Keep your eyes on Jesus not the storm!

In Matthew 14 it talks about Jesus sending his disciples away in a boat, while he stayed behind to pray. At evening, vs. 24 "but the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary." vs. 25 "Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea." The disciples were afraid. vs. 27 "But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." Vs. 28 "And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." vs. 29, "So He said " come". And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus." Vs. 30 " But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord save me!" Vs. 31 "and immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" vs. 32 "And when they got into the boat the wind ceased."

Too many times people want to give Peter a hard time because they say he doubted and did not have enough faith to walk on the water, but he did "walk on the water". How many of us, have walked on water? It took faith just to get out of the boat. How many of us, has even got out of the boat? The thing I learned from Peter is this: when Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, as he got out of the boat, he could walk on water. When Peter put his eyes on the storm around him, he began to sink. This applys to us also. Storms of life will come and try to knock us down. That is life, we will have storms. It is how we deal with the storms of life, that makes a difference. If we keep our eyes on Jesus during the storm, then we won't be knocked down (we won't sink!). But if we keep our eyes on the storm (our problems) then we will be brought down with them (we will sink). A cool thing also is, if we do sink, Jesus will outstretch His hand and pick us up (vs. 31)

Bottom line: keep your eyes on Jesus (stay focused on Him), not the circumstances and problems around you.