The Danger of Doubt

(Mat 14:31 NIV)  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

This morning we continue our series, “Grace that is Simply Amazing” by continuing our mini-series entitled, “Grace Based Success (Prosperity)”.  We have been studying the life of the Apostle Peter.  Our study has brought us to Matthew 14.  For the past couple of weeks we have been looking at Peter’s famous walking on water incident.  Let’s go back to it today.

Peter was walking on water.  He was doing the impossible.  He was defying gravity.  He was flowing in the same vein Jesus was.  He was tapped in to divine power.  With every step he took he was not just walking on water, he was walking on the Word Jesus gave him, “Come”.  Peter’s confidence was in God.  He had no idea how he was doing it, because he was not the one doing it.  It was God, working through Peter, performing the supernatural in the earth.  

But then something happened.  Peter shifted his focus from Jesus and the Word, to what he was doing.  

Peter factored himself into the equation and once he started thinking about himself, he began to sink.  When Jesus pulled Peter out of the water He asked, “Why did you doubt?”.  This morning we will focus on “The Danger of Doubt”.

So what does this mean to you today?  A few things.

1.  Jesus gave us the root to Peter’s failure: he doubted.  While you are walking by faith, doubt will cause you to sink as well.

2.  What is doubt?  Noah Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language (1828), defines doubt as: A fluctuation of mind; an unsettled state of opinion; an uncertainty of condition; fear; apprehension.  Basically, doubt boils down to being uncertain, so we can see how detrimental this is to your faith.  Faith is about being sure and certain that God will do what He said He would do (Heb 11:1).  Therefore you cannot be in faith (sure and certain) and doubt (unsettled and uncertain) at the same time.

3.  Doubt leads to fear.  Doubt is the precursor of fear.  Once you doubt God, even for a moment, you open the door to fear.  Once Peter shifted his focus away from God and the Word he received from through Jesus, that split-second shift opened the door to doubt.  Doubt led to fear.  Fear cancelled out his faith.

4.  Fear cancels out faith and faith cancels out fear.  You cannot be in-fear and in-faith at the same time.

5.  Doubt and fear are the fruit, but unbelief is the root.  Peter believed God for a few seconds, and he was able to do the impossible during those few seconds, but he then shifted from belief to unbelief, and before he knew it he was sinking.

6.  The battle is in the mind.  There are constant thoughts running through your mind: thoughts from God, satan, and you.  You must sift your thoughts through the filter of faith (the Word of God), so you can know which thoughts to receive and which ones to reject (2 Cor 10:3-5).  If unchecked, the wrong thoughts will lead to failure.

7.  It is my desire that Today’s Word helps feed your faith and starve your doubts.  God wants to flood your mind with thoughts of victory and success.  He wants you to see yourself the way He sees you.

8.  Live your life as a believer and not a doubter.  Doubt will cause you to put a “No”, where God has put a “Yes!”

Closing Confession:   Father, I thank You for teaching me about Your grace and my requirement to live by faith.  In order to successfully live by faith and access Your grace, I must get to the point where my total confidence is in You.  I build up faith by studying Your Word daily.  Your Word helps me to feed my faith and starve my doubts.  I am a believer and not a doubter.  I walk by faith and not by fear.  I don’t have any confidence in the arm of the flesh.  My confidence is NOT in me, my power, my ability or my strength.  My confidence is in You, Your power, Your ability and Your strength.  Doubt is not okay.  Fear is not okay.  Unbelief is not okay.  Fear, doubt and unbelief have no place in my life.  Fear has no power over me.  I place my confidence IN YOU and I refuse to shift it back to me.  Since my confidence is ONLY IN YOU, then my confidence is strong, fearless and consistent.  I am not a doubter, my faith does not fail, and Your grace flows TO me and THROUGH me daily!  I declare this by faith.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.
This is Today’s Word!  Apply it and Prosper.