How You Lose Your Faith
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Matthew 14:22-33
1 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.” 2 At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!” 4 Those who were standing near Paul said, “You dare to insult God’s high priest?” 5 Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.'” 6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.) 9 There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. “We find nothing wrong with this man,” they said. “What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 10 The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks. 11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”
Paul went through a series of trying times before getting to Rome.
Acts 23:1-11
These verses above are not to bore you but rather to help us tackle this interesting topic “How you lose your faith”. Faith is very important in Christianity. It is indeed the very foundation of Christianity because without it you can neither be saved or please God. It is important to note that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). From the verses above, they (Peter and Paul) heard a word from the Master Jesus Christ. This built faith in their spirit and caused them to take a course of action. However, they didn’t end up in the same vein. So what brought about the difference? How did they have two different results? This is why I have decided to write on this article titled “how to lose your faith” from Peter’s account.
First of all we have to note that faith has a starting and finishing point. It either decreases or increases. When Peter heard the instruction from the Master, “Come”. He believed it and made the move to walk to the master. The Bible recalls that he started to walk on the water which means his faith was working on the word of the master. But then the wind came in and he began to sink. Peter was a fisherman and therefore knew the various kinds of winds. He knew the safe ones and the dangerous ones that could kill. I believe this was one of those dangerous ones because he took his eyes off the master and focused on the wind. The first point here is Experience. Peter’s experience of fishing influenced his faith indirectly without him knowing. He trusted his experience than the word of the master. Now we must take into consideration that experience can either increase or decrease faith because in Paul’s own situation his experience of being raised from the dead (when he was stoned and left for dead) could have influenced his absolute trust in the word of the master but we decide to believe in a good or bad experience. Believing in a good experience can propel your faith to another level and vice versa when you believe in a bad experience.
Fear is another stronghold that kicks against faith. Paul was a man who tormented other people for believing in Christ. He went to the extra mile of hunting them down and killing them. He had so much faith in what he was doing thinking that it was from God. In Acts 9 when the Master appeared to Paul, he was so grasped by fear that he fell off his horse. He was changed and transformed that very moment because what he previously had faith in had been defeated. In Peter’s situation, his fear of death and the wind crippled his faith. That was what led to him sinking. And from the reaction of the master, he could have died right in front of Him.
The last and most profound way of losing your faith is by doubting. We doubt because we believe in something else other than the words of the master. Peter’s experience brought about fear which resulted in him doubting the very words of Jesus Christ. In the same vein people are going to hell today because they believe in themselves and their works other than the Word of God. It is easy to doubt when you trust something else other than the word of God. The Word of God is the only foundation that remains solid and unshaken through the storms and stress of this life.
Your trust in God’s Word is the only thing that will help build your faith and keep you rooted and grounded. Don’t believe in your experience because it can fail you, don’t allow fear to grip you because it can cripple your faith and don’t doubt the Word of the Master because it is the only proven and sure tool you can ever have.
