BY HUMPHREY MTANDWA
Peter was a fisherman (Mark 4:35-41) so seeing the storm he thought of the other storms he had seen before and assumed he would die.
What was blinding him from seeing that Jesus was present was his past experiences. Peter could have heard stories of other fisher man who had died in such storms even friends and family.
But just because it happened before does not mean it will happen to you. All the disciples that day were afraid but why they were fearful when Jesus had said lets go to the other side. They knew more about the storm than about the one they had chosen to follow.
“I always knew this would happen” is a key phrase used by those who have been programmed by the enemy (through fear). “People always leave me; I always fail, whenever I get a job it always ends after three years”. Just because bad things consecutively happen to you does not mean they are going repeat themselves or they should have repeated themselves even in your past. What is causing those things to keep happening is how you think. Fear creates loops of tragic circumstances in and around you.
At times the only way to break the pattern is by dealing with the fears.
Peter and the disciples could not see beyond their past experiences and because of this it blinded them from Jesus who was already on the boat. Fear is a tool the enemy uses to entrap you and maintain you in demonic loops or cycles. Job said the thing I was afraid of, is what I have become. He became a victim of the incident before the incident happened.
How could Job already be a victim before disaster struck? Fear makes us victims and qualifies us for whatever thing we are most afraid of. Some are married but because they are afraid of divorce they are already divorced because fear makes you what you are afraid of. Yes they are still staying together but spiritually it’s as good as if they are divorced. Because fear positions you to inherit what you are most fearful of. Job was blessed and had great favour, but he had fears as well and those things he feared happened because he became a victim of his fears. What are your deepest fears, things you are always meditating upon and that you have given yourself as a victim to?
The life you are living today is a manifestation of your beliefs and fears and the life you will live is guaranteed from the mind-set you have today. Ask God to show you the fears you are dealing with so that you can dismantle them. Some have been programed to be fearful of men because they saw their fathers abusing their mother and its sad that those incidents corrupted a pure destiny and through those fears that young life will also be a victim of abuse. Today dismantle mind-sets that have made you a victim. It’s time to deal with any form of fear be it is just fear of failure or even the fear of been left alone. Any form of fear makes you a victim when you should be a Victor. Pray today that the Lord may show you all your fears hidden and those visible and help you to overcome them today in Jesus name.
- Humphrey Mtandwa is an anointed minister of the gospel and teacher of the Word based in South Africa. He has written several books including The Enoch Generation, Truthfulness and Theophany. He blogs at mtandwa.blogspot.com and can be contacted via e-mail or WhatsApp on +27 610286350.