MAY 16 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31)

 

MAY 16  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”  

(Matthew 14:31)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Son of God who gave Himself

 for the sins of the world even though men reject the “Gift”.  God, despite all

 the worldly rejection, is still Gracious in extending His Invitation to “whosoever”.

 God remains eternally Faithful in His Character 

and encourages ALL to accept His Offer of Eternal Life! 

 It will forever be a mystery why God went through so much trouble 

to prove His Love to us and why we so easily embrace the 

world of death and darkness and reject 

His Gift of Eternal Light and Life!?!  

Lord give me the self discipline to see past my daily physical life on earth

 and to focus on my eternal spiritual life in heaven and that by knowing

 Your Mercy and Grace 

I will focus on helping others and contribute to Kingdom Work 

and quit contradicting the “King” Himself. 

Praise God from whom ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JQ#15 to JQ#16 Transition: “Also…add to your faith…” (2 Peter 1:5)  

The Jesus Questions have been a blessing in themselves and today God

 added one of His “unexpected” extras that He does when we are following Him.

 JQ#15 gave me a “personal” insight into many of my 

“faith” 

shortcomings in that 

I know 

from my “personal experiences” that 

Jesus is the Son of God 

and He has done miracle after miracle in my life

 and yet there are times that I let my 

“faith” 

falter and I fall prey to my “demon of doubt”

 and end up questioning the Lordship of Jesus in my life. 

I had read with amazement that the children of Israel had experienced 

God’s Grace in freeing them from their slavery in Egypt as God miraculously

 delivered them from Pharaoh’s army by parting the Red Sea but once they

 were safely on the “other side” they rebelled against God and whined

 to go back to slavery!?!?! Then in JQ#15 I see Peter actually challenge 

Jesus while Jesus is walking on water in a storm at sea

 and yet Jesus is speaking

 “Peace”

 to Peter and invites Peter to 

“Come”!?!?! 

So today as I was considering my own 

“faith” 

and how I often “challenge” the Lordship of Jesus in my life, the 

Holy Spirit 

recalled to my mind a devotional in

 Oswald Chamber’s Daily Journal “My Utmost for His Highest” on day

 “JUNE 15”. I retrieved the journal and turned to June 15 and as

 I read my prayer for that day, 

God spoke to me through my own words in that prayer written in 2004. 

How God spoke to me was that just after reading the devotional

 for 2004 in “Utmost”

 I then read my prayer written on the opposite page in 2016 

and I was amazed at how God manages to Teach us

 “True Faith” 

by using our own life to address our fears and doubts about Him,

 which is what I think Jesus did for Peter in JQ#15 

when Jesus simply extended the invitation to Peter to 

“Come” 

and Peter actually walked on water!?!?! 

I have been experiencing some great works of God lately in my personal life

 but the “joy” was not there and then today as I read my own prayers 

written 12 years apart I could see that God has been working daily 

in those twelve years to get me to this point to learn about 

His Love, 

even though I have occasionally been “looking back” 

at my former life in slavery to sin 

and I had been missing 

“rejoicing” in my “personal freedom from sin” 

that God has provided to me through His Son Jesus Christ! 

I have been in effect “challenging” the very character of God 

by wanting to return to my slavery 

from which God has performed many miracles 

that provides “deliverance” from them. 

Once again 

God proved Himself and He has exposed my “lack of faith” 

which is a terrible character flaw for someone that is following Jesus!  

God has already done all that must be done for our salvation — 

so why do we still seek for more “signs” 

for God to prove that He IS GOD? 

I leave The JESUS Questions today with this Oswald Chambers quote

 from his JUNE 15 “Utmost” commentary and will let you see

 if it applies to you also ?!?!?!  

“In the matter of drudgery. Peter said in this passage that we 

have become partakers ‘of the divine nature’  and that we should 

now be ‘giving all diligence’, concentrating on forming 

godly habits (2 Peter 1:4-5) We are to ‘add’ to our lives 

all that character means. No one is born either 

naturally or supernaturally with character; 

it must be developed. (2 Peter 1:5)”

When I read that passage and realized it was written by the same Peter 

that had “challenged” Jesus to prove Himself 

and had actually had a very personal Lesson Taught to him 

after he got out of the boat, 

I wondered if I would have stepped out of the boat 

and if I did step out for Jesus, 

how many steps would I have taken 

before I fell back into my old character 

and sank beneath the waves of “doubt”

 only to have Jesus “prove Himself once again” 

and extend His Hand in Love 

in the midst of my doubt 

and build my character as only Jesus can?

 Each Lesson Jesus Teaches is to 

“build our character” 

which I am learning in my personal life 

that my “character” is proportional 

to my “Faith in Jesus” ——— 

have you been struggling with your character lately?   

