Faith That Multiplies

Faith That Multiplies

“Bring them here,” he said. Matthew 14:18

THE CROWDS SWARMED WITH SPIRITUAL HUNGER to a remote area to hear Jesus’ teaching and experience God’s power. Now they were physically hungry, and no supplies were in sight. Rather than sending them away, Jesus told the disciples to feed them. But the only food the disciples knew of was five small loaves of bread and two fish. For Jesus, that was enough. He told them to bring what was available as a launching point for making more available.

That visual example is a great illustration of the description of faith in Hebrews 11:1. The bread and fish really were the “substance” or “evidence” of things hoped for yet still unseen. They were a taste of the bigger picture, the down payment of a miracle, the seed that would grow into a great harvest. The same is true of our faith. From a sample we get an abundance—if we know how to sow it into the ground as seeds for the coming fruitfulness. We take what we have and give it to Jesus, just as the disciples did. But we also hear from Jesus the promise that we can do the same. The Lord who said, “You feed them” (verse 16), is the Lord who hands us the raw materials of a miracle and tells us to believe.

When you find yourself in an overwhelming situation, with a need far greater than current provision, don’t dismiss that provision. Take it to Jesus. Tell him what you have and hand it over. By faith, embrace the assignment to make much out of a little, to sow seeds of need and desire into the soil of his Kingdom and insist that they grow. Where physical sight sees physical limitations, faith sees Kingdom realities, where all things are abundant and promises are available for the taking. By faith, refuse to leave them in the storehouse of heaven. Become a distributor of Kingdom gifts, feed multitudes, and satisfy the hunger of your world. You get to enjoy the meal too—without restraint. And all who eat will be filled with the goodness of God.

One of the words very frequently used of these miracles in the Gospels is the ordinary term “works.” They were the natural and necessary outcome of his life.