*Isaiah 26:3, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."* (KJV)
*Worry* is not equal to lack of faith. Even people that have faith worry at times. But worry can lead to faithlessness. Sometimes when you tell people you are worried about a situation, some translate it to lacking faith, but it is not so. Worry are caused by human calculations and deadlines.
Sometimes, you believe God will provide, but you are worried if He will beat the deadline. Sometimes, you believe God will heal you, but you keep wondering when He will do it. Some ladies believe God will give them a perfect husband, but keep asking themselves when and where that guy will come from.
This should not be translated to as lacking faith, but rather as worry or anxiety in other words also known as *"cares"*.
We cannot completely do away with cares, but we can always suppress them to the minimum. When Jesus was sleeping in a boat that was in trouble, Peter asked Him, " *carest thou not* if we perish?" Jesus *did not say or reply *"I don't care"*, He asked them, "Where is your faith?"
In other words, He also cared, He also was worried, the only difference between Him and them was where His faith was.
He had already told them that we are going over to the other side. His faith was in those words, that it will not matter what opposition they meet along the way, the fact of the matter was that they will reach their destination. Jesus did not calm the storm because it would have hindered them from reaching their destination, He calmed the storm so that His disciples' minds can concentrate more on the mission.
If you can concentrate more on God than on the storm, God does not need to calm the storm for you.
The day Peter walked on water, the sequence of the events will amaze you.
First, Jesus tells them to go over before Him, He would meet them there. Please note that He assured them that He would meet them on the other side. But along the journey a storm ensues. Then Jesus decides to keep His promise of *meeting them there*.
The Bible says, "He was walking on water *and was almost passing them**. These guys were struggling to keep the boat afloat and *Jesus was almost passing them!* He was not considering helping them!
Why so?
Because the storms would not have stopped His promise of *meeting them there* from coming to pass. The only thing that made Him stop was that now, they were more worried about "a ghost" walking on water than they were worried about the storm that was almost capsizing their boat. Do you see how fast humans shift their cares? Just a few minutes ago they were worried that they will drown, now they were worried of what "a ghost" can do to them let alone drowning!
Check this out. Jesus did not stop to stop the storm, He stopped because He didn't like being called a ghost, hahaha. Yeah, He stopped to tell them to stop calling Him a ghost. And He would have gone on with His journey walking on water, *without calming the storm*, were it not that Peter stubbornly wanted to prove a point!
So, Jesus lingers a little bit more to help Peter prove his point. Please don't forget that the storm is still on, please don't lose that point, it is very important.
Peter steps out to prove his point, in the midst of proving it, he remembers the storm! The moment he remembered the storm and re-looked at it, he started sinking. He called on unto Jesus and was saved from drowning. *Still! Jesus did not calm the storm!*
Because the storm could not stop Peter from walking on water. Actually, I always tell people that, *Peter WAS NOT WALKING ON WATER, Peter was walking on the word of Jesus.*
Jesus said to the devil, *"one word from God can take you through your whole life"*. Jesus just said to Peter, "come". And on that word, Peter walked. His faith was on the word "come". When He started sinking, Jesus held his hand, his faith shifted from the word "come" to the Word Himself. Hallelujah! So, He came back to the board, still walking on the the Word. He got out of the boat walking on *a word*, he came back to the boat walking *on the Word.*
Up till this time, the storm is still on. But by this time, the focus of the disciples was more on Jesus and Peter than it was on the stormy sea. Now that Jesus was no longer meeting them over there and had already met them here mid way, there was no need to let the storm keep bragging, so, He commanded the storm to either shape up or shape out; the storm decided to shape up instead.
The greatest question when you are going through a storm is, "Where is your faith?" The moment you locate your faith, you don't even need to calm the storm, you can just sleep.
You need to have faith that no amount of storm can stop the word of God from coming to pass. Paul when being transported to face judgement or trial, stood on the word that God had spoken through His prophet, that he will stand trial. Therefore, not even a ship wreck could stop the word of God from coming to pass, no amount of snake poison could kill him before the word had come to pass.
When you know what God has said, *you don't become careless, but you just care less.*
See the word "care less". I said we cannot completely extinct cares, but we can suppress them, in other words, we can care less.
Nothing gives me more confidence than knowing what God has spoken. Because, I know, if He said I will witness it, nothing will stop me from witnessing it.
And He shall keep my mind in perfect peace, if I remain steadfast in Him.
We don't calm the storms because they might stop us from reaching our destination, we calm the storms because they are a nuisance.
This is something that faith has taught me: *the storm will only cease, when you start understanding that it has no power over your destiny.* In other words, storms cease, when you find your peace in them. Storms get bored and move away when you stop giving them attention. Storms calm down when you ignore them and care less about them. And you suppress your cares by locating your faith. *Where is your faith?*
Shalom and keep the faith.
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