MAY 15 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31)

 

MAY 15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”  

(Matthew 14:31)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord thank You for Your Mercy and Grace

 that regardless

 of our circumstances You Lord are Faithful

 and True to Your Holy Character. 

Lord I pray that as I finish my journey here on this earth 

that I will grow my character

 to be like Your Character 

in that how I treat others is based entirely 

on how I choose to demonstrate God in me 

and not how I let the circumstance 

and the actions of others dictate my reactions. 

Lord, I know that if I ask in Your Name and for the Kingdom’s Sake 

that it will be done according to my faith 

so therefore Lord I pray to be more like You 

and to treat others as You so graciously treat me! 

Forgive me of my selfishness and how I have reacted in a “worldly” manner

 to my circumstances, fill me with Your Holy Spirit and grant that when I am

 tested that I will hear Your voice saying

 “Come”.     

AMEN

 THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus takes us to a very personal level with this 2nd Question where He 

refers to His followers as “you of little faith”. 

We know that it is personal because when Jesus was walking on the water

 to meet up with His disciples in the middle of the sea, we read,

 “And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, 

they were troubled, saying, ‘It is a ghost!” 

and they cried out for fear. 

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 

‘Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.’”

 (Matthew 14:26-27) 

Clearly the disciples were not afraid of the “physical” dangers 

of the wind and the waves for Jesus had already demonstrated 

His Power over the “physical” in their previous boating experience in a storm 

but here His disciples are addressing the “spiritual” dangers as they declared: 

“It is a ghost” (and “ghosts” are “spirits” and do not appear in “physical” form). 

The disciples could not process the sight 

of a “physical” being “walking on the sea”

 so they succumbed to their fear of the “spiritual”. 

Jesus reacted to their fear “immediately” and assured them 

that they were seeing Jesus Himself and He commanded them 

“It is I; do not be afraid.” 

(Matthew 14:28). 

The circumstance then takes a personal turn 

because when Jesus spoke to the group, 

Peter then tested Jesus with a personal question,

 “Lord, if it is You…” 

but Jesus turned the Lesson personal and private 

with His one-word response to Peter 

“Come”. 

In Matthew 14:27 Jesus was talking to His disciples collectively 

as “them” and then in verse 28 we read

 “And Peter answered Him and said,

 ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come

 to You on the water.” 

[So Jesus said to Peter personally] 

‘Come’…” (Matthew 14:28-29) 

So the lesson went from the disciples as a group in verse 27 

to Peter individually in verse 28 

and also Jesus moved from calming the group fears

 to addressing and Teaching a personal Lesson to Peter 

with a one-word command addressed directly at Peter. 

It should be noted here that it was Peter that challenged Jesus

 but Jesus proved who He was 

by Teaching a very personal Lesson to Peter 

to be used as an example for all 

that would be so bold as to challenge Jesus 

as Jesus announces 

“It is I” 

while “walking on the sea” during a storm! 

I personally think that 

Peter is being used by God to Teach us that our “Faith” 

will grow as we put it to the “test”.  

Jesus used the challenge to “prove” 

that indeed He IS Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 

and that there is no circumstance nor challenge 

Jesus cannot immediately control and turn into a Lesson 

that will promote us “spiritually”

 and protect us “physically”! 

The “personal” aspect can be seen as Jesus listened to Peter 

and commanded Peter in the perfect way to answer 

the personal question Peter had just asked directly to Jesus 

and the personal response directed to Peter in reference 

to the personal challenge by Peter to the

 LORDSHIP of Jesus. 

This circumstance is totally personal because 

Jesus commanded Peter to do something personal ——— 

Jesus did not direct His response to the other disciples.

 Jesus was talking directly to Peter 

and addressing Peter’s personal challenge

 to His Lordship 

with a challenge of His own to Peter’s personal 

“faith” in the Lordship of Christ 

as Jesus simply commanded Peter to 

“Come” 

to Him. 

The Lesson we need to learn here is that Jesus 

is able to “save” us in any circumstance 

and that Jesus will personally make Himself available to us

 and will address every challenge we personally face for Jesus !   

The “Truth of God” and our “Faith in Him” will ALWAYS 

be proven to be well placed for 

JESUS is the Christ 

and can control every circumstance and will do so personally if necessary.

 We know the outcome will be good because Jesus 

“stretched out His hand and caught” 

Peter as he was sinking. 

JQ#15 takes on a different tone when we know it was asked as 

Jesus was “saving” Peter 

for Jesus addressed the Question to Peter personally: 

JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”  

(Matthew 14:31) 

which in the personal context 

Jesus is reassuring Peter 

that Jesus will never fail us and should never be “doubted”. 

 If we will simply have 

“Faith in Jesus” 

we can boldly and confidently proclaim

 “JESUS SAVES”. 

It isn’t easy to explain why God would send Jesus to “save us” 

even though we continually “doubt” Him 

but aren’t You glad that God is God 

regardless of how many times we challenge Him?