DiscipleTips – Look for Opportunities to Join God

21 Monday Jan 2013

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D L Moody quote, doing the impossible, feed the people, feeding the 5000, God doing the supernatural through us, God sized opportunity, God's invitation, John 6:6, joining God, Mark 10:27, separate of God's intervention, the word has yet to see

When Jesus asked the disciples to “feed the people“, the disciples only saw the problems this request created for them personally. Their problem was not with the dilemma Jesus presented, but with the way they processed the God sized opportunity. They had not yet grabbed onto the fact that Jesus was inviting them to join Him in His work. They thought they had to accomplish this task in their own power and with their current resources. They were thinking, “We can’t do this. It’s impossible!” But remember, Jesus already had in mind what He was going to do. (John 6:6)

We often forget when God speaks, He always reveals what He is going to do…. not what He wants us to do. We join Him so He can work through us. We don’t join the Lord’s work so that we are personally the answer. This is why Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)

The disciples had already seen Jesus do marvelous works all in supernatural ways. But now, when opportunity knocked, it didn’t even enter into their minds that maybe, just maybe, God wanted to do something miraculously and supernaturally through them. Do these types of thoughts ever enter in your thinking? I have to admit when God calls me into some activity, most of my thoughts are about me… not what the Lord wants to do.

Now if the disciples pooled all their money and passed the hat among the crowd that day, they may have had enough money to buy some food for at least a portion of the people. In so doing, those who were provided for could say, “ Aren’t the disciples devoted and committed followers of Jesus. What a kind and wonderful ministry these men did for us. They are so nice.” However, none of those people would have explained it in terms of what God had done. The disciples would have accomplished it completely separate of God’s intervention.

However, the Lord isn’t interested in just feeding people’s bellies for a day. He wants to feed their souls and spirits for eternity. The only way a crowd of 5,000 will be able to know “God was at work” through the disciples was for them to allow Jesus to operate in a supernatural way which far exceeded the disciple’s power or resources.

Blessings,

Pastor

DiscipleTips – Problems Are Opportunities In Disguise

15 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by eisakouo in Discipletips

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a crisis of belief, big assignment, changing the way disciples think, christianity, decision, experiencing God, feed the people, feeding the 5000, God sized assignment, Henry Blackaby quote, John 6:6, Luke 9, missed Gods will, new levels of spiritual growth, small character, spiritual knowledge, spiritual opportunity to grow, the Lords testing process

How is the Lord going to move you to new levels of growth and maturity? Most of the believers I know want to grow in the Lord. Is the growth going to happen by sitting in pews hearing sermon after sermon? Is growth really going to happen in Bible Study? Nothing wrong with attending church… but real growth and advancement in the Kingdom occurs due to the Lord’s testing process.

After one long day of teaching, Jesus looked upon His disciples and instructed them to “feed the people” He had been instructing. John gave us some inside information into the disciples dilemma. “Jesus made this request only to test them, for He already had in mind what he was going to do.” John 6:6

Jesus wanted to change the way His disciples thought, the way they processed information, the way they dealt with dilemmas… and most importantly what they believed concerning God’s power to minister to people. The Lord wanted his followers to understand that many of the dilemmas they faced were really opportunities for Him to reveal Himself to people.

Isn’t this the problem for most of us. When the Lord asks us to attempt something we are incapable of accomplishing, we misinterpret the situation and view it as an attack or curse. In Luke 9 there was absolutely no way the disciples could feed all the people. There was not enough money, not enough food on hand, and it was very late in the day.

Henry Blackaby, in his book “Experiencing God“, calls these situations “a crisis of belief.” Have you ever been there? If you are growing in the Lord, this should be happening numerous times a year. Now there is no question this was a God-sized assignment Jesus laid on His disciples. They had never walked this road before… and if the Lord didn’t intervene, they would fail and fall flat on their faces.

Please understand that this is the place where many (most) followers bail out. The Lord lays a God-sized assignment before them and they say, “I’m sorry, but I can’t”, which leads to “a crisis of belief”. The word “crisis” comes from a word which means “decision.” This crisis of belief becomes a turning point or fork in the road which demands a decision from us. Will we trust the Lord or shrink back? We don’t tell God… “no“. We say things like…”This can’t be God’s will. God wouldn’t be instructing me to do the impossible. I must have missed God’s will. The devil must have tricked me.”

It is in these crisis junctures where you decide what you believe about God and how you are going to respond to Him. How you respond when you reach this turning point will determine whether you go on to be involved with Him in something God-sized or whether you miss the opportunity the Lord has placed before you.

It has been these specific crisis of belief points which have defined your spiritual walk so far… not the amount of spiritual knowledge rolling around in your head. You don’t need more knowledge. You need to be responding in faith to opportunities God has already been placing before you. God’s presence and power only follows our obedience to His word and assignment.

Blessings,

Pastor