Morning by Morning, January 30 - "You Feed Them"
"Late in the afternoon (Jesus') disciples came to Him and said, 'This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.' But Jesus said, 'You feed them.' 'With what?' they asked. 'We'd have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!' 'How much bread do you have?' He asked, 'Go and find out.' They came back and reported, 'We have five loaves of bread and two fish.' Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, He kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed" (Mark 6:35-4 NLT).
When You said to Your first disciples, "You feed them," You never intended for them to do the work of ministry alone or apart from You. They needed one another and they needed You. And at the same time, You never intended to feed the people and do the work of ministry Yourself apart from them. You fed the people through them--by Your power through their service--not just by Your power alone and not just through their service alone, but by Your power and through their service working together in the ministry of Your power and love.
And so You continue Your ministry today--by Your power and through our service. We are the "body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:17). We have the "Spirit of Christ" within us (Romans 8:9). And together, we continue the "ministry of Christ" (Romans 16:3). It's not by our power, but by Yours. You still send us to "go feed them"--to go feed the "Bread of Life" we all desperately need and You passionately long to give though all who would go in Your name to serve Your people in Your power and love (John 6:35). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Tommy, I pray you are filled afresh everyday with the Spirit of Christ to go and serve and share the Bread of Life in the power of Christ to those in your life who desperately need it, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!
Friends, I welcome you to join with me in a daily journey of passionate, pursuing prayer through my 365 Day Prayer Devotional, Morning by Morning, Second Edition, for a deeply intimate and personal journey of prayer each day.
https://www.amazon.com/Morning-Daily-Prayer-Journey-Second/dp/1540466922/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1515422684&sr=8-2
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
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