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.’
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 hath 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.
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 with 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 do 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.
Source: awmi.net
This is certainly a timely reminder for me – Fear doesn’t just overcome us, we have to let it in. This then requires a constant control of our thoughts by feeding it on the word of God. It takes only the word of God to overcome fear and doubt – Hebrews 4:12. More grace to continue to delve into the word of God!
May my faith remain steadfast in every circumstance even as my focus remains on Jesus at all times especially in times when fear threatens to come in and distract us! Timely word. What a mighty God we serve!
No one ever eat one large meal and became overweight instantly. Becoming excessively overweight is a gradual process. “… the entrance of fear and the exit of faith do not happen instantly.” A good lesson learnt today. Thanks be to the Lord.
Wow! What a word of knowledge, some times looking at our situation it seems impossible to move forward but I have learnt one thing when it comes to believing and faith, close your eyes on the situation and focus (opening your eyes) on Christ and begin to move to the direction He is leading you.
Am blessed to have come to know this.
The only way to overcome fear is if I switch my focus from my current circumstances to Jesus – in whom my faith is founded upon. I can focus on Christ through meditating upon His Word and simply trusting Him amidst the ‘winds and storms’ in this life.
Thank you very much for this amazing insight. This encourages all of us to fix our eyes on Christ Jesus. When we fix our eyes on the world or ourselves, we easily give access to the enemy to play up our minds and that’s where fear and doubt install.
Very important message for everyone – to not let fear enter your heart and in this case, to not take your eyes off Jesus. As we face our earthly problems, we should always focus on Him because as said above, only He will save us from drowning.