But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. – Matt. 14:30 KJV
Fear Is Not The Problem 31062020
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Introduction
The scripture today relates the experience of Simon Peter. He had seen Jesus walking on water and asked that he be allowed to walk on water too. Jesus told him he could and he actually set out to walk on water. However the report says when he saw the wind, he became afraid and he started sinking but he immediately called on Jesus Christ who came to his rescue.
Points of Note.
The following facts immediately pop out of that scripture:
1. All that Peter needed was the statement from Jesus as the walking on water was mainly his ability.
2. The wind did not affect Peter but it was Peter who saw the wind and imagined what the wind could do.
3. Peter reacted to the wind two ways with different consequences:
a. His first reaction was fear which made him sink.
b. The second reaction was to call for help which saved him from drowning.
Observations.
Most times we are the architect of our downfall. As Christians we are already endued with supernatural abilities, courtesy of the Holy Spirit, because we actually solicited the help of God which he granted through the Holy Spirit, before we started out on that project but we still under-perform because the things we see bring back negative memories and we immediately begin to sink not minding the fact that we have been empowered supernaturally to achieve success where human efforts will surely fail.
Peter was authorised and permitted to do what he desired to do but he saw storm which had not touched or was probably not coming in his direction and took his eyes off Jesus and by that action, he lost faith in Jesus. Did Peter expect to see any sea without storm no matter how low its level may be? The sea is the home of the storm but yet Peter would choose to forget that and not realise that part of what the authority to walk on the sea covered was storms because what was handed to him was a comprehensive insurance over all situations .
He remembered how devastating storms can be and he started sinking. It should be noted that the bible did not ascribe any role to the storm in the sinking of Peter. He started sinking, probably because he told himself he could not walk on sea in the face of the storm and so lost the supernatural ability that was bestowed on him.
Peter respected the storm and lost his supernatural ability and it is to everyone’s knowledge that natural human ability can never make one walk on water. Peter’s awareness of the destructive ability of the storm made him lose the supernatural ability that was bestowed on him by Jesus.
Peter did not sink because he was afraid. He had taken care of that aspect when he asked Jesus to give him the ability to walk on sea. If he was not scared of the possible unfriendly nature of the sea, storm included, he would not have desired supernatural ability to walk on it in the first place. He indeed took the right decision to resolve the fear that the sea including the storm gave him but he then decided to see the wrong image of two images in front of him, Jesus Christ and the storm. He chose to see the storm.
Christians today remain under-achievers because they actually start their journey seeing Christ but somewhere along the line, they decide to focus on other images that will not help their Christian journey – Heb. 12:2. It is true that the storm has destructive and destabilising abilities but it is also true that in this instance, the storm was just on its own and was not involved in the drowning of Peter.
Likewise, what drowns Christians in the seas of life are not the present challenges but those memories stored in on us that we have allowed to hold us down. No one is advocating that you should forget those memories because that will be absolutely impossible but you need to learn to manage them well.
Wind will not stop being wind or having its abilities because Peter has an invitation and authorisation to walk on water. It will only respect the person that invited and authorised you and therefore remain still. You will see it in its corner like a dog in its kernel in the house of its owner. It may even be barking but it will never come near you neither will it bite you because its owner has identified as his guest. Likewise, the supernatural ability you acquired when you sought and got his permission includes restricting the wind from harming you in any way. All things were created by God and He it is that decides what they do at any point in time because he gives and takes ability.
You are not drowning in that situation that you asked God for permission for because God’s permission expired or His authority did not cover that situation. You are drowning because of the negative memories of failed projects that you allowed to creep into thoughts against which you already sought and got permission before embarking on it. You are drowning because you stopped focussing on Him. You are drowning because you are allowing what you know about that challenge to erase what you know about the ability of the personality that authorised you in the first place. That is why you are drowning. Yes! Lack of faith in the ability of the person that permitted and authorised you in the first place. That is why you are drowning.
But you do not have to destroy yourself in this self imposed state of mind as it ends up limiting you. Nobody including yourself, for once thought or believed that human ability was sufficient to overcome that situation, which was why you went to Christ for help in the first place. You it was that decided not to believe in him again and preferred to believe what you know about that situation. You are the one that is drowning now, not because of that scary situation but because of the memory you have about it. You are the one that will decide that “enough is enough” as you do not want to go down in that imagination.
If you have decided that you will not be consumed in that situation, then you have to be aware that:
1. Your decision to take your focus away from that memory does not erase the memory of it.
2. You need to find a positive use of that memory especially in planning for activities where this uninvited guests will likely show up.
3. Realise that this is a part of you that if not properly managed can drown you.
4. Realise that you cannot deny it.
5. Accept that this is not physical so you need spiritual ability to keep the memory in check.
6. Go back to the one who gave you that ability over it during that period that you were riding on it.
7. Decide to fix your focus on him whilst asking him for help about those thoughts that are determined to drown you.
8. Ensure that you do not allow those memories to creep back into your thoughts when the journey kicks off again because it will definitely kick off.
There is no doubt that you can walk on the seas of life successfully without drowning because you sought his permission to do so when you made him the driver of your life. Keep your focus on him and not on the memory of all those negative experiences that you had when you had not known him or that shared by others that have unknowingly to you, taken space in your thoughts.
Remember that you are a Victor over all situations of life only if you remain in him. Do not let the roaring of a lion in a cage stop your journey to success unless you stop trusting the zoo-keeper. It is not about trusting the lions, it is about trusting the zoo keeper.
May God give you the ability to
1. Retain your focus on Him.
2. Trust Him from the beginning to the end.
3. Positively manage those negative memories that have decided to drown you in the sea of life.
God will do all these if you genuinely ask Him in Jesus name. Amen.
