The Master Multiplier

My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:19)

One of the most important life lessons that we must learn as disciples of Christ is this: with God all things truly are possible for those who believe. The problem is that, by nature, the way we think often does not align with the way we should be thinking in our new nature. God wants to raise our understanding above the natural to the supernatural, and the sooner we do that, the better! We are to fix our eyes on Jesus, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:2; Hebrews 12:2).

Let me ask you to consider two questions:

• How many loaves of bread does it take to feed a hundred men?
• How many loaves of bread does it take to feed more than five thousand people?

The answer, of course, depends upon who is doing the feeding. The abundance of the feeding will never be found in the number of loaves, but rather, in the nature of our Lord.

The answer to the first question is found in the Old Testament.

A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing [Elisha] the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said.

“How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked.

But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord. (2 Kings 4:42-44)

It took only twenty loaves of bread in the hand of our Lord to feed 100. The answer to the second question is found in the New Testament.

[T]he disciples came to [Jesus] and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

“Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14:15-21)

Here we read that it took only five loaves of bread in the hand of our Lord to feed more than 5,000. God has promised to meet our every need, and He will do it regardless of what resources are available to Him. The resources you have today may appear meager to you, but in the hands of the Master, they are massive and will be multiplied, not only to meet, but exceed your every need.

The key is to keep our eyes on our Savior, the Master Multiplier, not on our small supply, or we will never launch out into deep water and let down our nets for a catch.

I pray this word will encourage you to do something you have never done for the One who has never let you down. You’ll be glad you did!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!