jesus first sent His disciples away, and then He sent the multitudes away and went up the mountain alone to pray.   Jesus could have stayed with His disciples and the multitude and have received praise for what He had done, but this was not His purpose in coming.  Jesus needed time alone to pray, and no matter how effective we may be in sharing the gospel, or meeting the needs of people, we need time alone to pray.  Verse twenty-four says, But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.  The disciples experienced a storm on the ship.  We can expect to experience some adversity when we are doing what God leads us to do.  The disciples were where Jesus told them to be, and that alone should have given them peace.  Verse twenty-five declares, And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.  The stormy sea was nothing to Jesus, and He came to the disciples walking on water.  In our stormy seas, the Holy Spirit is already with us, so we don't have to look for Jesus walking toward us on the water.  Verse twenty-six says, And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.  The disciples did not recognize Jesus, and they were afraid.  These are the people who were the closest to Jesus, and they did not recognize Him.  As followers of Christ, we should be the people closest to Jesus, and hopefully we will never fail to recognize Him when He comes to us in our storms of life.  We can only do so by faith, though, and not by sight.  In verse twenty-seven Jesus says, But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.  Jesus is always ready to answer our concerns.  We are told that Jesus spoke to them straightaway, or immediately.  Jesus does not leave us lingering in doubt if we will simply look to Him in faith.  Verse twenty-eight says, And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.  Peter did not state that he knew it was Jesus.  Peter said that if it was Jesus, to bid him to come to Him.  When we have doubts, we simply need to ask Jesus to bid us to come to Him in faith that He is indeed able to keep us safe.  Verse twenty-nine states, And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.  If we ask Jesus to bid us to come to Him, we must be willing to go.  Jesus said come, and Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water.  Too often, especially when we are already afraid, as the disciples were, we simply stay in the boat when Jesus says come.  If we ask Jesus to tell us to do something, and He tells us to do it, then we must step out by faith.  Verse thirty says, But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.  Peter stepped out by faith, but he nearly drowned by sight.  He ceased to see Jesus, and saw the boisterous wind instead.  We need to always keep our focus on Jesus, or the storms around us may begin to drown our faith.  At least Peter knew the answer to his fears, and cried out for Jesus to save him.   Verse thirty-one states, And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?  Jesus immediately rescued Peter, as He will us, if we call out to Him,  when life seems to be about to drown us.  Then Jesus asked Peter why he had so little faith that he doubted.  It is not enough to have the faith to step out of the boat on the stormy sea.  We must have the faith to sustain us when we get out and start toward Jesus.  Verse thirty-two states,  And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.  We are told that Jesus caught Peter and they returned to the ship, and then the wind ceased.  Until Peter got back to the boat, the seas were still stormy, but the difference was that he was with Jesus, I believe both physically and by faith.  Peter had to believe that Jesus would keep him safe, just as we must in the storms of life today.  The storm may not immediately cease, but we must have faith that we are safe as long as we put our faith in Jesus.  Verse thirty-three states, Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.  Those on the ship, which were the other disciples and the people who operated the ship most likely, came and worshipped Jesus.  They proclaimed Jesus to be the Son of God.  Those who follow Christ are not the only ones to witness miracles, and sometimes miracles lead others to believe in Jesus.  Verse thirty-four says,  And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.  Then verse thirty five continues,  And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased;  Jesus had sent the disciples across the sea to escape the multitudes, but news of His arrival spread.  We today are to spread the good news of Christ, but I am not sure that we do it as well as it was done in Jesus's day when He was not yet ready for His disciples to point people to Him.  Verse thirty-six states,  And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.  Their faith was so great that they felt if they could just touch the hem of Jesus' garment that they would be made whole, and they were.  It wasn't the touching of the garment, but their faith in the power of Jesus that made them whole.  We need that same faith today.