Feeding 5,000 Dear Friends, thank you to those who prayed for us during the recent severe weather! Praise the Lord for safety, for me and Brook Cherith. It was definitely a long, late night keeping track of the storms, with a bunch of thunder and gusty winds; but the Lord directed through the storm. We only lost power for about two hours. Now to catch up on some sleep! :-D It's also hard to believe that it's only been a week since our last post! Soooo much has happened at this incredible high watch time! It really feels like we've squeezed two weeks into one! Praise the Lord for all that He is doing at this time! Especially to see the numerous divine opportunities, His hand leading, and amazing answers to prayer all tell us that time is super short!! There is great peace - but also great urgency! I'm not going to write a novel going into a lot of details; but suffice to say, the Lord has answered several prayer requests this past week - within hours of our prayer team discussing or being briefed on the needs!! Firstly, last weekend, we were led to prepare a potential bulk storage area at the Brook Cherith medical missions center, and also some major cleaning/rearranging of the Kitchen Pantry, making room for more potential supplies. I say potential because we did not have the supplies; but those needs were on our top five list (see website). Well, Sunday evening, I briefed our prayer team on the progress for the rooms, and that they were ready. One of my constant quotes is to stay busy while we wait! Until the Lord directs or provides the major things that only He can do, we should always stay busy with what we can do. We go forward in faith! Well, praise the Lord, only a few hours later, a few donations quickly came in that - combined - allowed us to meet four of our five top needs!!! We were able to purchase a good amount of quick foods, bottled water, and some important medical supplies that we were really short on! Two truckloads of food and bottled water! - AND the Lord directed the timing of it all, that the donations for these supplies came in immediately after the rooms were ready for them!! He gives wisdom for the steps we need to take - knowing full well what He will do if we are faithful! Then, Tuesday night, I casually remarked that we really needed a chest freezer, especially to prevent premature spoilage of some of the food types that we had (and also for longer-storage needs). The very next day, the Lord led me to a just-posted free ad on our local online classified ads, where someone was giving away a small chest freezer!! For free! And the exact size that I had in mind for our pantry space! And when I picked it up, the guy also gave me two good Rubbermaid shelf storage closets! Then, the Lord directed Thursday through Saturday, to provide the funds and wisdom to finish a wheelchair accessible restroom area! And right as soon I got to the extent that I could do - with the supplies at hand - the Lord immediately brought in the exact donation amount to get the few important plumbing supplies to finish the task!! Several times this week, it's been the widow's mites that have finished important major projects! Praise Him for His amazing leading, directing, strengthening, and providing!! He does not always answer in the way that we expect; but we can clearly see His hand at work directing for what needs to be done. And the quickness of the answers to our prayers hugely underscored the urgency of this time - that God wants these jobs done quick!! Praise Him for the significant bolstering of the most-needed areas for this medical missions center. Certainly they can be bolstered more; but it greatly comforts us that their most immediate needs are addressed and mitigated. One of Christ's more notable miracles has been constantly on my mind this entire week, especially when seeing how the Lord so quickly used faithful fellow servants to be a part of what He was orchestrating: the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:3-13). Please take time to refresh yourself on its details. Even though Christ had thousands of followers and 'viewers', only 1 singular lad stepped forward when a need was made known. Christ took a $5 offering to multiply it over 5,000 times. Scripture tells us that Christ already knew what He was going to do when He put forth the need... Over and over again, this week, I have seen the Lord use singular faithful offerings to be specific answers to prayer in the amazing and miraculous work that He is doing in our very day. This week. To day. Friend, God is doing a work in OUR (you, me - our channel) corner of the vineyard, in this very late hour. We can see how His work ties into the prophetic focus and understanding that He has had us study in tandem. They go together. All that Christ desires is faithfulness. The amounts do not matter; He does the multiplying. It is humbling to see the amount of food that was purchased this week, and that it helps provide close to 5,000 food servings!!! The fellow servants who stepped forward with their loaves and fishes was a very small number; yet, God used them to be part of a larger miracle. How many divine opportunities - miracles - do we miss out on - even though we have seen Him work hitherto? I've said this before, because it is true: when giving to the Lord, the amounts do not matter - it's the faithfulness and heart that He is looking at. Do you think it peculiar that the majority of examples Christ cites about giving are extremely, extremely small amounts - two pence, two mites, five loaves and fishes - a cup of cold water? Christ already knows that He can multiply any amount by over 5,000. Easy. He just wants strong faithfulness of our ability. One thing that should catch our attention, with the account of the feeding of the 5,000, is that the lad did not lose anything - he still got his lunch; Christ gave it back to him - as He used it. Anything we invest toward eternity will never be lost - only multiplied. In the parable of the talents - where Christ described how His kingdom will operate - the two servants that invested the talents got to not only keep the talents, but also the interest earned - and rich rewards on top of that! The one servant who did not want to invest, lost not only the potential reward, but also the potential interest - and he lost the talent, too. "Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents." - Matt 25:27-28 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." - Matt 6:19-21 Friend, that verse and promise had special meaning for me especially this week. You see, we needed the chest freezer to (largely) keep out pantry moths from the grain foodstuffs. The storage areas were needed because another storage area suffers too much moisture - causing food cans to rust. Investments of time, work, and money - for the Lord - laid up eternal treasure for those faithful servants who were a part of this week's miracles. Friend, when we know the time, we should be all the more bolder to go forward!! We know the voice of the Bridegroom that calls us! We stay busy while we wait - occupying ourselves with the King's business till He comes! We redeem the time, for we know how little of it we have left. Please keep me and this ministry in prayer, for wisdom, strength, provision, and liberty. Thank you!! Let us be found Wise. Faithful. Vigilant. Sober. Provoking. Encouraging. Uplifting. Occupying. May the Lord impress upon you the wisdom for the steps He would have you to take, the strength to go forward one step at a time, and the liberty to go in the way He would have you to serve. Go forward! Maranatha!!! |
