St Matthew, Chapter 14, verses: 32 - 33, The Test of Heart: The Affirmation.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Peter walks on the water) Part 5.   

Peter was sinking into the water and doubt was taking over.  He had questioned.  He had wondered how.  He had opened the door for everything to came in, doubt, fear, anxiety, and darkness.  Christ had said to him, "Come."   And he got out of the boat and he was coming to Christ.  He was walking on water.  He was filled with excitement, joy, exhilaration.  He was walking on water.  But then he began to sink.  He began to fear.  He began to allow doubt to come in.  And he called to Christ for help.  Peter was a fisherman and his livelihood was made in and on the water.  So he was not afraid of water, he knew how to swim.  He knew how to tread water.  He knew how to survive on the water.  But he called to Christ to save him because he was sinking.   

What was the strange feeling of sinking when one has just experienced the feeling of walking on water?  The water was solid as the ground.  The water pushed back when Peter took a step.  The water was hard and firm as a rock.  But then the water become soft.  The water began to give way.  And Peter began to sink.  Why did he fear?  Why did he doubt?  Why did he open himself up to the questions of the flesh when his spirit and his heart were filled with joy?  He called to Christ for help and Christ reached out and lifted him up and together they walked back to the boat.  Together they walked on the water, back to the boat. 

Peter was broken.  He could not understand what had happened.   One moment he was walking on water and the next he was sinking as in quicksand.  You see, with the coming of doubt the water changed from solid to semisolid, like quicksand, and then back to the consistency of water.  It did not change from solid to water at once.  There was a gradual transition which made the sinking feel like quicksand and not like water.  And Peter did not know how to accept this transition.  So he called out to Christ for help.  And Christ admonished him that the doubt was the cause of his sinking.  The doubt opened the door to fear and with coming of fear the miracle stopped.   And when they got into the boat, the wind fell.

Peter was in shock.  His emotions and his feelings were in disarray.  He walked on water.  What a joy!  Then he sank as in quicksand.  He was high one moment and low the next.  He was in joy and ecstasy one minute and deep fear and doubt the next.  How do you experience such extremes?  And yet the miracle took place.  All, witnessed it.  The disciples in the boat were in ecstasy also.  What they witnessed happened before their eyes.  The waves were high and they came crashing into the boat.  The boat was filling with water, more water was coming in than they could bail out and they were afraid of drowning.  And then Christ came walking on the water.  They forgot about the water and watched in amazement as Peter walked on the water.  They also watched in fear as he begin to sink.  But Christ saved him.  And then they knew.  They experienced it within themselves.  No one could tell them otherwise.  They saw it, they believed it and they knew it.   This was the Messiah, this was the Son of God became man.  And they were with him.  They were before him.  They were in him and he was in them.   But  they who were in the boat came and worshipped saying, "Truly thou art the Son of God."
          
That was then, 2000 years ago, and this is now 2011.  Christ left the world and returned to his father and the world returned to itself.  For we are in the world and the world is in us.  From the time we are born the world takes over.  It tells us how to think, how to eat, how to act, how to live, how to love, how to enjoy, how to believe, how to fear, how to doubt, the world is in us and we become the world. 

The young ones grow up with the world in them.  They do not grow up with Christ.  Even though they receive the traditional upbringings in a church or a religious environment, most do not grow up with Christ in them and the knowledge of the Holy Spirit.  For the knowledge of Christ in not in them or in their parents and the joy and love of the Holy Spirit is unknown.  So they are swollowed up into the world and there they remain until they are called. 

Where does it all begin?  Can we look to our parents?  Are we the offspring of our parents, they are in the world and so are we?  Where does the cycle end?  Christ said, "Come!"  Christ opened the door.  Christ is our example and the Holy Spirit is our guide.  The disciples saw it and affirmed the truth.  When will we see it and know the truth.  The spirit awaits your awakening.  Open the door, say goodbye to the world and say hello to him.  Your miracle awaits!  It all starts with you.  Come receive the light of the Holy Spirit and know that he is with you!

St Matthew, Chapter 14, verse: 31, The Test of Heart: The Admonition from Christ.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Peter walks on the water) Part 4.  

The heart was elated.  The heart was filled with joy.  The heart was in Christ and Christ was in Peter.  For Peter walked on water.  There was no doubt in this fact.  It happened.  He experienced it within himself, within his heart, within his being, within his mind, within his soul.  And his heart was elated.  His heart was overjoyed.  But he allowed something to happen.  He allowed the world to come in.  He allowed the wind and the waves to change his heart.  He allowed what was happening around him to take the focus from his heart to his mind and the mind brought in the world.  How is this happening?  How am I walking on water?  How is the water supporting me that I can step as though I was on solid ground?  These and other questions came to mind and invaded the heart to push Christ out.  

The joy of the miracle was gone.  The elation of the heart was gone.  The light of the spirit left and in came doubt.  And with doubt the miracle faded and Peter began to sink in the water.  The more he allowed doubt to come the more he sank and with the sinking came fear.  He was loosing the power of the spirit.  He was experiencing the loss of faith in Christ.  For it was through Christ the the miracle began.  Christ said, "Come."  And Peter came.  Christ said walk on water and Peter walked on water.  Christ said behold all things are possible within me and the possibility of walking on water became true with Peter.  Yet just as the miracle happened, the miracle stopped happening when the heart stopped believing, the mind took over, and fear came in.   But seeing the wind was strong, he was afraid; and as he began to sink he cried out saying, "Lord, save me!"

It is hard to imagine something that we have not seen before.  It is difficult to believe in something that has not happened before.  For history has not recorded anything like man walking on water.  History has not given us any recollection of such happening that man can explain.  So we do not believe.  Our minds do not allow us to believe that such is possible.  And thus we maintain a sense of skepticism, a degree of doubt and disbelief.  If someone told us that we could be healed just by our belief in Christ, we would naturally doubt the assertion because there is little to no evidence of that fact.  It is not established in the world by facts that we can intelligently believe.  Yet it is this same doubt and disbelief that separates us from the opportunity to receive the healing powers of the spirit.   And Jesus at once stretched forth his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt? "

The kingdom of God is within our midst, if we believe.  The kingdom of heaven is upon us, if we open our hearts to the power of the spirit.  Christ told Peter to come.  Christ tells us today that we can, we are, and we will.  Do you believe?  Do you know?  Can you seek?  Will you find?  Will it be opened to you to see the power of Almighty God?  Imagine what Peter felt walking on the water!  Imagine what you will feel receiving your miracle!  The world will hold on to you.  The world will resist allowing you to make your transformation.  The world will tell you that you are loosing reality, that we are not sane.  The world will do everything to keep you from believing, but belief in Christ and his healing power requires that you let go of reality. 

Belief in Christ and the things that are possible through him requires that you leave reality and the world behind.  Belief in Christ requires that you take on a new reality in Christ and the kingdom of heaven.  Only through this transformation will you be able to step into the kingdom and look back upon the world as another place.  Come, experience the miracle of rebirth!  You are not of the world.  You are of the kingdom of heaven, only in the world to do the bidding of Christ, only to be his witness to the things that are.  Your treasures are in heaven and not of this world.  Discover the treasure in you and you will know the joy and peace of who you are.  The world does not want you to know.  The world wants to steal your treasure.  The world wants you to sleep and be deceived about who you are in Christ.  Peter was in Christ and Christ was in Peter as he walked on the water.  Imagine what miracles you will experience when Christ is in you and you are in Christ.  Faith is the belief in the desire to be one in Christ.  How strong is your desire?