Don't Walk; Run!

John 6:9, 12-13 (NIV) -

“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many...” When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

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Howdy everyone, hope you've all had a good start to your week! I know I have. Praise God, got a little something to share with you again.

My morning was quite restful today - that is, until it wasn't. I slept in, I read a devotion, I spent some time in prayer and reflection. These are all important things which revitalise me and prepare me to face my day and week with God by my side, so I'm not facing it alone. However, I spent so long enjoying this time that I only left myself 15 minutes to have a shower, get dressed, grab some fruit from my fridge for breakfast, and get out the house so I could be on my bus to church and arrive on time. I frantically races through the last parts of my morning routine and left my house with 2 minutes to make a 5 minute walk, leaving me with no other options than to run and pray.

As I began to run down my street and around the corner, the story of Joshua asking God to pause the sun in the sky came to mind and I found myself wishing for a similar miracle (check out Joshua 10:1-14 for that crazy story). Of course, I knew it was a little vain to ask God to pause time just so I could catch the bus I was running late for on account of my own poor preparation, so I settled with simply asking God to slow down the bus so I could arrive before it did. As I came out onto the road where my bus stop was, I saw it approaching the stop before mine, leaving me with enough time to cross the road and get to my stop just in time.

Not only that, but as I arrived at church, I glanced at my watch and noticed that I had arrived half an hour earlier than I had planned to. God had not just enabled me to arrive with time to spare as I had intended - He had made a way for me to arrive with time in abundance. As I thanked God for these kindnesses, He pointed out to me that if I had walked to my stop instead of running, I wouldn't have arrived with any time at all, even though He had delayed my bus. This statement struck me, and it got me thinking.

In our lives and our ministries (and make no mistake, we all have a ministry, a sphere of influence within which we are called to lead people to Christ) we are called to run in tandem with God, partnering with Him in His grand mission to reach the world with His love. God requires us to bring what we can, to contribute our portion out of the gifts, talents, resources, personality, and experiences He has given us. If we are lazy or halfhearted in doing this - if we walk instead of run - then we will miss out on the amazing things God has intended for us to receive because we weren't willing to put in the effort and play our part. When this happens, we are not the only ones who miss out - the people around you are, the ones who don't know Christ yet, or the ones who do but are on the verge of giving up and turning away because they have faced so much opposition from the world and the Enemy.

On the other hand, when we choose to run - to bring the best of ourselves to God, lay it at His feet, and let Him lead us in life and ministry - He multiplies our offering and turns it into something miraculous. He uses us to speak hope and life over people, to encourage the church, to feed those who are hungry for the love of Jesus, to witness and sometimes even deliver His miracle-working power in people's lives. He works in, through, and for us to change lives through the power of the Gospel, and everyone (including you) benefits from it.

As I've been reflecting on this throughout the day, I've felt God also point me to the Feeding of the 5000. As John describes in the passage above, a young boy decided to bring the best of what he had to offer to Jesus out of what God had given him, and the result was one of the greatest miracles of Jesus' ministry. People were fed both physically and spiritually, and the boy who brought 5 loaves went home with 12 baskets - not just food to spare, but food in abundance. If you want to see an incredible visual demonstration of this scene from Scripture, I recommend you watch S3E8 of The Chosen (an incredible show that I cannot advocate for enough)!

However, there is one other aspect of this story which I think is important to keep in mind here. After bringing his offering to Jesus, the boy didn't try to do a miracle with it himself - he trusted Jesus to do that part, because only Jesus is the one who can do miracles. Similarly, in my own situation this morning, once I arrived at the bus stop, I didn't have to run after the bus to try and chase it all the way to the church - I only had to get on it and let it carry me to my destination. Running in tandem with God requires two things - that we bring our part, and that we trust God to bring His. Once we have done our part, we need to be willing to let go and allow Jesus to do the rest of the work, because it is only when we do that that we will see miracles occur.

In your own life, maybe there is a friend or family member who you have been praying would come to Christ over months and years. Maybe there has been a vision God has placed on your heart for a ministry He wants you to begin, or a career path He wants you to take, or a relationship that He wants you to invest in, and you have done everything that is within your power to move towards seeing that vision fulfilled, but now you've hit a roadblock and you aren't sure where to go anymore. This was the case for me at the beginning of last year - God had put a vision on my heart for a new ministry He wanted me to start in my home church, and for 6 months I had been slowly researching and compiling and preparing, but time and time again I felt as though I had hit a roadblock. Then, while reading, God challenged me to throw away all I had prepared up to that point and start from scratch with a new plan He was going to give me. 6 months of work were discarded, and within 3 days had been replaced with a more focused, intentional, powerful, effective structure that came out of 15-20 minutes of listening to God and writing down what He showed me each day. From there, He opened door after door, and I am now at a point where I have been running this ministry from 3 school terms and am ready to revise and refine it so I can improve it moving forward. I have seen young people baptised as a result of coming through this course - lives being changed, and it's all because I was willing to put my hand to the vision God had placed in me, then step back and let Him carry me the rest of the way for His sake.

As you go into this week, I encourage you to consider what your 5 loaves and 2 fish are. What are the dreams God has given you? Who is in your sphere of influence who you can reach out to with the love and message of Christ? Who are the people who God has placed on your heart to pray and intercede for, that they may encounter Jesus and find healing, wholeness, and true identity? Reflect on these questions, write down what you see and what you feel God is saying to you, and ask Him to help you run with it, offering yourself to God wholeheartedly so that He may use you to touch lives, change hearts, and see everyday miracles take place - most of all, so that He may use you to bring glory to His mighty, wonderful Name.