Fix Your Eyes on Jesus When the Wind Turns Against You

Introduction

This Sunday, July 6, 2025, Elder Laz'ni OUATTARA takes the floor. He has been an elder since 2017 at the Église Évangélique de Clamart (Assemblies of God), and had previously served in Yamoussoukro and then in Angré (Abidjan), Côte d'Ivoire, before settling in France a little over twenty years ago. He comes to share a theme that fits in five words: eyes fixed on Jesus. To illustrate it, he takes you into Matthew 14: Jesus has just fed 5,000 men with five loaves and two fish, and immediately he makes his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side. There, the wind turns against them. Peter sees Jesus walking on the sea, asks him to command him to come to him on the water, walks, then sinks. Why? Because at one point, he took his eyes off Jesus. The message is clear: in the trial, the only thing that keeps you standing is a gaze fixed lastingly on Jesus.

Outline of the Message

1. After the Great Miracle, Jesus Makes You Cross Over

Elder Laz'ni highlights the very first words of the account: "Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side" (Matthew 14:22). The word made is strong. Some versions translate it "he pressed them." Why? Because the disciples did not want to move. They had just seen five loaves and two fish feed 5,000 men, not counting women and children. They were in awe. They wanted to stay in the miracle.

And Jesus makes them go. He makes you understand: when you have just lived through a victory, when you come out of a great miracle, God does not want you to camp on it. He orders you to cross over to the other side. He calls you to move forward. Do not put your blessing in the past tense.

2. The God of the Miracle Is Also the God of the Trial

No sooner have they left than the wind turns against them. And here Elder Laz'ni lays out a statement that settles everything: the God of the miracle and the God of the trial are the same God. You cannot love the miracles and refuse the trials. There is no miracle without a trial.

The people of Israel are proof of this. God had promised a land flowing with milk and honey. But between the promise and its fulfillment, there was the Red Sea, the wilderness, forty years of crossing. The God who brings you out is the same God who brings you through.

And he insists: do not abandon the church when you are in the trial. Neither God nor the church is responsible for how you react to the trial. You cannot say, "Lord, because of this trial, I am leaving." Complaining, discouragement, and giving up are the signatures of a faith that has not yet learned to cross over.

3. Jesus Withdraws to Pray: What About You?

"After he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray" (Matthew 14:23). Elder Laz'ni slows down here. Jesus, 100 percent God and 100 percent man, did he really need to pray? The Bible takes the time to tell us so. And it specifies the place: by himself. Not in the middle of the crowd. Not in the middle of the disciples. Alone. It echoes Matthew 6: "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret."

Jesus has just experienced a great miracle, and instead of letting his guard down, that is exactly when he prays even more. The lesson for you: after a victory, it is not the time to relax, it is the time to withdraw. Shut the door. Pray to your Father. Take time alone with God, even before taking time with your children or with your team. That is where the crossing gets prepared.

4. Asking Jesus for a Sign Is Not Doubting

The disciples see Jesus walking on the sea and think it is a ghost. Strange, when you think about it: what is so "astonishing" about seeing the Master of heaven and earth walk on water? The One who created the sea should naturally be able to walk on it. Yet the disciples still had not understood who he was. After the multiplication of the loaves, they had not fallen down and said, "You are the Son of God." It would take a few more chapters for that.

So Peter calls out, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water" (Matthew 14:28). Elder Laz'ni corrects a mistaken idea going around: asking Jesus for a sign in the trial is not doubting. It is making sure it really is him speaking, and not the enemy. In all of human history, no one else has ever walked on water. Peter does not try it on his own: he waits for the command of the One who alone can give it. And on the sole basis of Jesus's word ("Come"), Peter steps out of the boat.

5. Peter Sank the Moment He Took His Eyes Off Jesus

Peter walks. A professional fisherman who has rowed all night against the wind is now walking on the water, because Jesus told him "Come." The wind is still strong. But as long as Peter keeps his eyes fixed on Jesus, he does not see it. He moves forward.

Then, at some point, he starts looking around him. He sees the wind. He sees the waves. And he no longer sees Jesus. He sinks. Elder Laz'ni drives the point home: Peter did not sink because Jesus stopped carrying him. Peter sank because he took his eyes off Jesus. Whatever God calls you to, if you take your eyes off it, you will sink in that calling.

And the preacher adds a word that changes everything: it is not simply about having your eyes lifted toward Jesus, you need to have your eyes fixed lastingly on Jesus. A gaze that does not open only in the crisis, but holds over time. It is that fixed gaze that secures the victory.

