HINDRANCES TO FAITH: WALKING BY THE SENSES

But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” – Matthew 14:30

REFERENCE
Matthew 14:22-31

To conclude the series we started this week, let’s take a look at one major hindrance to faith that we all fall into every now and then – ‘walking by our five senses.’ As humans, we tend to judge everything physically and forget the spiritual dimension of things. We mostly get too mindful of facts, circumstances, experts opinions, etc. We unwittingly become slaves to our feelings…slaves to our five senses – sight, taste, touch, sound and smell. We base most of all we do on sight, sound and sensations. If it obvious or visible, we believe; but if isn’t, we doubt.

However, faith does not dwell in the sense realm. Faith is the ‘sixth sense’ and it never makes sense to the senses. Faith believes in the unseen, it hears the unheard and is persuaded that the ‘impossible’ is possible. It trusts the goodness of God’s heart for His children even when it can’t see His hands.

In our main scripture, Peter lost his faith in God by considering what his eyes could see and his ears could hear – the storm. He ‘immediately’ started to sink because he became unconscious of the presence of Jesus, which is what happens when we walk by sight (the senses). This clearly reveals that whenever you lose grip of your faith or despair about the things that are not yet seen in the sense realm, and you focus only on the things that seem possible to your senses, you are hindering yourself from receiving from the faith realm – the realm that holds possibilities that far exceeds anything that you can presently see, hear or touch. For example, ‘When you focus on the storms in your life and not on what God can do, you will definitely lose sight of God’s presence and promises.’

The maturity of your faith is dependent on your ability to overcome this hindrance. Certain results that have eluded you will only come because of your victory in this area. To gain the victory in this area, you must continually fight the good fight of faith – hold on and stand firm on God’s promises no matter the odds; and protect your heart from doubts that arise because of what your five senses can perceive.

As you do this, I see you birth all kinds of possibilities and miracles in Jesus’ name.

Let me leave you with this Sunday school song (Bear in mind that Thomas wanted to first see and touch):

“You’ll never get Abraham’s blessings, with the Thomas kind of faith
Your mountain will just stand there, in the same old place.
If you have to see it first, hear it or touch it or taste,
You’ll never get Abraham’s blessings, with the Thomas kind of faith.”

PHOTO QUOTE

ADDITIONAL STUDY
2 Kings 6:15-17, John 20:24-29 & II Corinthians 5:7

CONFESSION
Today, I make a choice to walk by faith and not by sight. I commit to diligently guard my heart against doubts and unbelief caused by what can be perceived with my physical senses. I choose to trust the heart of God even when I can’t see His hands; because God has never failed and He will not start with my case.