I cannot tell you or even make you understand what has occurred or taken place over the last two weeks of my life. I started this awesome discipleship program at my church that teaches women how to become better disciples of Christ and the importance of truly committing their lives to Christ. Well, let’s just say that when you decide and I mean truly decide to pursue Christ and all He has for you, the enemy will try all his best tricks to get you to quit. When you decide that mediocre is not what you want anymore and that you want Christ to be at the center, believe me, you will get attacked like never before. Hence the title “In the Midst of the Storm” because that’s where you’ll be. You’ll be in the midst of spiritual warfare but not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path.
There is one story in the Bible that is starting to become my favorite, the more I read it the more I gain from it.
It’s the story of Peter walking on water and it’s found in Matthew 14:22-33. I know some of you may be thinking, well if it wasn’t for Jesus walking on water first then Peter wouldn’t have been able to do it. And you’re right, but don’t miss the point of the story; the disciples were sent ahead by Jesus and they were in the midst of a storm when they noticed a figure walking, at first they were scared thinking it was a ghost but it wasn’t until Jesus reassured them it was Him that Peter even thought to get out of the boat and walk towards Him. Sometimes we’re not willing to take the first step until we know for sure it’s Jesus we’re walking towards. Peter asked, “Lord if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” (Matthew 14:28) For me, reading this showed me that it didn’t matter what was going on around Peter or who was talking to Him; his focus was on Christ and that’s all that mattered.
The next few verses that follow are where we can relate, because it happens to us all the time.
Peter started walking towards Christ but then he noticed how boisterous the Bible describes the winds were and began to sink. A lot of times we start off good, we focus on Christ and start walking towards Him but as soon as we noticed what’s going on around us we begin to sink and cry out for the Lord to save us. Jesus asked Peter in Matthew 14:31 “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Why is it that we start off doing good with keeping our eyes focused on Christ, but as soon as the winds and waves start picking up we take our eyes off of Him and sink? The moment we do that it is as if we take away our faith in Him.
Now that you know the importance of keeping your eyes on Christ, I’ll leave you with this; take some time to read Matthew 14:22-33 and read it in different versions to get a full understanding of how you should never worry nor focus on what’s going on around you.
That will help you keep him as the center focus.
Will we go through storms in life? Absolutely! But if we keep our eyes and faith fixed on Christ it won’t matter what is going on around us; we will keep on walking towards Him gaining a better understanding of Him as well as get closer to Him.
About the Author
Mika Washington is a 31-year-old journal writing enthusiast, who just decided to go for it. Journaling has been something she has always enjoyed. She says it helped get her through a lot in life and still does. Mika says just decided to write out loud and allow others to hear her thoughts because she was Created to Inspire!”
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November 12, 2018