Enter Doubt, Exit Faith
Matthew 14:30, 'But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; 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 word 'doubt' in reference to Peter's fear. Fear is simply negative faith or faith in reverse. Where did this fear come from?
Second Timothy 1:7 says, 'For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.' It didn't 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. He became self-centered!
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 wouldn't have feared. In the same way that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17), fear comes by hearing or seeing something contrary to God's Word. We would not be tempted with fear or doubt if we didn't consider things that Satan uses to minister fear and doubt. The wind and waves didn't really have anything to do with Peter walking on the water.
He couldn't have walked on the water apart from Jesus even if it had been calm. The circumstances simply took Peter's attention off of his Master and led him back into carnal thinking. Likewise, Satan tries to distract us by thinking about our problems.
Peter's faith didn't fail him all at 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 does not happen instantly. There are always signs that this is happening. If we 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.
** Note by Franklin Graham:
Second Timothy 1:7 says, 'For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.' It didn't 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. He became self-centered!
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 wouldn't have feared. In the same way that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17), fear comes by hearing or seeing something contrary to God's Word. We would not be tempted with fear or doubt if we didn't consider things that Satan uses to minister fear and doubt. The wind and waves didn't really have anything to do with Peter walking on the water.
He couldn't have walked on the water apart from Jesus even if it had been calm. The circumstances simply took Peter's attention off of his Master and led him back into carnal thinking. Likewise, Satan tries to distract us by thinking about our problems.
Peter's faith didn't fail him all at 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 does not happen instantly. There are always signs that this is happening. If we 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.
** Note by Franklin Graham:
Here we go again. Another headline by CNN to try to put fear in the minds of readers. What happens if a coronavirus vaccine is never developed? The “what-ifs” could be endless. What if the sky fell tomorrow? There are a lot of hypotheticals being thrown out there that are intended to scare people.
It’s becoming more obvious to people that the response of some in the government is not just about protecting lives, but it’s about control. Never before in our history have those who are well been quarantined rather than those who are sick!
It’s becoming more obvious to people that the response of some in the government is not just about protecting lives, but it’s about control. Never before in our history have those who are well been quarantined rather than those who are sick!
I don’t want to minimize the fact that the coronavirus is dangerous. We need to take precautions and we need to exercise personal responsibility. But we also need to be cautious before we say yes to every ban proposed and agree to anything that we think might help protect us from the virus, to make sure that we’re not letting go of some of our constitutional rights. Our response to the coronavirus pandemic could greatly affect our future and our freedoms.
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