Matthew 14

1 – 2

At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard the reports about Jesus. So Herod said to his servants, “Jesus is really John the Baptist. He has risen from death. That is why he is able to do these miracles.”

Herod was confused because he was a part of the Jewish group which did not believe that anyone could rise from the dead. Pray that people who need Jesus will see that something is wrong with the lies they have been believing.

3 – 5

Sometime before this, Herod had arrested John, tied him up, and put him into prison. Herod did this because of Herodias. Herodias was the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother. Herod arrested John because he told Herod: “It is not right for you to have Herodias.” Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people. They believed that John was a prophet.

We speak God’s Word even to people who are not really listening. We pray that something of what is shared will go into their spirit and set them free. If a man has opened his life to a demon, such as the spirit of adultery, then he will not be able to hear the Word with his spirit because the demon will make him deaf to the things of God.

The man who commits adultery is a complete fool, and he destroys himself. Proverbs 6:32

She has been the ruin of many. Many men have been her victims. Her house is the road to the grave. Her bedroom is the den of death. Proverbs 7:26–27

6 – 8

On Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced for Herod and his guests. Herod was very pleased with her, so he promised he would give her anything she wanted. Herodias told her daughter what to ask for. So she said to Herod, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”

Even half of a kingdom is not enough for the bitterness of Herodias!

The woman who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while she lives. 1 Timothy 5:6

9 – 12

King Herod was very sad. But he had promised to give her anything she wanted, and the people eating with him had heard his promise. So Herod ordered that what she asked for be done. He sent men to the prison to cut off John’s head.

And the men brought John’s head on a platter and gave it to the girl. She took it to her mother, Herodias. John’s followers came and got his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what happened.

An adulterous woman destroys a man, then wipes her mouth and says, “What’s wrong with that?” Proverbs 30:20

13 – 14

When Jesus heard what happened to John, Jesus left in a boat. He went to a lonely place by himself. But when the crowds heard about it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus arrived, he saw a large crowd. He felt sorry for them and healed those who were sick.

If you can see people who are hurting are it does not touch your heart to try to help or at least pray, then something is broken inside of you.

15 – 17

Late that afternoon, his followers came to Jesus and said, “No one lives in this place. And it is already late. Send the people away so they can go to the towns and buy food for themselves.” Jesus answered, “They do not need to go away. You give them some food to eat.” The followers answered, “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish.”

John tells us that this food came from a boy who was there. Maybe the boy was planning to sell this food, but he gave it away. Maybe they gave the leftovers to the little boy who was hoping to sell his fish? The twelve baskets left over were also a lesson to the twelve disciples that God can give us what we need. John 6:8

18 – 21

Jesus said, “Bring the bread and the fish to me.” Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish. Then he looked to heaven and thanked God for the food. Jesus divided the loaves of bread.

He gave them to his followers, and they gave the bread to the people. All the people ate and were satisfied. After they finished eating, the followers filled 12 baskets with the pieces of food that were not eaten. There were about 5,000 men there who ate, as well as women and children.

John tells us that after this the people were going to make Jesus their king so He left them and went into the mountains. God had planned a certain day for Jesus to be seen as king. Daniel was shown the exact day that this would happen. God has His reasons for not letting people do things that He has not planned. John 6:16, Daniel 9:25

22 – 24

Then Jesus made his followers get into the boat. He told them to go ahead of him to the other side of the lake. Jesus stayed there to tell the people they could go home.

After he said good-bye to them, he went alone up into the hills to pray. It was late, and Jesus was there alone. By this time, the boat was already far away on the lake. The boat was having trouble because of the waves, and the wind was blowing against it.

Jesus told them to go without Him. He knew there was a storm coming. Other Gospels show that the disciples fought against this storm all night. If the Lord sends you into a storm, you have nothing to worry about.

25 – 27

Between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus’ followers were still in the boat. Jesus came to them. He was walking on the water. When the followers saw him walking on the water, they were afraid. They said, “It is a spirit!” and cried out in fear. But Jesus quickly spoke to them. He said, “Have courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.”

The days we are living now are a storm that the Lord has allowed to come on us. We have nothing to fear because He is with us in the middle of the storm. The devil will try to tell us that we only think that we see Jesus working in our lives but we do not believe the lies of the enemy.

28 – 31

Peter said, “Lord, if that is really you, then tell me to come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come.”

And Peter left the boat and walked on the water to Jesus. But when Peter saw the wind and the waves, he became afraid and began to sink. He shouted, “Lord, save me! Then Jesus reached out his hand and caught Peter. Jesus said, “Your faith is small. Why did you doubt?”

How can anything hurt us when Jesus has told us to do it? We will not look at our impossible situation but we believe that God is watching to see what we will do and we do not want to let Him down!

32 – 33

After Peter and Jesus were in the boat, the wind became calm. Then those who were in the boat worshiped Jesus and said, “Truly you are the Son of God!”

God has done miracles in our lives. There are times that we could have been killed. There are many things that we know have happened to us that showed that God was there. How can we think that He will not help us when the next problem comes to us?

34 – 36

After they crossed the lake, they came to the shore at Gennesaret. The people there saw Jesus and knew who he was. So they told people all around there that Jesus had come. They brought all their sick to him. They begged Jesus to let them just touch the edge of his coat to be healed. And all the sick people who touched it were healed.

We see the reason why the wind was against them because the devil knew that good things were going to happen and was trying to make the followers of Jesus turn back. As we work in the ministry we see that demons try to pay us back for going into the places that have been given to them but they cannot stop us and when we see them doing this we know that we are winning the fight!