MAY 12 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31)

 

MAY 12  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

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

(Matthew 14:31)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, it is overwhelming to think that each day You are right there

 waiting for my prayers! There is no time during the day that You are so

 busy that we must wait to get a moment alone with You,

 and never have I called on Your Name that You 

didn’t stop and give me Your full attention. 

Lord Jesus, help me to understand that You are God Almighty, All Powerful, 

and can do anything and everything You desire, yet with all Your Power You 

still spend Your Precious time to be with me personally! Lord, may I never

 take for granted this extreme privilege of praying to the Creator and 

KNOWING THAT YOU HEAR ME! 

Lord Jesus, forgive me of my shortcomings and cleanse me eternally 

of my iniquities that I may be One with the Holy Trinity!     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus always used the events of His daily Life to Teach us Lessons to 

apply to our day-to-day lives. The events surrounding this particular Lesson 

addressed by JQ#15 are in themselves some great insights into the

 Character of God

 as we have seen many 

miracles from Jesus performed by the Power of God 

directed towards “healing” 

and each miracle Jesus has performed 

by the Power of God’s Holy Spirit 

reveals the Plan of Salvation

 that has been working in the world even before the sun and moon 

were made and hung in place on Day 4 of The Creation. 

This event recorded in Matthew 14:22-33 occurred just after Jesus

 had fed “the multitudes” and is one of those “Divine” events 

that Jesus uses to Teach us about ourselves and this Lesson reveals a 

deep “spiritual” Truth 

of our very own souls!

 

If we will only recognize that Jesus is God 

and that only through exercising the Power of God 

can the Miracles of God be accomplished in our lives 

and the Lessons of Truth can be learned ——— 

and only through us letting Jesus lead us 

can we hope to be all that God has planned for us! 

God only wants good things for us and He desires that we have a

 “hope and a future” but our “hope” and our “future” must be centered

 around God and the “kingdom of heaven” and we, like Jesus, should

 be living our daily lives centered in the 

Will of the Father and doing 

“kingdom work”. 

Please note that the timing of this Divine Event happened just after Jesus was 

(E1) rejected by His “own”, 

(E2) learned of the beheading of His “forerunner” John the Baptist, and 

(E3) Jesus, while seeking solitude, had shown “compassion” to the 

multitudes by the miracle feeding of 

“…about five thousand men, besides women and children…” 

with “…only five loves and two fish…”. 

We read, 

“Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat 

and go before Him to the other side…” 

(Matthew 14:22) 

It is important that we notice that the miracle feeding of the “five thousand” 

was a “team effort” on the part of Jesus, His disciples, and our Father in heaven

 as we note three verses where Jesus is “delegating” kingdom work to the disciples: 

(KW1) 

“But Jesus said to [His disciples], ‘[The multitudes] do not need

 to go away. You give them something to eat.’” 

(Matthew 14:16) then 

(KW2) 

“[Jesus] said (to His disciples after they had found the 

five loaves and two fishes), ‘Bring them here to Me’” 

(Matthew 14:18) and 

(KW3) 

then after Jesus commanded His disciples to tell the multitudes to 

“sit down on the grass” that Jesus “took the five loaves and the two fish,

 and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves

 to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.” 

(Matthew 14:19) 

It is to be noted that the efforts of the disciples following the command of Jesus

 in this miracle resulted in Matthew writing, 

“So [the multitudes] all ate and were filled, 

and they took up twelve baskets

 full of the fragments that remained.” 

(Matthew 14:20) 

Once we note that Jesus is involving His disciples in ministering to the multitudes,

 we can better understand why 

“immediately Jesus made His disciples

 get into the boat and go before Him…” !

 By His actions, Jesus is setting the precedent of 

“setting His disciples aside” for the “kingdom work” 

of ministering to the “multitudes”. 

Let’s keep in mind that Jesus is ALWAYS Teaching and this boat trip 

where Jesus commanded His disciples to 

“go before Him to the other side”

 will not be any different. The last time His disciples made a trip by boat, 

Jesus had been asleep in the back of the boat and when a great storm 

had come upon His disciples and during that voyage they thought they

 were going to perish so they awoke Jesus and Jesus asked: 

JQ#7 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” 

(Matthew 8:26). 

In this passage in JQ#15 we read that 

“…the boat was now in the middle of the sea,

 tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary…” 

(Matthew 14:24)

 — so now His disciples after having seen Jesus perform several miracles,

 and after having participated personally in “kingdom work” of the miracle

 feeding of five thousand — the disciples of Jesus find themselves 

once again in a boat in the middle of a storm! 

But this time Jesus is not with them (or is He?)! 

Jesus is continually moving us forward but He also stops and 

Jesus has us take personal inventory 

of our “spiritual progress” 

as a Spiritual Lesson in “building our faith”. 

