The Word To Live By: 1-13-26
Phil Waggoner
Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Mark 11:23
The Word To Live By: We’ve talked about the steps of faith; now I want to talk about things that will stunt your faith and, in some cases, derail it. We talk about the importance of your confession and how changing it will make your faith work, but the words of your mouth can also stop your faith. I’ll let that rest for a while and hit some other things, the first being doubting in your heart. In Mathew 14, we have the story of Peter walking on the water. Peter’s faith in the word of Jesus, “Come,” allowed him to get out of a sinking boat and walk on the water. (His belief caused action.) But instead of keeping his focus on Jesus, his focus shifted to what was going on around him and he began to sink. Jesus reached out and grabbed him and walked with him back to the boat. (Maybe Jesus picked him up and carried him; the Bible doesn’t really say but seems to indicate they walked back to the boat.) Then Jesus said to him “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Peter’s faith was working until he began to sink. I’ve personally seen this happen in my life - not when I was walking on water, but in the middle of an impossible situation, trusting God, and things got worse before they got better. And that’s scriptural. Where does your faith come from? The Word of God. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” Romans 10:17. If you read the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8, you will see that the devil comes through tests, trials, and tribulations to steal the Word from your heart. In other words, when you step out in faith, the devil is going to turn up the heat if he can. It wouldn’t surprise me if we could go back in time and listen to the weather report from that night on the Sea of Galilee, it would sound something like this. “Last night, on the Sea of Galilee, a boat-sinking storm arose around three in the morning with wind gusts up to 60 MPH and seven-foot waves. Then at about 3:30 AM, it abruptly stopped. However, just before it stopped, the winds increased to 100 MPH and the waves were up to ten feet tall. There were sightings of ghosts, with one person jumping out of the boat and walking towards the ghost. This reporter very much doubts that.” Doubt is a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction. The answer to overcoming these feelings is meditating on the promise of God you are standing on. See yourself walking through the storm. Use wisdom and determination to walk by faith and not by sight.
Read through the Bible in a year: Luke 11:29-54; Genesis 20; Psalms 13;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 13, Matthew 7:1-15, Acts 13:
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160