ENTER DOUBT, EXIT FAITH Matthew 14:30, But when he saw the wind boisterous, he wasafraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. MATTHEW 14:30-31 The reason Peter began to sink was because of his fear. In verse 31 Jesus used the worddoubt in reference to Peters fear. Fear is simply negative faith or faith in reverse. Wheredid this fear come from? Second Timothy 1:7 says, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power andof love, and of a sound mind. It didnt come from God. This fear was able to come upon Peter because he took his attention off of Jesus and put it on his situation. Fear or doubt cannot just overcome us. We have to let it in. If Peter had kept his attention on Jesus, the author and finisher of his faith (Heb. 12:2), he wouldnt have feared. In the same way that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17), fearcomes by hearing or seeing something contrary to Gods Word. We would not be temptedwith fear or doubt if we didnt consider things that Satan uses to minister fear and doubt. The wind and waves didnt really have anything to do with Peter walking on the water. He couldnt have walked on thewater apart from Jesus even if it had been calm. The circumstances simply took Peters attention off of his Master and led him back into carnal thinking. Likewise, Satan tries to distract us with thinking about our problems. Peters faith didnt fail him allat once, as can be seen by the fact that he only began to sink. If there had been no faith present, he would have sunk all at once and not gradually. This illustrates that the entrance of fear and the exit of faith do not happen instantly. There are always signs that this is happening. Ifwe will turn our attention back to Jesus, as Peter did, He will save us from drowning. No problem is too big for God. We should cast our care about the problem over on God and just keep our eyes on Jesus, the Word.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 08:56:34 +0000
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