WHY WHOULD A LION ENJOY GULPING BLOOD

 WHY WHOULD A LION ENJOY GULPING BLOOD 

Tackling Doubt, The Chief Strategy Of Darkness

𝒟𝒶𝓎𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇 𝒥𝒞𝐻𝑀 

 

Matthew 14:25-33 |NLT narrates this interesting account of Peter walking on water by way of emulating the Master until doubt set in,

      — “About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”

          Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.

           Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “WHY DID YOU DOUBT ME?”When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed”. 

This passage of scripture is so interesting and intriguing — here we're told the other disciples of Jesus were terrified by the sight of one walking on water at 3am, I really don't blame them for being terrified because perhaps they hadn't seen or heard that happen before — but then there's something amazing we can learn from their response, when they exclaimed “It’s a ghost!”. 

They quickly attributed the art of walking on water to ghosts, thus spirits, and in the book of John, Jesus also stated that His words are actually spirits that supply life, 

   — John 6:63 |NKJV narrates, Jesus said “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” 

 

If Words are truly spirits, which is also synonymous to saying they're ghosts (though this is now an obsolete form of communication) — it would mean that the words we speak put us on top of situations, so we don't sink like a coin lost in the world's 1.35 billion cubic kilometres of oceanic water — words will cause us to prevail in any situation, with our heads floating above the waters (pressures and challenges) of this world and its mundane life, always! 

My dear, Christ is a higher ground, our solid rock and foundation on which to stand, insurmountable to the forces that overwhelm this world, a rock that cannot be submerged by another great deluge of pain and regret like it was with the Noachian flood. 

Back to the theme of our discussion, what interests me most is the fact that Peter actually walked on water before he began to sink, yes He did, and that's enough to be joyful of — it proves positive that God's word actually works — one minister of the gospel, Rev. Dr. Chris Oyakhilome puts it in this wise, he says of the word that, “if it didn't work, it's because you didn't know how to work it” — Peter walked on water before he began to sink, his steadfastness in the words of Jesus "to come" was shaken by the boisterous winds and tall waves. 

I've heard lots of people recount of how steadfast they were in faith (God's word) at new birth, where they believed anything is possible as proselytes, only to later find out that the purity of their faith and full dependence on God's word is not as it were before. 

Most have wondered what might have gone wrong, the answer is simple, doubt set it, distraction from the cares of life stepped in and choked the word from taking further roots.

They became more calculative with secularism, upholding science above the words of the creator, and meddling in knowledge that demeans the orthodoxy of scripture, thereby denying in themselves the full authority they once recognised and enjoyed in scripture,

      — verse 31 from The Passion Translation (TPT) paraphrased says “Jesus immediately stretched out his hand and lifted him up and said, “What little faith (Word) you have! WHY WOULD YOU LET DOUBT WIN ?”

Why do we let doubt win as children of God, why? — why do we let the ideas of this world win our soul (mind, will and emotions) at the expense of God's word — why do we cheat ourselves when the victory of Christ is right where we needed it to be, thus in our heart and in our mouth, which is the word of faith (Romans 10:8), 

       — and instead of escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust (II Peter 1:4), we rather yield to the destructive elements of doubts, only to unfairly blame the word for not working out, whereas we decided to veil what it does best, which is to work us out in any form of situation. 

The term doubt is from the Greek word “distazō”, which is to mean “to duplicate, that is, to mentally waver in opinion” — interestingly, the word opinion is a synonym for the Greek word “doxa” which means glory — joining these two schools of thought, we come to a firm resolve that a man's expression of Glory is directly depended on the opinions he or she accepts, whatever it's that of God's of man. 

Also, we come to understand that doubt also means “to duplicate” — which extensively means to duplicate an information, or to create a counterfeit of the original — and we see this reality at play in Genesis, where God told man out of love not to partake of the fruit in the midst of the garden. 

The enemy (through a serpent) crept into the garden with his subtle art of deception — blatantly speaking lies but coated with pleasant words — man was already of the God-kind, yet the deceiver came to tell man that they will be like God if they partook of the fruit — this right here is a duplicate of something God already said, a seed of doubt, only that this time, it was well counterfeited with a diabolic intent. 

When the enemy said to man, “you will be like God”, he wasn't referring to God above, he was referring to man becoming like himself, he was simply saying “you will be like me”, the fallen god of this world — because he (satan) once wanted to be "like God", it was a campaign for himself and his fallen kingdom, he was and still is an ardent soul winner who will not give up on his project until it's worse, because worse is the good of his kingdom. 

