Mark 6:38-52. 38 "How many loaves do you have?" NIV

It was a beautiful spring day, and the grass was green on that hillside.  The people had been asked to form ranks of fifties and hundreds.  (The word prasia: translated ranks, means a garden plot).  It must have looked a lot like a very large colorful garden with all the colors of the garments those people were wearing, the reds, blues, and yellows. 

John says it was a small boy that had the basket with 5 loaves and two fish in it. Jesus took it and blessed it and handed each disciple one basket with bread and fish in each. Each disciple took the basket handed him and began to distribute to the people and every time they reached in their basket they came up with bread and fish.  Each disciple reached in his basket more than 450 times and each time there was the same amount left in the basket.

The thing that amazes me is that there was no one commenting on the never ending supply of food.  The disciples did not shout hallelujah!  No one even said, “Praise God”!! The people most certainly watched the food coming their way and the same small basket seemed to always have the amount needed for each person.  The people waiting were wondering if there would be enough by the time it was their turn to receive a portion.  Once the disciples started doling out food they did not stop!  They just kept on going down the line one person after another.  Yet, silence!!!  HOW CAN THIS BE??

How often do we witness a miracle and don’t even recognize it as a miracle? How often does the Hand of God move in our lives and we don’t even see Him at work? How much do we miss because we are not looking for it? God still moves in the lives of His people but how often do His people even recognize what He is doing? The great miracle that was being performed right before their eyes as the 5,000 plus people were getting their fill, and they all missed it.

⁵²for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. ^NIV

I pray that we will not have hearts that are so hard we do not recognize our miracles as they happen, right before our eyes!

Just a thought.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High . . . Ps 91:1KJV

Where is the most secret place you know? My wife said it is her secret closet of prayer.  Where is your most secret place?  To me it is that space between my ears.  The Bible calls it “the Heart.” That place where only I have access. That place I can put things that no one will ever see or ever know unless I choose to make it known. That place in our brains that hold our very consciousness.  I don’t know of any place that is more secret than my innermost thoughts.  I can make plans for the future there.  I can work out problems there, if the problems are simple enough.  I can also reason out the puzzles in life that cloud my view.

Many of the problems that invade my secret place are the ones I have introduced, either by chance or on purpose.  Some are thoughts that I have taken into my secret place and hoped to solve without anyone helping. As I grow older I can see how foolish this is.  So, along the way I invited Jesus to come in and help me with my secret place. It has now become HIS secret place. I don’t have to tell Him my secrets because when I invited Him in he saw how I was.  He did not condemn but rather forgave the wrong and made a straight path to follow, with Him in the lead.

There are times when I have to renew my secret place and the upkeep is constant.  I read God’s word and mediate on it.  I listen to my favorite hymn music or I go to church or bible studies so that I can reinforce my secret place that I have given to Him.  Jesus never took my secret place by force he knocked on the door, one day, and I let Him in.  He sits on the throne of my secret place because I actively want Him to.  If I get too involved in too many things that take away from my fellowship with Him, I begin to feel insecure.  My judgment becomes clouded and my way seems unsure.  Doubt is not far behind!

He tells us to pray without ceasing and I know that He is not kidding because when our prayer life suffers the attention it deserves we suffer spiritually.

What’s in your secret place?

Just a thought

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind…NIV Phil 3:13

After his small sailboat sank in the Atlantic, Steve Callahan spent 76 days in a five-foot inflatable raft, drifting 1800 miles before his rescue.

If you can imagine being in a small boat 1000 miles from any land, in any direction, and not even be in a shipping lane of any kind, adrift.  No hope of being rescued. I wonder at the helplessness of that feeling.

I wonder if we are not in just such a place with our sea of past memories. We seem not to be able to shake our past experiences. Our  disappointments, shortcomings and failures.  The sharks of mistakes, people we’ve hurt, wrong turns in our life directions, wrong decisions, misdeeds, are circling our boat continually.  The sea of past memory will devour all our life if we are not careful.

The right things to remember are those experiences that bring a smile to our face.  Our children, the people we love, the people who love us.  Especially, and specifically, the love God has shown us on many occasions. It is most profitable to rehearse the times God has intervened in our lives by answering our many prayers. How about times when God gave us blessing we didn’t ask for?

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. ^{Phil 4:88 KJV}

Paul would have been unable to function as an apostle of Jesus Christ if he had dwelled on his past.  He understood that and so should we.

Jesus is ready to rescue us from our sea of past failures.  He wants to bring us to the land of TRUTH so that we may walk the shores of good memories with HIM! Don’t forget, Jesus doesn’t live today in our past. His rescue ship is sailing by, right now! Are you ready to be rescued?

Just a thought.

Luke 4:24

Luke 4:24. "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown.” ^NIV

It has long been a mystery to me why there are times when I have the answer for some folk’s problems.  I can see the answer in scripture.  It is as plan as the nose on your face and that can be pretty plain.  Why is it that when there are such simple answers that people feel that the answer has to be much more complicated?

God’s answers are not complicated at all.  If I were to take all the answers to all the problems of our lives, there would not be any complex formula to the answers.  The simple answer is Jesus Christ.  He is the answer and it is so simple that many people stumble over it like it was a large log lying in the road.

However, the problem I see that is the most stunning and disheartening to me, is that we are of less help to our own family than to the rest of the world.  I would so like to help my family, especially the immediate family.  But, you know what?  Jesus had just the same problem when he began preaching. He said, "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown.” I might add “in my own house.” 

How many of us have children and grand-children and maybe even great-grand-children that are trying to find all the answers in friends, drugs, alcohol, or pleasure.  It seems that our words are of no value to their chosen lifestyle.  It breaks our hearts and leaves us very weak and perplexed as to just what to do.  I know all these feelings all too well.  But, I maintain that we must follow scripture when dealing with these issues.  The prodigal son was left alone until…HE… decided he had had enough of that kind of life.

People who have been into these kinds of things and then found Christ are many. I only hope we have enough grace to trust God to bring them to the end of themselves, soon.  Somehow God loves to work alone in these cases.  He doesn’t need our help.  I know that we are always on the ready to be of assistance but the genuine change can only come from Jesus Christ.  For only He can change the heart!

What I recommend is that we all pull up a chair beside Jesus and wait with Him!

Just a thought