MAY 15 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#15-08 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

MAY 15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#15-08  >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”  (Matthew 14:31)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

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

MAY 15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#15-08  >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#15 “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”  (Matthew 14:31)  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” 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 a 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. It was Jesus talking to Peter and addressing the 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?