The same who once organised an insurrection to usurp and be "like God", applied the same trick in a garden and won man's soul — hence it wasn't even a half truth spoken to man, his words were fully abominable, it came right from himself, he was the language he spoke, with his nature (as the father of lies) being the meaning of his words. 

This is why grammar, arrangement of words, semantics and nomenclature can be used to damage you if you don't know the Word for yourself — he'll sweep you off your feet with the art of language and syntax, speaking yet seeming as though he didn't mean to say it — God's word is true grammar, the very thoughts and opinions of God concerning any situation, never forget this. 

Now the Bible warns us not to be ignorant of the devices of the enemy, which is to mean his mind games, where he takes you on a journey through intellectualism beyond the terrains of God's word, here you can be exposed to sensualism and deceit, 

      — right there in Genesis man was deceived with language, and that was the inception of science, “did God really say”, the fraternity of knowledge that questions the absolutism of God and His Word

We come to understand in details what can happen to man if what he knows is taken away and replaced with lies and pseudoscience — doubt is rooted in duplicate ideas, and the paradox of truth, which is lies. 

Back to the theme of our discussion, we're told, 

    — Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith (Word of truth as an anchor),” Jesus said. “WHY DID YOU DOUBT ME? 

Here Peter called on Jesus and immediately He was separated from destruction, not later, it occurred suddenly and immediately because the word of God [according to Hebrews 4:12] is quick and active — God's word doesn't delay, it happens on time, but not your time, it only responds to the calendar to which it's been assigned, which is the word of God. 

This is why speaking in other tongues is so crucial and important, in that it helps you to run on God's calendar with ease, and that's how the unexpected begins to happen around you — because your spirit is now in sync with the clock of divinity, bringing to pass his will and purposes right on time, providing and producing immediate results. 

Take a closer look at what Jesus said, the verse tells us, Jesus said. “WHY DID YOU DOUBT ME?

     — now the question is this, who is Jesus, according to John 1:1, He is the word of God, and right there in the passage he links the event of Peter's doubt to Himself (as the word who's put on flesh). 

Now He's asking you same today, “why did you doubt me (my word)” — 

dealing with doubt is made easy when we fast and pray incessantly, that way we allow the will of our spirit (who's designed to belief God) to prevail in front seat, thereby driving us into unending success in accepting God's word for what it says.

Matthew 17:19-21 |NKJV narrates, 

    — “Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, THIS KIND DOES NOT GO OUT EXCEPT BY PRAYER AND FASTING.” 

This highlighted text have caused so much damage to the understanding of lots of new creatures in today's Christendom, most have missed Jesus' central point of view on the subject — He was simply referring to the kind of unbelief at play, he wasn't referring to the immovability of the demon-causing affliction, 

     — and it's from this misconception that many have built their understanding of demons, and instead of casting them out in the name of Jesus, most still feel they have to pray and fast to cast out demons, as though the name Jesus ain't enough! 

The Message Bible translation renders unbelief as the act of “not yet taking God seriously” — and that's what Jesus was emphasising that we take out from ourselves, thus, the habit of giving up on God's word. 

Matthew 17:19-20 |MSB renders the account in this accord, 

      “When the disciples had Jesus off to themselves, they asked, "Why couldn't we throw it out?", Because you're not yet taking God seriously," said Jesus. "The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, a poppy seed, say, you would tell this mountain, "Move!' and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn't be able to tackle”. 

At this point, the question is this , “what's then is the act of taking God seriously” — and it's simple, according to John 1:1, God is same as His word, meaning to depend on the Word is how we express full dependency on God — and that's how to take God seriously, when you're able to take His Words seriously, accepting them as absolute truth. 

Most children of God express doubt in subtle ways they're not even aware of — actually, you give expression to doubt when you say “I can't do this thing” — when you talk yourself out of good things and possibilities, that's a clear expression of doubt, which is the absence of God's word in your heart. 

Jesus said, pray that you don't fall into temptation, He was simply telling us to pray so we don't fall victim to limitations of any sort, this is the time to get the word in to you, and also, pray and fast — the word conditions your mind to be highly resistant to doubt — else unlike Abraham, you'll stagger at the fulfilled promises of God through unbelief (doubts). 

This life in Christ is by Faith Alone, and that's how the just is programmed to live, any other way will cause a rapid malfunction and degeneration — faith has a voice, It Speaks! 

Praise God!