Provision readily available, but not apparent.What faith enables us to go without protesting “but I don’t even have”
Jesus told them and I believe tells us to feed them with something that it is readily available but most times, not apparent. His response here is the same as it is for us today; I will give you. Faith connects us with the invisible reality that provision is available for what we have been given to do. We must resist the temptation to fall back on what man can provide or can manufacture. If it is not organic; is it of God?
• What is natural for us when faith is required? I believe it should be what naturally happens in subjection to the Holy Spirit and therein lays the problem.
• Jesus is no longer physically standing in our midst, but the Holy Spirit bids us “you go feed”. We (the church) at times don’t know His voice; we have forgotten how to hear.
Ideally
The evidence of the thing that God has placed within and is hoped for in our minds; our heart pursues; even when not readily apparent. We are to see it; that which is not apparent in the physical. When the Father speaks to our hearts and directs our way that is where our faith begins. One crucial aspect of Faith is this; The Holy Spirit is sending (or pulling) us to a place that the Father has already prepared. What we are doing has to be seen,pursued, and prepared by God.
• We can readily make something happen, but if we proceed as directed, stepping into what has already been prepared, then we will be a part of what the Father desires to reveal.
• I could very well see a church, a job, or a relationship that I believe God wants to occur when God never intended it. For example; If I know the Father spoke to my heart and said “Now is the time for “fill in the blank”, and I could very well run out and grab the first one available and felt as if what I was doing what had been “okay ed” by the Father. In reality I may be grabbing something and manufacturing something never intended, never prepared.
• This happens so many times to so many of God’s children: and it grieves me to recognize it when someone intends to do the will of God and steps into a place that has not been provided or prepared. It is gut wrenching to realize that you are at a point of frustration and pain because you are not where you were intended to be or how you were intended to be there at the proper time. (John 3.27 – Grabbing vs. Receiving)
Guarding against reliance on past provision and revelation; stuck in a season.
Of course you cannot remain in the same season spiritually speaking, forever. What has been revealed in the past and what will be revealed in the future will change; why do we forget that? Perhaps we want to hang on to the salad days? What has been provided in the past and the desires of the one who provided it should serve as a reminder of faithfulness; but will not suffice when beginning a new thing. It is when we begin with only the assurance of being told, “you go”. Unfortunately, we usually want to begin with what we have experienced, do that again, replicate the past when the only similar catalyst is faith and unfortunately, it could be misplaced. Remember THAT God moved; but don’t rely on Him to move or behave exactly the same way every time. The substance of His intentions always remains the same: "He desires and loves us" and every new thing He does reveals this.
We at times look to past acts of the Father and try to bottle it and replicate it believing we have begun a new "thing", when in reality the Father moves uniquely and purposefully each time He speaks to us. I am really amazed that someone has not gathered 5 and 7 baskets and called everyone to a local park to feed them fish. Yes the Father may choose to do things similarly in several instances, but God forbid that our interactions with the Father and following His lead would result in repeating the same thing over and over again. Imagine your earthly father teaching you to ride your bike over and over again until you are an old man! Riding a bike is fun, but there is a time to move on. Our earthly fathers should want to reveal something new as we grow and mature until we represent them and their character. Our heavenly Father is in the revelation business as well, He came up with it! His love and our faith in that love enable us to trust what is being revealed and learn to represent our Father's character here on earth. Showing His heart in all matters and distributing to others what is readily available.
• Could it be that so many institutional churches are dying because of their efforts to replicate something that has already happened and the season has passed? Could it be that many of us are not recognizing what is being revealed by our Father? Namely that our old source of provision (what we can come up with) will no longer do.
Our call is to “go and provide what I have given you”, see what is not evident, and accomplish that which I have given you in the way that I have made provision for. This must be the underlying heartbeat to our actions; this is our battle cry; this is faith.
It is ours to give; His to provide (Mark 9.14)We forget at times that we are carriers of what Christ has provided and is providing. We do not impact or change circumstances because we are waiting on a benefactor to write a large check or our people to pledge money when in fact the baskets are ready and what is to be provided is sitting in the Lord’s storehouse in HIS people. Many times we are powerless because we fail to recognize that we already possess what is required; King Jesus and what He has placed within. He reveals what we are to do, it is in front of us, He is in front of us, and many times we are looking past Him to our own provision to ensure "success". The irony is that this always fails and somehow ends up in the "hay and stubble" category. Can you imagine the Apostles sitting down and going over "How to build a team in your ministry" before distributing the loaves and fishes? To the faithless what the Father provides is sometimes unrecognizable.
• We have no faith that the Lord is providing for what He has directed so we do not distribute what He has already given in resources, time, gifts,prayer and living life together! As a matter of fact we are at times not looking to Him at all. This is evident where we have focused on the "pastor" or latest "successful" leader who has had great results in whatever new program. We are waiting to see the bread before we divvy up baskets and blessing what is coming. Unfortunately I am afraid it isn't Christ's bread at all, but man's. "Evangelical Christianity" has become a punchline and rightly so, because we have tried to provide and protect ourselves, and that is definitely NOT what the father intended.
• Either we are ambassadors or we are not. We either carry the weight of the Kingdom’s spiritual authority or we do not. It is not man that provides the substance that nourishes, it is the King. We need no provision past what God has provided.
• Reliance on the Holy Spirit to recognize what is needed is required. “This kind only cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.” The Lord is forewarning us that there will be more required in the future.
Faithless and twisted generation
How faithless is this generation? Not just the world; but us as children of God? We know it to be twisted, but where has our faith gone? Has it gone up in smoke with the market crash? How will the church pay for where it has put its faith in the political arena? Jesus had shown us already what was possible and we drifted to sleep resting in the lap of the Republican party, trusting in the Stock Market, building institutions that although well intentioned, have propagated a new gospel. Could we have not done better?
SO:
• You have been provided what is needed. What is the Father telling you to do? (Go feed).
• The Holy Spirit is pulling us someplace we should be; the fish and bread are there; even if we can’t see them, SEEK REVELATION.
• Remember past provision; reflect on the faithfulness and remember God’s goodness.
• Have faith in new provision. Ask yourself are you recognizing what the Father is providing? Where He is pulling? DO NOT SEEK MAN'S PROVISION AND PROTECTION.
• We are either ambassadors or we’re not.
Those who forget the lessons of faith with the miraculous provision lack real spiritual authority and power when later required. Those who did not remember when they distributed the King’s provision cannot exercise His authority when confronted. We indeed have someplace to be and we should ensure that it is a place He has brought us, prepared for us and provided for beforehand....even when not readily apparent.
