Encountering JesusSample

DISCOVER

Peter's walk on the water was short-lived; we wonder if he took just one slow step or ten quick steps as he sloshed on water. It was undoubtedly short-lived because the scriptural passage says he was distracted by the overwhelming fear of the sounds of a brewing, howling, boisterous wind. Interestingly, the text does not say that the water underneath his feet forced him to take his eyes off Jesus, rather, the sounds of fear are what attack our faith. Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." By contrast, fear must come from hearing the enemy's Word.

LEARN

Jesus Himself forewarned us, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33).” Peter learned a critical life lesson that day that we also must never ignore, disregard, or omit if we are going to overcome the storms of this life. To overcome the world's stormy troubles, we must diligently listen to Jesus’ voice; His words of life that train our gaze on Him alone.

When we take our eyes off Jesus, the storms of life will quickly overcome and try to drown us. We must come to the absolute conviction that sinking is inevitable when we stop looking to Jesus; it is not if we will sink but when we will sink. The fearful, natural sounds of the winds of fear purposefully suck us into the vortex of temptations and eventually overwhelm the unsuspecting victims, who have somehow forgotten the One who is in absolute authority and control. Life is full of storms - usually big storms. These storms will destroy and decimate unless we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. With Jesus, we do not only endure, but we can also walk on water, above the storm. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus.

APPLY

What sounds of storms do we hear that pull our gaze off Jesus right now? Have we come to the absolute conviction that Jesus is our hope in the storm? Can we confidently declare our faith in Christ? Instead of doing nothing other than looking at the storm and feeling sorry for ourselves, we can get up, address the situation, and affirm the Word of God over the storm and our lives. By holding our eyes on Jesus, we naturally take them off our problems. The Bible says in Hebrews 12:1-3 that Jesus is the perfecter of our faith. So, we don't have to worry about how to trust God in our storm as long as we keep looking to Jesus by meditating on His timeless promises. He is the beginning of our faith, and HE alone is the perfecter of our faith.