6. Pay Attention to What Your Eyes Are Looking At

Elder Laz'ni opens an important parenthesis here. In the Bible, the eyes are never neutral. Proverbs 3:7 says, "Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil." Some versions translate it, "do not think that you are wise." The way you see conditions the way you think, and the way you think conditions your life.

Since the garden, the enemy has been trying to change what you see. He offered a different way of looking at the forbidden fruit. And if your eyes are being fed by the devil, you will see something other than what God sees. You will call good what God calls evil, and evil what God calls good. That is why you must fix your eyes, not on the waves, not on compromises, not on what the world is offering, but on Jesus.

7. Building With Your Eyes Fixed: The Call to the Church

Elder Laz'ni closes with a prophetic call to the church hosting him and to you who are listening. He brings up Nehemiah, who built the walls of Jerusalem in the middle of storms and hardship, his eyes fixed on the Lord. A church that wants to build on the Lord will face storms. There will be complicated situations. But if it builds with its eyes fixed on Jesus, victory and provision will come.

And he warns you: wherever you have accepted compromises, wherever you have sought favors from people to work things out in a given situation, stop. God does not want compromise. He does not want arrangements. He has called you, and he himself provides. Stop leaning on people. Lean on the Lord. Come back. Repent. And put your eyes back where they belong: on Jesus.

Key Takeaways

• After a great miracle, Jesus makes you cross over. Do not put your blessing in the past tense, move to the other side.
• The God of the miracle and the God of the trial are the same God. Do not abandon the church when the wind turns against you.
• After the victory, follow Jesus's example: withdraw, shut the door, pray to your Father in secret.
• Asking Jesus for a sign is not doubting. Wait for the command, "Come," then step out of the boat.
• Peter did not sink because Jesus let go. He sank because he took his eyes off Jesus.
• It is not enough to lift your eyes toward Jesus in the crisis. You need to fix them on him lastingly.
• What your eyes look at shapes what you become. Refuse the way the enemy offers to look at your situation.
• Building on compromises means losing provision. Lean on God, not on people.

Personal Application

• After what recent "great miracle" is God asking you today to cross over rather than camp out? Where are you hesitating to get into the boat?
• What headwind is blowing in your life right now? Are you responding with complaints, by abandoning the church, or with prayer and a fixed gaze?
• At what point this week will you concretely "withdraw" like Jesus: shut a door, turn off your phone, pray alone?
• Is there a "command me to come" that you need to ask Jesus before launching into a decision you have been carrying for a long time?
• What have your eyes been resting on these past few days: the waves, other people's opinions, a compromise? What do you need to remove from your gaze to put Jesus back there?

Verses Cited

• Matthew 14:22-31 · Jesus makes the disciples cross over, walks on the sea, Peter walks then sinks.
• Hebrews 4:14-16 · The great high priest, the throne of grace. (text read at the opening of the service)
• Ephesians 2 · We were enemies, made children of God through the cross. (text read at the opening)
• Matthew 6:6 · "Go into your room, shut your door, and pray to your Father."
• Proverbs 3:7 · "Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil."
• Job 33:15 · "He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night."
• Acts 2:17-18 · "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh... your old men shall dream dreams."
• Hebrews 12:1-2 · "Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of faith." (natural reference to the theme)

Frequently Asked Questions

Is asking Jesus for a sign the same as doubting?

No, answers Elder Laz'ni. When Peter says, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come," he is not testing Jesus, he is seeking to be sure that it is really Jesus speaking and not the enemy. He does not take the initiative on his own, he waits for the command. Asking Jesus for confirmation in a trial or before a decision is a faith that refuses to act out of presumption.

Why did Peter sink when Jesus had called him?

Because he took his eyes off Jesus. The wind did not get stronger at that moment, it was already strong when Peter was walking. What changed was Peter's gaze. As long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, he held steady on the water. The moment he looked at the waves around him, he sank. The message is clear: in a calling from God, you hold steady as long as you keep your eyes on the One who called you.

What does it mean to have "eyes fixed lastingly" on Jesus?

Elder Laz'ni draws a distinction between two things: lifting your eyes toward Jesus (a one-time movement, often in the crisis) and fixing your eyes lastingly on Jesus (a posture that holds over time). What guarantees the victory is not calling on Jesus when you are sinking, it is always keeping your gaze on him, before the storm, during the storm, and after. It is that gaze that keeps a church standing when it is building and hardship comes.