LOOKING UNTO JESUS (PART 2)
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;" (Heb 12:2)
The Lord Jesus can be said to be our Conveyor Belt into the realm of the miraculous. Any time you wish to experience the miraculous in your life, involve Jesus, meet with Jesus, invite Jesus! Looking unto Him becomes the means for unfettered access, one that is laden with power, to experience the miraculous. Let's consider Peter's case for a while.
The Bible says that Peter, on seeing Jesus come unto the disciples walking on water, and in order to verify if indeed it was Him, specifically asked that the Lord should bid him to walk to Him on water! This is trust at its finest!
I want to emphasize here that the desire to walk on water was that of Peter. In other words, it was Peter's request to walk on water to meet the Lord, to prove the point that Jesus was the One coming unto them on water.
"And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, ... And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, BID ME COME UNTO THEE ON WATER. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus." (Matt 14:26-29; emphasis, mine).
Obviously, this was a stupendous and a stunning miracle to Peter and of course, to the other disciples in the ship. It did not only glorify Jesus, but it proved that whatever works He did, we also as believers could do (Jn 14:12). But the devil wasn't happy with what Peter did! He had to look for the means to truncate or to stop the miracle. In the same vein, don't expect satan to be happy with your exploits in the faith.
But how do I know that satan was not happy with Peter's miracle of walking on water? He worked on Peter's senses, especially the sense of sight. Refuse to walk by sight, dear child of God! (2 Cor 5:7).
The devil succeeded in creating fear in Peter by diverting his focus from Jesus unto the boisterous wind. It was an unfortunate radical change from faith to the sense of sight.
"But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, ..." (Matt 14:30).
It's worthy of note that Peter had no reason to be afraid of the circumstances of the wind because even before he walked on water, the storm or the boisterous wind had existed (Matt 14:24). Despite that it was there, and in the face of it, Peter requested of Jesus to walk on water. Jesus bade him and he did! So, what was Peter's problem? According to the Grk rendering of Heb 12:2, Peter had no business looking at the boisterous wind. It says "looking away unto". He ought rather, to have looked away from the wind unto Jesus.
The obvious lessons for us here are following:
1) that through Jesus, we can function powerfully in the realm of the miraculous. Peter requested from Jesus to walk on water and by His command, he did.
2) that Jesus enabled Peter to do exactly as he did, walking on water. We remember that the Lord was to say later that we would do the works He did, even greater works (Jn 14:12)
3) that in the midst of opposition from the circumstances of life, we can still function tremendously in the realm of the miraculous, if we choose to.
4) that every Word of God to us is intrinsically laden with its miracle if only we act on it. Peter acted on Jesus' Word to him saying, "come" and he went on water to meet the Lord (Matt 14:29)
5) You may activate a miracle in your life by the simple act of obedience to God's Word, but you never make the mistake to remove your focus from Jesus thereafter. Actually, you should learn to look away from your challenges of life, unto Jesus. Peter took his gaze from Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of the miracle, unto the boisterous wind and he began to sink.
As long as Peter was staring at Jesus, his feet stayed on the water's surface; but the moment he looked at the boisterous wind, he began to sink. Today, the way to maintain our look or focus on the Lord is by keeping our mind in the Word (Isa 26:3). We cannot trust our sight, reason, or knowledge to steer us through the storms of life; but only by looking unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith.
PRAYER:
May we not sink as we dare to place our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus. I pray that in spite of debilitating circumstances of life, we would continue to look unto Him that is the Author and the Finisher of our faith, in Jesus name.