Daily Devotional May 31 - Replace doubt with faith

"And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit, and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; Be not afraid. And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water. And He said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saws the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, where didst thou doubt?" Matthew 14:25-31

Let's look at the words of Jesus in this story.
"Be of good cheer; it is I." When the winds of life are tossing yo about, Jesus can and will assist. But believing in a Jesus that walks on the water isn't something that everyone believes. There have been many times in your life where Jesus revealed Himself and you did not recognize Him. But in this story, even though it was a rough night at sea, Jesus simply comes to the disciples and says, "Be of good cheer..." Jesus knows when things are not going right and when you are being tossed to and from with the winds of adversity. Why would he say, be of good cheer? Because Jesus knows that He is the answer to your problem. He will direct you and guide you and then calm the winds of life for you.

"Come." Peter wanted to walk on the water with Jesus. It is one of the first things that happen when we get faith. We feel invincible. We feel the power of God running through our soul and we want to go where Jesus went and do what He does. Could Jesus have walked on the water without incident if he had maintained his faith? Yes. But the truth is that we are confident when we see Jesus doing what He does, but when things start to unravel, we, like Peter, begin to sink. Our demeanor reveals that our faith is being tested. Instead of asking if we can walk on the water with him we are crying out for Jesus to save us. It's OK. Jesus doesn't condemn you and put you down and let you sink simply because your faith teeter totters. If he did we would all drown in our problems. Jesus reaches out and picks you up. But I admire Peter for at least stepping out of the boat. If we did step out of our boat when Jesus said come, we would find that there is much that can be overcome with our faith.

"O thou of little faith, where didst thou doubt? " How many times, when the winds of life were blowing against my ship did I have faith and then lose faith and have faith and lose faith. One minute I felt like nothing could come against me and then I would be begging God for protection and solace. Why did I doubt? Why do you doubt? You have sen the mighty hand of God work miracles over and over again in your life and that of others. Jesus has proven Himself time and time again, and there is still doubt. What are we made of that we could vacillate so much concerning doubt? We are made of flesh and spirit. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. If you were all spirit, like you will be someday, your faith would not go up and down. If you were all flesh, like you are before you are born again, you have no faith and you don't look to God for help. But because you are flesh and spirit there is a constant warring of sorts going on inside your soul. Your spirit is moved by God and your faith grows. Your flesh cries out for some kind of fulfillment and doubt grows. What a dichotomy. The battle rages on. But you can have victory in this life, faith over doubt.

Build up your faith by reading the Bible, listening to godly pastors, participating in a weekly church service, praising God, thanking God and worshipping God. Doubt is replaced by faith at the same rate that you allow God entrance to your heart.