Little or Great Faith

**fennywest** Thu 02 Feb 2012, 2:50 pm

Jesus Walks on the Sea

22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea,[a] tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,[b] he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

Matthew 14:22-32)
New King James Version (NKJV
What are the lessons for us?
1. ‘Peter did the impossible thing: he walked on water, by faith.
2. Next, Peter did the conceivable thing: he saw the storm and had a second thought- doubted. For a moment He lost sight of Jesus. He have turned and started back to the boat. (Luke 9:62)
3. Now Peter did the natural thing: he feared destruction. Doubt always breeds fear.
4. Then Peter did the expected thing: he began to sink- he failed.
5. Now Peter did right thing: he prayed, “Lord, save me.” Immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand and caught him. Once more Peter made contact with Jesus by faith.
6. Peter again did the impossible thing: he walked on water with Jesus, to the boat.

'In this lesson, we see the success and failure of “little faith.”
Now let us recap the steps that led to failure. Peter started by faith, and walked on the water. Then he saw the storm, and had second thought that led to doubt, that produced fear, that caused him to turn back, that brought about failure.
You need a faith that is bigger than the elements that would drag you down to defeat. you can have big faith by “ prayer and fasting “( Matt17:20,21) and by feeding your faith on the word of God Rom.10:17) You can have mountain-moving faith. ‘
The Open Bible edition notes on Little faith.