God granted us everything

Today we finished up our Sunday School lessons on a Rick Renner book “Dream Thieves.”

We discussed the Dream Thief of ourselves - or in other words - our own will.

You see, we discussed that ultimately, I am the one who decides if I will fulfill God's divine destiny in my life or if I will choose to go my own way.

We all come to crossroads in our journey - where choices have to be made - where we ultimately decide whether or not we will do what You want to do or what God wants You to do! 

Honestly, we sometimes think that the small choices we make every day are insignificant. 

But the book of John tells us about one of Jesus most astounding miracles - and this miracle only took place because a little boy made a simple decision to give Jesus his lunch instead of keeping it for himself.

Read the story in John 6. Everybody knows this story! 

John 6:1-15 After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. 3 Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. 4 (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.)5 Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?”6 He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.7 Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money[a] to feed them!”8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. 12 After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.14 When the people saw him[b] do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!”[c] 15 When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.

Verse 6 tells us that Jesus asked Philip how they were going to feed this large crowd and He asked him this to test him. You see Jesus had been doing miracles in front of the disciples. They had seen him perform creative miracles and even raise the dead - and yet here they were with a new problem and they still don't realize the solution is sitting right there with them. 

Jesus asked Philip this question to expose the deficiency is his faith. 

When we are confronted with new problems in our lives, those problems have a way of exposing the weak areas of our faith.

As we grow in God we are all confronted with new problems and challenges. Such challenges are always opportunities for our faith to be proven. God wants us to deal with our weak areas so we can come out of the experience stronger in our walk with God. 

Go back to Verse 6 - when Jesus was confronted with a new challenge - it says He already knew what He was going to do! He wasn't worried - or caught off guard.

Philip was grasping for natural ways to solve the problem. Andrew shows a bit of faith and then throws in some doubt. But Jesus when He came to this crossroad - chose the miracle. You see Jesus knew that Jehovah-Jireh, the Great Provider was on the scene to supply His every need! 

This is an awesome story of multiplication but there's more! This one little boy had the authority to stop this miracle from happening. 

He could have chosen to hold onto his snack - they were rightfully his. He was at a crossroads - and he chose the miracle! The little boy could have eaten his snack and been temporarily satisfied. Think of the tragedy of missing such a great miracle of God because he chose to take care of himself. 

and Yet we do this all the time!

Imagine the joy this little boy felt as his small snack (which basically amounted to 5 crackers and 2 sardines) was used to feed a crowd estimated at 20,000 with 12 baskets leftover!! So why did Jesus perform this miracle? What was God's ultimate purpose?

John 6:14 When the people saw him[b] do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!

The people received a new revelation of Who Jesus was! 

The issues in our lives are never just about the money, our time, our talents or our stuff - the issue is always our willingness to move into a new realm with God. 

God wants us to willingly give him our "baskets" -  our money, time, talents, and stuff and then He wants us to watch Him multiply our gifts both for our good and the good of others.

But the Final Result is always in the end that we receive a new revelation of Jesus! 

At the Crossroads, choose the Miracle! A word from God will always challenge your faith! Holy Spirit always wants to move us from place to place, task to task, challenge to challenge but in doing so we must deal with our ruts, our comfort zones and the mentality that we cannot do what He has asked! 

If you focus on your lack - you will never succeed! Instead give the little you have to Jesus - place all that you are and all that you possess in His hands - then trust Him and watch the miracle of multiplication. 

Don't hold onto your crackers and sardines! You'll miss the miracle!

Do everything not to miss the miracle God has in store for your life! As you obey Jesus voice, follow His plan, giving all that you are into His hands, you are changed into His image. Step by Step you get to know Him more intimately than ever before as you grow more and more like the One you follow! And that is always the goal!