John 6:1-15
 
 
 
As we move on in this year, we are all expectant of better and new things and or God making things better for us. I believe with all my heart that God is going to do this for us. However, I do not want us to loose focus of the ways of our Father. Religion has taught us that "God moves in mysterious ways" and "no one knows the ways of the Lord". None of these statements are true, by the way. The bible says that He revealed His ways to Moses and His acts to the children of Israel (Psalm103:7). Even in the old covenant, He did that, how much more for those of us under the new covenant, 1 Corinthians 2:9-15. The part that catches my attention the most is seen in 1 Corinthians 2:16
 
For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (theMessiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.
 
We have the mind of Christ and by His Spirit and from what we read in the scriptures about His past deeds, weunderstand His ways. We need to constantly reflect on that as we move on inthis year, not to put God in a box. Look for indicators of a better thing. Godis able to do great and wholesome miracles, oh yeah, He divided 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread among 5,000 men, not counting women and children, which by experience are always more than the men when it comes to following Christ (I mean, look at most churches, conferences,crusades today). The people enjoyed the food and had had more than enough.
 
Some of the things to consider in this passage are:
 
1. The miraculous always attracts the crowd. The bible says in verse 2 of this scripturet hat a great crowd of PEOPLE followed Him. This is the year that a great crowd will follow you to your God because of the miracles that He will perform in your life in Jesus Name.
 
2. Jesus always has a plan.Jesus asked Philip if there was somewhere to buy food but vs.6 says that He already had in mind what He was going to do. Jesus is never caught unawares inany situation. He always knows what to do, and because we have the mind o fChrist, the Word of God and His Spirit, we will always know what to do this year in Jesus Name.
 
3.  Obedience is the key to the miraculous. In verse 10, The Lord Jesus instructed the disciples to tell the people to sit down in order to be served, and verse 11 says that the food was distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. Mind you, this was not in a house with carpet or cushioned chair or any kind of chair for that matter. It was at the sea shore full of sand that these people had to sit down.For the bible to say the food was given to those that were seated, it must be that some people refused to be seated on the dirty ground. God will ask you todo some things this year that may not be glamorous or comfortable, but remember, obedient is the key. Notice also that He did not give the instruction directly to the people, He asked His disciples to tell them to seat, He could have raised His voice and say, "I need you all to sit down now" and the people would have known that the Man in charge was speaking, but He did not. They still had to obey.
 
Note also that the people were not told why they were asked to be seated, because the miracle did not happen until the distribution started. Sometimes, the instructions may not make sense, or you may not know why God tells you to do something, do it anyway. If it is God, then it is good.
 
4.  There is always enough and more withJesus.  Verse12 says that "when they had all had enough to eat". When you are withthe El Shaddai, there is always enough. I want to charge you to begin to trust Him for your sufficiency this year. Psalm 23:5 says that "You prepare a table before me..."  What is on that table? Divine health, provision,protection, salvation, deliverance from oppression...it does not matter the fiscal cliff or the recession, there is a table of abundance that has been set before us this year and we will dine until we have enough in this year in JesusName.
 
5. Gather the fragments.  What isinteresting here is that our Lord never forgot the fragments. He told the disciples to gather the fragment so that nothing  be wasted. One of the ways of our Lord is that He can make basketfuls out of fragments.
 
Thinking about this, a lot of us are so focused on the big miracles that we forget the fragments. The fragments are the"small" miracles and promises that we do not pay attention to and could ultimately lead us to the "big" miracles. What I am saying is, don't run away with the big miracle and forget the fragments. If The Lord has given you a breakthrough in an area, look around you for fragments from that breakthrough that will amount to a bigger miracle. Because fragments of miracles are miracles as fragments of fish sandwiches are fish sandwiches.
 
Characteristics of fragments:
 
1. Fragments take time and effort to fill the basket.  Sometimes you need to search for the fragment to locate it.
 
2. Fragments are not always together. The same thing with the extras of miracles of God, it is our responsibility to locate them and put them together. This also takes time, effort and yielding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
 
3. Fragments are not always attractivebecause they are left- over, but the left-over of a miracle in your life is a miracle and it can keep multiplying!
 
Our prayers ought to be that The Lord will show us the fragments from our miracles so that nothing will be wasted in our lives.
 
As you are looking unto God this year, He begins to do better things in our lives, let us think about these things and do not forget the fragments!
 
 
 
Blessings
 
Pastor D