Faith

And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

Mark 6:42-43

 

Jesus feeds the five thousand. I know you’ve probably heard the story hundreds of times throughout church. A short while after…

 

In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.

Mark 8:1-9

 

When I read this I get a little taken back by the disciples reply to Jesus. I mean surly after him feeding five thousand they wouldn’t say how can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place. But the next bit stuns me even more. Right after this they get onto a boat with Jesus and this is what happens.

 

And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Mark 8:16-21

 

It just takes me back how stupid they can actually be. Like Jesus does something that day and they still don’t believe that he can do it again. It just surprises me so much. Surely I’m not as stupid as that.. Surely I fully understand. As I said on the last post we are all eager to judge others and make excuses for ourselves so this caused me to look at myself.

I’ve had 17 main moments in my life when I have seen, hear and felt God act in ways that I cannot comprehend. They were all moments when I was just blown away. Apart from these main moments that have happened directly to me I have heard about many other times of healing and seen the results. I have had uncountable times in my life when I have had healing in smaller ways, compared to the main moments, just after prayer. I have read about all the incredible things in the Bible and what Jesus did when he was here on earth. I have saw how the Holy Spirit worked through from Genesis to the New Testament, unto the first church and I still see how he works today. I have had times of calling in my life and have saw the incredible plans that God had for me and how he made them come about, through lots of wee events that made things possible.

I must have such an incredible faith. Like I must pray and things just happen because my faith… How couldn’t I have such a great faith in God? Right? But it amazes me that I doubt so much. That even with small things in life sometimes I don’t have faith. Simple things like worrying about something or fearing something is a lack of faith. It’s me saying to God that he isn’t big enough for this problem or he isn’t big enough tackle something. There’s times when I dream about doing something and then thoughts come into my head and it’s like you can never do that. I even had doubts the day when I saw and felt God grow my leg to be the same size as the other. The exact same day I kept putting my legs together to make sure they were still the same size. There was some part of me that just couldn’t take it in. I just could understand or say, ‘okay God. I get it now and from now on I’m going to believe everything you say!’ I have such a lack of faith at times in my life. What about you? And what are you going to do about it? I know I’m going to pray!

Boldness

And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.

Mark 14:27-31

We can be tremendously bold when we don’t need to be. We can all talk the talk when nothing is going wrong. We can all make statements about how to live but we rarely live that way when we need to. Jesus tells the disciples that they will all fall away. All the disciples tell Jesus they won’t fall away. I’m going to focus on Peter more than the others because he replied back emphatically. That word means to do something in a forceful way. You get a picture of Peter saying with such passion and force, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you”. You could probably see the passion in his eyes as he said that. Though we all know what happens in the end.

And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

Mark 14:66-72

Peter had been bolder that all the other men. He had followed Jesus right to the courtyard of the high priest and he was sitting down, warming himself at the fire, with the guards (14:54). He had made it all that way not denying the name of Jesus. Then this servant girl says that he was with Jesus. Suddenly he is not comfortable anymore. A sense of trouble comes about him. He knows that not denying Jesus will have consequences. Before, he was able to be free with his words because nothing would come of them. He didn’t have to suffer because he told Jesus he would die with him. But now when the trouble was right in front of him his words might actually mean death for him. Maybe he had seen the young man that they had tried to seize for following Jesus. All these thoughts would have gone through his head about death. He was also sitting with guards all around him in the courtyard of the high priest. It wouldn’t have been a big bother for the guards to bring him to the high priest. They would probably have taking him straight away and put him down before Jesus.

The point is, Peter had been tremendously bold and courageous when nothing would happen to him. He would not deny Christ at any cost, even death. But when the problem faced him everything that he had once known disappeared. He denied Christ! The man that had once forcefully said he wouldn’t deny Jesus forcefully denied Jesus. Boldness and courage aren’t measured by what you say or do in the absence of troubles, but what you say or do in the presence of troubles.

We can all be like Peter. The countless times I’ve gave advice to people from the Bible in times of their trouble and yet when I go through the exact same thing I don’t know what to do. The times in church or in small groups or talking to friends that we can say I would never do that. The times when we talk about our faith in non-troubled times and tell others what we would do and how courageous we would be. The times when we look at others and judge them because they’re going through a problem and aren’t really turning to God. We are all eager to judge others and make excuses for ourselves. We are quick to forget our God when we need him the most. When trouble comes the person we once were is quick to disappear. Worry and fear come in and traumatise us. We forget our God is bigger and better than anything that faces us. We forgot to keep our eyes focused on Him. We deny Christ in our own ways. Be bold and courageous when it matters! Pray about it..

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9

Little Children and Jesus

I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. Mark 10:15

It sounds a little bit weird. If we don’t receive the kingdom of God like a little child?

Well, as you know, if you give a child something really valuable, that has been past down the family for years, such as a family jewel, they take really good care of it. They will always know where it is and will keep it nice and sparkly. They will treasure it until the time comes to pass it on down the family.

The kingdom of God is a very valuable gift, but if we do not receive it as the little child we will never get it. We should receive it as the child would receive the valuable gift. So what does that mean?

1. We should receive it thinking WOW!! Why would this person give me such a valuable thing?
2. We must protect it, not by hiding it away but protecting it by God’s love, word and Spirit. We must continually pray everyday for God to look after us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. That God will take us away from them situations were Satan tries to steal this precious gift away from us, just because he doesn’t have it.
3. We must keep it clean and sparkly. How? We must communicate with God everyday. It’s a relationship with God that gets us into heaven so we must make it a healthy relationship. I’m sure you’ve heard many people use the illustration of, ‘if I never talked to my wife/husband we wouldn’t have a very good relationship.’ So we must talk to him everyday by praying, but also listen by reading what he has to say to us in the Bible.

If we don’t take good care of this awesome gift as the child would then we shall lose it, and gain eternal death. Which one do you want?