Monday... Give us eyes to see even if it is little.

John tells this occurrence over in chapter 6 of his gospel. There was this huge crowd that was coming out to where Jesus was. It was not close to a town so that was a problem. Verse 5 (NLT) says, "Jesus soon saw a huge crowd coming to look for him. Turning to Philip he asked, 'Where can we buy bread to feed all these people.'" That was a big problem and verse 6 says, "He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do."

What problem are we facing today? Is it way bigger than we can handle? Maybe He is testing us and he already knows what he is going to do. But he is letting it happen because he wants to see what we see no matter how small it is

Verse 7, "Philip replied, 'Even if we worked for months, we wouldn't have enough money to feed them!'" And that was true, very true if you are looking at the problem from your ability to handle it. Remember, he was testing Philip and maybe he is testing us. He is testing our view of the situation and it's not a good one but it is a real one.

Now there was another view, another person who said something. Verses 8 & 9 says, "Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother spoke up. 'There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?'" He at least saw a possibility. He wasn't sure if it would make a difference but he let Jesus know what was there. He had eyes to see even if it was small. At least he saw a very small possibility.

Of course Jesus saw the situation from his point of view and in verse 10 he said, "Tell everyone to sit down." And maybe that is what he is saying to us today especially if we see a possibility even though it is small. Maybe he is saying to us, "Give me what you have and sit down. I've got it covered."

So as we start this day with this problem that is greater than we can handle let's give him what we have and sit down and watch him go to work.

The rest of verse 10 says, "So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.)" Yes, it was an impossible situation. Yes, all they had was five loaves and two fish but they also had Jesus. And that was way more than enough.

Could it be he is testing us in what we see? Now here is a good thing. He didn't kick Philip out of the twelve disciples. He just showed him the real answer to the problem. He showed him what he, Jesus could do with what we give him.

Verses 11 & 12 says, "Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God." Let me stop here. He gave thanks in what he saw was going to happen before it happened. And that is real faith. Maybe that is what we need to do. Thank him before it happens because we believe in him. That is real faith. That is real trust. Thank him before it happens.

After he did that he then goes on, "and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted."

Catch this, he took what little that Andrew saw, found, the five loaves and two fish, and used it to feed over 5,000 people.

So what problem do you see this morning and what do you have to give to Jesus to solve the problem? So give him what you have and believe that he can use it and thank him before it happens. Give him your life, your problem, what you have, give him your faith and give him thanks. You have what it takes to handle the problem when you have Jesus in your life. Believe it and thank him before it happens! Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit?

Nehemiah 6:16b (NLT), "They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit? Over in the Old Testament in the book of Nehemiah it tells of a major task that through the leadership of Nehemiah was accomplished. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and God had laid it on Nehemiah to build those walls back up. It was definitely an almost impossible task but Nehemiah 6:15-16 says, "So on October 2 the wall was finished - just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Now, we so many times want to take credit for doing the impossible. It would make such a difference for us. But I wonder what would happen through us if God got the credit? Psalm 96 tells us what we are to do. Verses 2-3 says, "Sing to the LORD; praise his name. ...

Thursday... Maybe we need this word today.

Psalm 57:1b (NIRV), "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Thursday... Maybe we need this word today. There are words in life that give us confidence no matter what we are facing. Now we have to believe them in order for them to have an impact. David wrote Psalm 57 while he was in a cave hiding from Saul who wanted to kill him and he says in the last part of verse 1, "There I will stay." It was a safe place and Saul didn't know that he was there. But he doesn't stop there. With confidence he said, "There I will stay until." And until is definitely a word of faith and confidence. "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Do we need that today? Let me give you the whole verse. In verse 1 David says, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." And that is a great place to start in times of trouble. Maybe that is what we need to pray today, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." It is so great to have someone...

Tuesday... We just have trouble listening.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Tuesday... We just have trouble listening. Over in Jeremiah 25:4 (NLT) it says, "Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention." And Jeremiah went on to tell what was going to happen. There will be consequences if we do not listen to what God says through his Word. Now the Apostle Paul over in 1 Corinthians was having a problem with some professed Christ followers who were having trouble at listening. And we too can have problems at listening. We can think that being a Christ follower means we do a lot of finger pointing and we give up on people who don't do what we say. We can even do that in our families. But Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." In verse ...

Today's Beginning

Search This Blog