Dealing with Doubt and Fears

UV 3195/10000 Dealing with Both Doubt and Fears
But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid.
John 6 v 20
In three gospels, we have the account of Jesus walking on the water. In the gospel of Matthew, Peter attempts to walk towards Jesus on the water and begins to sink after a step or two. Jesus then held his hand and asked him, “ Why did you doubt?” We too can walk on water or attempt to do something difficult, risky or impossible. We may appear to sink and drown but the Lord is at hand. The presence of the Lord with us is sufficient to protect and preserve us from drowning in our troubles in the world.
As Jesus is with us, we need not be afraid of dying or drowning. We need not be afraid of anything. The key is not to doubt the identity of Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, not to doubt His power and willingness to save us in any perilous situation of our lives. Jesus tells us the reassuring words, “ It is I.” In these three short words, Jesus manifests Himself as the One who saves us from any and every situation. He is Alpha and the Omega. Once we have faith and trust in Jesus, no fear or worry or hopeless can ever imprison us.
In fluid situations, the Lord holds our hands and encourages us. He upholds and lifts us. There is no one else we can completely depend on in crisis situations. In place of our fears, He fills us with faith and courage. Doubt and fear are the two great barriers to our experiencing the saving power or the grace of God. Thomas doubted Jesus, Peter feared. We need to submit our every doubt and fear to the Holy Spirit who will then work to remove our doubts and fears. Jesus is confident He can help us handle our fears and doubts. Adam and Eve doubted the words of God and fell into sin. Having fallen into sin, they felt guilt and feared punishment. So they hid themselves from the presence of God. Jesus sets us free from our doubts and fears by coming to us at the moment of our doubt or crisis. His sudden appearance scared the disciples but His words re-assured them. We too can effectively deal with our fears and doubts by listening and believing in His words of assurance. This is the reason the word is described as the double edged sword of the spirit. One edge deals with doubts about who God is and the other deals with our doubts about what He can do- our fears.