Friday Reading: Matthew 14 24-33
Key Verse: Matthew 14 31
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him; and said to him, Little-faith! Why did you doubt?
Devotion:
How alone do you feel when you are actually away from all your friends and family, by yourself? What do you do when you are alone? Where do you thoughts carry you? We all do feel safe and sound when in the company of our parents or even friends but when we are not with them we may well feel like we are not as safe as we would like to be. This is our natural behaviour and is common to man, not just Christians. But we have a Saviour who is always with us, even when we may think He is not.
The disciples were alone in the boat and being tossed about by the stormy weather. I can’t say that I blame them if they were afraid because I would be (besides being sea-sick as well). Jesus knew just the right time to come to them to strengthen their faith – just as He does to us too. We may feel like He is not with us as we go through rough times and then suddenly we see Him! The disciples were a bit scared at first thinking it might be a ghost walking towards them on the water but were soon told that it was He. Peter was in for a test – he called out to Jesus to call him forward onto the water. He knew that he was not strong enough to go out and walk on the water, but if Jesus called him, he was sure he could do it... and he did for a few paces...
That’s when the fears and doubts began to sink in. We are just like Peter in that we walk forward going towards God’s hands and then we take a look at the world around us and we begin to buckle under the earthly things around us. If we were able to stand firm in our faith we would be able to continue walking on the water – but we give in to earthly things around us and lose focus on God. We need to remain strong in our faith, even when we think we are alone – because we are never alone. God is always with us through The Holy Spirit, so what fear should we ever have... Easier said than done... Be strong in Christ because He continues to give us our daily strength.
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are alone?
When was the last time you prayed to Him alone?
Key Verse: Matthew 14 31
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him; and said to him, Little-faith! Why did you doubt?
Devotion:
How alone do you feel when you are actually away from all your friends and family, by yourself? What do you do when you are alone? Where do you thoughts carry you? We all do feel safe and sound when in the company of our parents or even friends but when we are not with them we may well feel like we are not as safe as we would like to be. This is our natural behaviour and is common to man, not just Christians. But we have a Saviour who is always with us, even when we may think He is not.
The disciples were alone in the boat and being tossed about by the stormy weather. I can’t say that I blame them if they were afraid because I would be (besides being sea-sick as well). Jesus knew just the right time to come to them to strengthen their faith – just as He does to us too. We may feel like He is not with us as we go through rough times and then suddenly we see Him! The disciples were a bit scared at first thinking it might be a ghost walking towards them on the water but were soon told that it was He. Peter was in for a test – he called out to Jesus to call him forward onto the water. He knew that he was not strong enough to go out and walk on the water, but if Jesus called him, he was sure he could do it... and he did for a few paces...
That’s when the fears and doubts began to sink in. We are just like Peter in that we walk forward going towards God’s hands and then we take a look at the world around us and we begin to buckle under the earthly things around us. If we were able to stand firm in our faith we would be able to continue walking on the water – but we give in to earthly things around us and lose focus on God. We need to remain strong in our faith, even when we think we are alone – because we are never alone. God is always with us through The Holy Spirit, so what fear should we ever have... Easier said than done... Be strong in Christ because He continues to give us our daily strength.
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are alone?
When was the last time you prayed to Him alone?