Jr. Tree of Life
Fear and the Faith-Rest-Drill – Part 1
2/16/2020
“Jesus Walks on the Water” –
Promises from God
‘Do not fear, for I am with you;” Isaiah 41:10a
“For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:37
Before you begin this Bible study, If you have never believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, John 3:16 tells us: “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.’ Simply have faith that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and you will have eternal life and be saved. If you have believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior; then 1 John 1:9 tells us; “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Simply privately tell God the Father your sins to be filled with God the Holy Spirit and He will teach you Bible truth. (Rebound)
Our story today takes place in the period of time known as the Hypostatic Union. This is when our Savior, Jesus Christ walked on earth with us before He died on the cross for our sins. Today, we live in the Church Age and we have The Word of God, a completed Bible, that is filled with Divine Truth for us to learn. Jesus had close friends who were learning to trust Him, called disciples. The disciples went out in their boat to fish while Jesus went and prayed in the mountains. The disciples rowed the boat out on the water, about 3-4 miles. Suddenly, it became dark, windy and waves were even crashing against their boat.
Unexpectedly, Jesus decided it was time to go for a stroll. You might be thinking, this wasn’t really the best time for a walk, but Jesus was about to perform another miracle. Jesus was able to walk on top of the water despite the darkness and the bad weather. When the disciples saw Him coming; they were so frightened that they thought they were seeing a ghost. Immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying “Take courage, it is I (Jesus); do not be afraid.” Matthew 14:27.
‘Do not fear, for I am with you;” Isaiah 41:10a
Peter, one of the most outspoken of the disciples, that loved Jesus very much, decided he also wanted to walk on the water. Jesus was ok with this and even wanted him to do it. Can you imagine the courage Peter must have had? It must have been tricky to climb out of the swaying boat, but he stepped out and started walking on the water. Peter had his eyes upon Jesus; not on the powerful wind and the swirling waves which were all around him possibly creating a problem. Peter knew that Jesus would help him, because earlier that day, Jesus had performed a miracle and fed over 5000 men, including woman and children with only 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. There is nothing too hard for God to do. He is more powerful than a rocket blasting into space.
Even though Jesus was standing on the water near Peter, Peter was suddenly terrified and began to sink! He cried out “Lord save me”! Immediately, Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:31.
Peter wasn’t focused on Jesus nor trusting Him anymore! At this point, a thought maybe crossing your minds … “Why was Peter so afraid?”. Jesus was right there, in his presence … we can all be dumb sheep too, just like Peter … baa…baa. When Peter was afraid and started sinking, Jesus reached out a helping hand to him. Jesus never got angry at Peter for making a mistake of letting fear overtake his thoughts. God always forgives us, every time we make mistakes.
“ For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:37
When Peter and Jesus got back into the boat, the wind had stopped. Peter and all the disciples believed that Jesus was God’s Son. The Lord Jesus Christ is both: 100% man and 100% God. Sometimes it is hard to think about God when we are afraid or worried, we only think about the problem. So, here is “Why”…
Peter was a fantastic swimmer, but Peter did not even think of trying to swim! Fear paralyzes us! God always gives us a Bible message or promise to focus on. Then we get to take a test to see if we will trust Him or be afraid. When we are afraid and fail the test, we need to confess the fear to God the Father privately inside our minds. We do this through praying, and it is called rebound. We then need to recover by using the Faith-Rest Drill or else we will continue to be scared every few minutes and miss out on all of the fun things God has planned for us.
Every day situations come up that may scare us. It might be a loud thunderstorm, a tough math test, seeing a snake in the yard, a bad dream or being afraid to make friends with people. God is faithful to forgive us and give us rest to comfort the situation, then we can trust God and get our eyes re-focused on Him.
Below is an example of the Faith-Rest-Drill, which is what we use, after we rebound to recover.
Faith-Rest-Drill
1. Remember a promise from God: In today’s lesson, the promise is:
‘Do not fear, for I am with you;” Isaiah 41:10a “For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:37
2. Think of a reason to trust God with your problem: Today’s lesson, God is always with us and He is powerful.
God will take care of whatever we are afraid of because He never leaves our side is more powerful than a rocket blasting into space. Jesus walked on water and was able to keep Peter from drowning. There is nothing too hard for God, He can anything!
3. Relax: God is more powerful than a rocket blasting into space; He will rescue you from what you are afraid of, just like He rescued Peter. Trust Him, relax and don’t miss out on all the fun things God has planned for you every day.