Enough - The One Year Praying the Promises of God

They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers.

Matthew 14:20

Tucked away in the middle of a story about Jesus feeding a crowd with a few fish and a little bread is a sentence that encompasses what Jesus wants to reveal about himself. It’s something we can count on in our lives. He takes “not enough” and makes it “more than enough.” He not only meets our needs but also fills us to overflowing so we can reach out to others in need.

Jesus had been teaching the people and healing those who needed it. The disciples came to him and suggested that he send the crowd away to buy themselves something to eat. Imagine their surprise when Jesus said, “That isn’t necessary—you feed them” (v. 16). The disciples had already taken stock of the situation, and they knew they did not have the resources to meet the need. So Jesus is teaching his disciples, “It’s not what you have, it’s who I AM that defines the situation.”

He could fulfill his purposes in this world without you, but instead he chooses to do it through you. Why? Because his “power works best in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). When his power operates in your weakness, there is no explanation left except that the power of Christ rests on you. The “enough” is not in what we bring him; the “enough” is in him.

Is there a situation in your life that you have been defining in terms of what you have instead of in terms of who Christ is? You’ve already inventoried what you lack. Start again. Now take what you have—little, inadequate, and not enough—and ask him to multiply it. Step out in obedience just as you would if you knew you were fully supplied, because you are.

Jesus, I am trusting that the “enough” is in you. I will walk in the faith that you will supply all that is needed—and even enough to flow through me to others.

We sometimes fear to bring our troubles to God, because they must seem small to Him who sitteth on the circle of the earth. But if they are large enough to vex and endanger our welfare, they are large enough to touch His heart of love. For love does not measure by a merchant’s scales, not with a surveyor’s chain. It hath a delicacy . . . unknown in any handling of material substance.

R. A. Torrey(1856–1928), American evangelist, pastor, and writer