It is VERY important that you get a clear picture of the word “doubt.” As you saw, Jesus said that Peter HAD little faith and then asked him why he doubted. Wasn’t the reason he doubted because he had little faith? In a sense the answer is “YES.” If Jesus were talking about the size of Peter’s faith, Peter’s faith would be so little that he just couldn’t keep from doubting. But, Jesus wasn’t talking about size; He was talking about duration. Peter’s faith was in Jesus one moment and was in the wind and the waves the next moment. That is “little” faith too.

Luke 17:5-6 (NIV) The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you.” When the apostles asked Jesus to “Increase our faith!”, they were asking Jesus to make it bigger. When Jesus said: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, He was saying He didn’t need to make it bigger. He didn’t go ahead and tell them what they DID need because He was teaching them how to get the answers through revelation and explanations from God.

Why did Peter doubt? An even better question would be, why do you doubt? What is doubt, anyway? Doubt is faith in anything other than God. When he (Peter) saw the wind, he was afraid. Jesus called that event doubting. Why was Peter afraid? Jesus was still there. The word “come” was still in effect. But, where were Peter’s eyes? When they were on Jesus, he was fine. When they were on the intensity of the wind, he was afraid.

Faith, trust, reliance, and dependency on Jesus caused Peter to ask if he could come to Jesus, get out of the boat when given permission, and walk on the water through the creative power of God’s word. When Peter started looking at the effects of the wind, where did that faith, trust, reliance, and dependency go? All of a sudden the wind became more powerful than Jesus in Peter’s mind. The wind had been there all along. The weather hadn’t changed. Jesus hadn’t changed. Something in Peter changed. “When he saw” is the key.

Mat 8:5-10 (NIV) When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.” Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.” The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have You come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant WILL be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, He was astonished and said to those following Him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such GREAT FAITH.

When Jesus told His apostles that, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you.”, He wasn’t saying that they couldn’t get bigger faith. He was just saying that their problem wasn’t size it was duration. Even if Peter got GREAT faith, as long as he had a duration problem, he would have just moved his GREAT faith over to believing in a GREAT way that the wind and waves were going to kill him.

Jesus was looking at the same wind and waves Peter was looking at. When He saw them, He didn’t start sinking. Stable faith enables you to believe no matter what you see. But, when you are a trainee like Peter, you need to start off controlling your eyes. You need to ONLY keep your eyes on Jesus at all times. In a sense, you must always keep your eyes on Jesus; but, you will be able to do both as you grow in your training, skills, talents, and experiences. Heb 12:2a (NIV) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

When you are thinking about the creative power of the Word, you feel strong, safe, enabled, transformed, and filled with faith in God. When you are thinking about your own strength and abilities, you feel weak, defeated, endangered, sinful, or filled with faith in the weakness of the body. Like Peter, you can have faith in both things in a short period of time. Not much time lapsed between Peter walking on water and sinking. You need to know what was causing this faith problem in Peter.

James 1:6-8 (NIV) But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a DOUBLE-MINDED man, UNSTABLE in all he does. Believing and then doubting is called double-mindedness. It is a spiritual disease that keeps you from getting anything from God.

Being double-minded causes you to have the “ability” to alternate between two OPPOSING concepts and alternately BELIEVE in both of them. Like Peter being able to believe he could walk on water one minute and then had the “ability” to believe a totally opposite thing the next. One minute you are thinking about the creative power of God’s Word and knowing you have offered your body as living sacrifices. The next minute you are thinking about the weakness of your commitment. It is a deadly disease that attacks your faith and blocks off God’s answers to your prayers.

Rom 8:5 (NIV) Those who live according to the sinful nature have their MINDS SET on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their MINDS SET on what the Spirit desires. The reason you offered your body as living sacrifices was because you were living according to the sinful nature in your body. You want a MIND SET on what the Spirit desires.

Getting a mind-set is the same procedure as offering your body as a living sacrifice. Before you can have results in an area of need you have to have:

1. Biblical permission.
2. Creation power.
3. Acceptance of responsibility.
4. Your mind set on what the Spirit desires.

Like in the case of the Bible saying: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifice: You could see this as a command that required you to use your human effort; or, you could see it as a job for The Three Keys To All Of Christianity. When the Bible says: “offer your body as a living sacrifice,” that is Biblical permission for you to do it. It is also speaking creation power into you that, if accepted in stable faith, PRODUCED it in you the moment you received it and believed it.

Rom 8:5 (NIV) Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

1. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires: First, you thank God for setting you free from this sinful nature by empowering you to offer your body as a living sacrifice. Thank Him for empowering you to STOP living according to the sinful nature and having your mind set on what that nature desires.


2. Those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Next, you accept in faith that this verse is giving you Biblical permission. “Those who live in accordance with the Spirit” isn’t telling you to try to do this with your human effort. It is telling you what to pray for. So, you ASK God to empower you to live in accordance with the Spirit. You know this verse gave you Biblical permission to ask. So, you are ready for the next step:


3. Those who live in accordance with the Spirit: That’s you because you ASKED for something you had Biblical permission to ask for.
   
   Faith in Creation Power: have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. You can now STOP being double-minded. You have a MIND SET on the Holy Spirit’s desires. You have been healed from the “ability” to alternate between two OPPOSING concepts and alternately BELIEVE in both of them. You are now ready for the next step:


4. Acceptance of responsibility: Once Jesus said “come,” Peter HAD to get out of the boat, walk on the water, and come all the way to Jesus. You now have the responsibility to USE your Holy Spirit MIND-SET. If your body, the world, or the devil tries to convince you that you don’t have it, your responsibility is to CRY OUT to Jesus for help. HE WILL HELP YOU! Now, you are ready for the next step.


5. Your mind IS set on what the Spirit desires: He wants you to believe and live on the basis that you can offer your body to the things of God. If you have ANY problems with it, CRY OUT to Jesus. He will empower you to win.