Boldness Comes when we Keep Our Eyes on Jesus, not the Fire

 WHERE ARE YOUR EYES, THOUGHTS, PERSPECTIVE? 

A major component of living well during the fiery trials of life is our perspective. I spoke about that in an earlier post titled “Perspective Matters in the Fire”.

Our perspective encompasses what we have our eyes and thoughts set on.

• the fiery circumstances and the natural fear and despair that comes from them
• God, His peace, presence, and hope that is promised as we allow the spiritual realm to intersect with the natural.

When our eyes are on the correct thing, a supernatural boldness stirs in our hearts.

When our eyes are on Jesus, a supernatural boldness stirs in our hearts.

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STARTING OUT GOOD

In the early stages of the personal fires, its somewhat easy because we expect God to swoop in and rescue us quickly. It won’t be easy, and we probably won’t come out of it unchanged, but we have every confidence we have what it takes to “outlast” this painful experience. In a way, we defiantly yell at our circumstances saying, “Bring it! My God is more powerful than this I He will show us quickly and rescue me.” (very similar to the bold statement “My God can deliver me!” in Daniel 3:17)

When we have faith that He can deliver us from our trial, we oftentimes automatically assume that He will deliver us. I personally take it a step further and tell myself not only will He deliver me, but He will do it soon.

When we BELIEVE God CAN deliver us, we assume that He WILL do it, and that IT WILL BE SOON.

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This believe fosters boldness in our heart and mind. Peter experienced this boldness.

BOLDNESS WHEN OUR EYES ARE ON THE RIGHT THING

Peter and the disciples were in a small boat, far from shore, when a terrible storm came upon them. They were scared for their lives. Then, to add to their fear, they see an image walking on the water and assume its a ghost. Jesus tells them it is Him on the water.

“But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”

Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”, Matthew 14:27-28, NLT

Peter immediately says (I’m paraphrasing) “God, if you really are here in this storm with me, tell me to come to you and I will.”

As soon as he was assured that Jesus was with him in this scary storm, he had the boldness to do something no one else in history has been documented doing–he walked on the water.

“So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. ” Matthew 14:29, NLT

He had the boldness to leave the source of his own personal security, and step fully into the onslaught of the storm because his eyes were on Jesus. In looking at my own list of personal storms or fiery furnaces, I honestly don’t think I have ever let go of a source of perceived security. That is boldness that comes from having the right perspective–seeing Jesus and drawing near to HIM during the fires (or storms) of our life.

You can have BOLDNESS to step fully into the onslaught of the fire when your eyes are on Jesus.

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BOLDNESS WANES WHEN WE LOSE SIGHT OF GOD

Peter had a HUGE victory with his boldness! The man walked. on. water. How cool would that be? He could have continued walking in that victory in the middle of his storm. What happened?

But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.” Matthew 14:29-30, NLT

When Peter’s eyes stopped being on Jesus, his boldness disappeared and he began to sink.

What are things that pull your attention away and keep you from pressing in closer to God when you are in the fires of life? Peter’s stumbling block was his circumstances, but there are many things that could cause us to divert our focus from God.

Just because our eyes wander and our boldness wavers, doesn’t mean that all hope is lost and we are in our fire alone. As soon as Peter realized what he had done, he called out to Jesus to rescue him from being overwhelmed by the circumstances–and Jesus did! He will do the same for you.

So as we move forward in our personal storms or fiery trials, lets make every effort to keep our eyes on Jesus. As we do, embrace the boldness that comes with it. If we realize we allowed circumstances to distract us from the fire tamer or storm calmer (Jesus), quickly call out to Him asking Him to help.

Where your eyes and focus are truly matter.

“Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.” Proverbs 4:25-17, NLT

This is day 5 of the #write31days challenge where I will be writing a new post each day about having ‘FAITH in the FIRE’. If you don’t want to miss out on any of this series, click here and join my email mailing list. The posts will be delivered into your in-box.

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