What puts fear in you?<\/p>\n
For me, it is things or situations that I am not in control of. Computers? Not a problem, I can strip them down, repair them or rebuild them. Cars? Ooohh, fear, doom, calamity – all because I am not in control of the mechanics, because I don’t know how to fix them.<\/p>\n
Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” Peter walked on the water and a real step of faith turned into a walk with God! If ever there were a miracle that would make you think, “I can do all things,” this has to be it!\u00a0 But it is short-lived because, when he saw the wind, fear raised its ugly head, and then he started to sink. It all started to go wrong, he lost control. But the thing is that he wasn’t in control in the first place!<\/p>\n We know that God is the God of miracles, and we might well get involved in them, but then we take our eyes off Jesus, see the things of this world – the distractions, the worries, the storms, the negative bits – and we worry about them. In fact, we give them<\/em> more power than we allow God to have! We see these storms as bigger than the Lord!<\/p>\n Why? Why do we see the power of earthly things, the power of people, the power of sickness, fear, failure, disapproval, to be greater than God, greater than the Holy Spirit, greater than Jesus, greater than all Three in One? Are we mad? Small wonder that Jesus says, “You have so little faith!”<\/p>\n I just do not see <\/em>the power of God over all these things. I don’t really know <\/em>it deep inside. I have to admit that I have “so little faith” in the One who made the very world I live in! Yet I will glibly say that the one who is in me is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4) It just rolls off my tongue, falls at my feet and falls into the water that I am just about to sink in – the water that I can<\/em> walk on.<\/p>\n There are so many distractions, so many things that I give power to. It may be the storms of life, or the people around me. Either way, they bring failure – that sinking feeling!<\/p>\n Why do I doubt Jesus? I have to get my eyes off the surroundings and set them firmly on him. He is bigger than everything else, and if I look at him I shall see that! I have to be brave and courageous, knowing that in him I have the strength and in him I have the victory. I really have to believe that he is greater than the one who is in the world. I have to know that I can do everything<\/em> through him! Yes, sometimes I might lose my footing, but look at what Jesus did for Peter in v31 – he <\/span>immediately reached out and grabbed him. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Even when I fail, I cannot fail!<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What puts fear in you?<\/p>\n For me, it is things or situations that I am not in control of. Computers? Not a problem, I can strip them down, repair them or rebuild them. Cars? Ooohh, fear, doom, calamity – all because I am not in control of the mechanics, because I don’t know how to fix them. <\/p>\n Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”
29 “Yes, come,” Jesus said.
So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.
31 Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”<\/strong> (Matt 14:28-31, NLT)<\/p>\n
\n29 “Yes, come,” Jesus said.
\nSo Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.
\n31 Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3,17,413,34,35,38,48,53,67,75,77],"class_list":["post-1637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","tag-bibleblogs","tag-christ","tag-christian","tag-father","tag-fear","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-life","tag-sea","tag-trouble","tag-worry","category-5","description-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfWaLo-qp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1865,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/11\/can-i-help-mr-cameron\/","url_meta":{"origin":1637,"position":0},"title":"Can I help, Mr Cameron?","author":"Robert Pender","date":"28\/11\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I was interested to read that Prime Minister, Mr Cameron, is going to spend \u00c2\u00a32million on measuring the happiness of the British people. Happiness, according to the dictionary is a state of well being and contentment. I do not see a lot of contentment in the society in which we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4531,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2019\/05\/a-shadow-of-my-future-self\/","url_meta":{"origin":1637,"position":1},"title":"A shadow of my future self","author":"Robert Pender","date":"01\/05\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_single_image image=\"4532\" img_size=\"full\"][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_column_text css=\"\"]Many years ago I had a very sore back. It would come and go every few months. First one side would hurt and, just as it was getting better, then the other side would start to hurt. I have a very vivid memory of John\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7131,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/10\/7-the-big-sea\/","url_meta":{"origin":1637,"position":2},"title":"7 – The Big Sea","author":"Robert Pender","date":"27\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7132\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]For most of the first 20 years of my life I lived next to the Clyde, a beautiful river with stunning scenery around it. Where I was, the river was very wide and was for most of the time calm. Occasionally the wind would get up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7117,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/10\/6-yesterdays-tomorrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":1637,"position":3},"title":"6 – Yesterday’s Tomorrow","author":"Robert Pender","date":"18\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7118\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\" css_animation=\"zoomInLeft\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I spent a lot of time thinking about the title of today's episode - Tears for Fears, Yesterday, Perfect Day, Tomorrow Never Comes, All Our Yesterdays - and a couple of dozen others that I can't remember for the life of me. Maybe I can't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7454,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2023\/09\/25-believe-it-or-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":1637,"position":4},"title":"25 – Believe it or not","author":"Robert Pender","date":"01\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7463\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Believe it or not, it is exactly one year ago today that I contacted the GP surgery with my current condition. Believe it or not, I thought I had an infection. If you read my blog from the start of this series, you will find that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7389,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2023\/05\/to-buy-or-not-to-buy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1637,"position":5},"title":"21 – To buy or not to buy","author":"Robert Pender","date":"07\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7390\" img_size=\"large\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\" css_animation=\"slideInLeft\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=\"\"]To buy or not to buy, that is the question. But before we get to the answer, it would be a good idea to let you now how I actually got to the question. The last few weeks have had a few problems laced\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}