Our Daily Bread
Do you ever pray for God to show up BIG??
Many times, I have been in a place where I want God to show up big and fix a problem or remove an obstacle. Maybe even a problem or obstacle I created. And yet, even though God can do anything He wants, many times He pushes back on us and wants us to be a part of the solution!
Before Jesus fed the 5,000, “Jesus saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do” (John 6:5-6 NIV)
In this verse, we see that Jesus knew the outcome of the situation and yet he asked for Philip to be a part of the solution. He tested his response to a seemingly impossible situation. Would Philip respond in faith or in doubt? “Philip answered him, ‘It would take more than a half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’” (John 6:7)
Philip stated the obvious. Andrew, in the next verse, provided a solution, albeit meager, with 5 loaves and 2 small fish. Andrew gave all they had to be a part of the solution and Jesus blessed it more than they could have imagined!
God will often test us to see what our response might be:
Will our faith be strengthened or damaged in the middle of conflict at work?
Will we endure and cling to Jesus even when we don’t get the medical miracle we pray for?
Will we not only pray for God to bless our marriage but also take tangible steps to deepen our walk with our spouse?
Will we pray for financial blessing while also being a generous steward of what we do have?
God can take what you have and multiply it, but it usually won’t look like we envision and almost always won’t be in the timing we want because God’s ways are not our ways. Don’t forget God desires relationship with you daily.
Not all of our problems will be fixed on this side of glory yet we can be confident that our relationship with Christ can never be taken away from us!
On Sunday I’m excited to share more with you about BREAD and 3 amazing examples in the Old Testament that point to Jesus being our daily bread and the bread of LIFE.
Read John Chapter 6 in preparation for Sunday.
See you then,
Pastor Tim