Do you ever find yourself thinking you have made progress on your journey 

but just that quickly you find yourself in another storm and 

“[crying] out for fear…” Matthew 14:26) ? 

The “storm” is the perfect time for you to stop and ask yourself,

 “Have I built my faith on the Solid Rock 

of the Kingdom of Heaven and Faith in God 

or am I going to sink in the sifting sands of the world?” 

MAY 11 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31)

 

MAY 11  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

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

(Matthew 14:31)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS Precious Jesus —“Thank You, You took my sins away, 

and I want to Praise You for all that You’ve done, 

so this is the prayer that I pray — 

please help me Lord to give of myself 

and to share with my fellow man, 

for You have said that there’s no greater love 

than to give your life for a friend, 

for all the souls lost, You died on a cross, 

You gave and You gave some more, 

so that sinners like me might truly be free, 

Your death opens life’s door!” 

(From a song given to me while in the “SPIRIT”

 in the late 1980s that I still sing/pray today.)     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Teaches His Questions with “Reason” and “Emotion”. When we

 look at the “Reason” behind our answer to His Question, Jesus points out

 the Truth behind our “Choice” and the “Emotion” that is the “Consequence”

 of our “Choice” and the “Reason” why we made our “Choice”!  

When I first read these words in 

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

 (Matthew 14:31) 

many years ago when I had first embarked on my journey to God, 

I imagined seeing Jesus saying these words to me and shaking His head 

and I imagined that I heard a tone in His voice 

that caused me to feel shame!? 

Now many years later as I read those same words 

and look back on how I felt about Jesus in general

 at the beginning of my journey, 

I realize I did not “know” Him. 

All I could imagine before I 

“knew” Jesus 

was what I had seen from the world and from worldly men 

and I knew that I was guilty 

because indeed my faith was “small” at best 

and was close to nonexistent — 

so when I read Matthew 14:31 

I can actually still feel the shame and hear a “rebuke” 

for that was what my life was like, 

I was “guilty” and was “full of doubt” 

and all I had heard from the world was “rebuke”!

 As I have been “walking” with Jesus for several years now, 

and I have been learning to “know” Jesus and 

“understanding”

 that Jesus “knows” me but Loves me anyway, 

when I read Matthew 14:31 now I don’t feel “guilt” 

and I no longer hear a “rebuke”. 

What I hear at this point in my journey 

is a soft encouraging Voice 

full of compassion for my weakness 

and what I feel is a Loving Savior 

gently putting His hand under my chin and lifting my head up

 so that I can look into His smiling face and He says sweetly to me, 

“Hold your head up, ‘O you of little faith…’” 

and then He assures me, 

“I will never leave you nor forsake you…” 

(Deuteronomy 31:6) 

and then with calm assurance in His Voice 

He looks deep into my soul and says 

“your doubt will disappear 

when You trust me with all your heart.” 

I do not feel shame nor rebuke, I now know that I am 

“forgiven and loved” 

and that is a long way to come on any journey but it is well worth the trip! 

What do you feel when you read this statement Jesus made in Matthew? 

It is a great barometer on the state of your “spiritual” life and it is worth

 “understanding” 

just exactly what Jesus is saying to you and wanting you to feel 

in your soul as He speaks these words to you. 

The original words were spoken 

in a very unusual situation and volumes could be written about the story 

that unfolded when Jesus spoke those original words to Peter. 

The story and the words make more sense if we look

 at the things that Jesus had

 Taught and done just prior to speaking these words to Peter 

so let’s look at the events leading up to this Question Jesus posed to Peter

 and we will better understand the “tone” that Jesus was using. 

Jesus had just been rejected as He had tried to Teach in 

“His own country” (Matthew 13:57) 

and then Matthew writes about John the Baptist 

who had proclaimed when he saw Jesus, 

“Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” 

(John 1:29) 

and Matthew documents that John the Baptist had been beheaded and

 “When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat 

to a deserted place by Himself.” 

(Matthew 14:13a) 

We can feel Jesus wanting to be alone for He had been

 “rejected” by His “own” and now He has received news that

 John the Baptist who had proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah

 had been beheaded for teaching 

God’s Truth 

and we can sense Jesus is “dejected” ——— 

“But when the multitudes heard it, 

they followed Him on foot from the cities, 

and when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; 

and He was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick.” 

(Matthew 14:13b-14)  

What a great example Jesus lived for us so that in times 

when we feel “rejected and dejected” 

that we should learn the Lesson 

that the best way to help ourselves 

is to show “compassion” to others. 

Right after that event we then see Jesus feeding 

“about five thousand men, besides women and children” 

and He did it with 

“Five loaves and two fish” (Matthew 14:15-21) 

So when we look at these events and how Jesus reacted to them

 we can be greatly encouraged that we too can face these problems 

that come into everyone’s life at some time or another, 

or do you think that the best way to take care of “despair” 

is to “pout” your cares away?