Spiritual Health

“Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out: ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith’, he said, ‘why did you doubt?’” – Matthew 14:29-31

I wonder if I were to see Jesus face to face today, will He ask me that same question. I think the answer would sadly be ‘yes’. In the past few weeks, I learned that my faith in Christ is still so weak and that I have so much growing to do.

I heard a sermon on the radio a few weeks ago talking about being physically sick and spiritually sick. The speaker said (paraphrasing) that the symptoms of a cold are like the doubts and worries in our life.

A fever is an indication of our physical health. Worrying and doubting is an indication of our spiritual health. In both cases, the symptoms indicate that there is a problem. When we worry, we are not fully trusting God. We are doubting His immense power and capability.

Here’s an example of my lack of faith or doubt in God’s immense power. And man, did God remind me that He is indeed POWERFUL and ALMIGHTY!!!

Last Tuesday (August 2), an Air France plane skidded off the runway into a small ravine, crashed and burst into flames. When I first heard this on the news at work (my office is actually right across from Pearson International Airport. In fact, I can see airplanes land outside my office window), I thought to myself “I’ll be surprised if anyone survived”. While looking at the streaming video on the internet, my doubt of any survivors increased.

At this point, I felt a need to pray for the family of the perished victims….. So I did. And as I was praying, I felt something was wrong with my prayer. I couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong, but I just didn’t feel “right” with the prayer.

An hour later, I looked out the window and saw streams of sunlight breaking through the clouds (at the time of the crash @ 4PM or so, it was all dark and cloudy with lightning and thunder). The best way to describe it is like a spotlight being pointed at a subject. In this case, this was a spotlight from heaven and it was pointing in the direction of where the smoke was coming from.

At this moment, the first thought that came to my mind was “wow, God is going to do something amazing”. A few minutes later, the radio announcer said that everyone on the plane survived the crash!

Right there and then, I realized why my prayer didn’t feel right. It was as if God said to me “you of little faith, why did you doubt?” God now showed me, and the rest of the world, His full power and majesty! Praise the Lord!

This taught me that my faith in God is still so weak. The worries in my life (worship team, church ministry, work, relationships, singleness…) are an indication of my lack of trust in God. These worries are symptoms of my poor spiritual health and there is only one doctor that can help me….

I lift my eyes up to the mountains

Where does my help come from

My help comes from You

Maker of heaven, creator of the earth

Oh how I need You Lord

You are my only hope

You’re my only prayer