John 6: 1-21

 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), ² and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. ³ Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. ⁴ The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages^[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

⁸ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

¹² When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” ¹³ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, ¹⁷ where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. ¹⁸ A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. ¹⁹ When they had rowed about three or four miles,^[b] they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. ²⁰ But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” ²¹ Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

Jeremiah 32:27
“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

Genesis 18:14
¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
Jeremiah 32:17
¹⁷ “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

Matthew 19:26
²⁶ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Are you doubting that God will come through for you?  Maybe you have been praying and praying for something and you see no signs or evidence that God is going to come through for you this time.  Well, I want to encourage you with something that encouraged me today.

The passage of scripture that was in my Bible Study this morning was John 6:1-21. It is a very familiar passage for most of us, but for some reason I had a light bulb moment this morning when I was reading it again. Don’t you just love how God highlights what we need to see, just when we need to see it.

In this passage a large crowd of thousands had gathered around Jesus.   Jesus knew that they had to be hungry, so He asked his disciples about food to feed them.  They clearly were not prepared to feed this many people.  Andrew, one of His disciples, told Jesus that there was a young boy there with five small barley loaves of bread and two fish. From their perspective I am sure that this looked impossible.  But Jesus took the five loaves of bread and those two fish and fed thousands.  This was truly a miracle being performed right before their very eyes in real time.

Ladies, from your perspective do things look impossible for you right now?   What God reminded me of this morning, is that what looks impossible to me, is totally possible with Him.  If He can provide nourishment for over five thousand with five barley loaves and two fish, surely he is capable of working a miracle for me also. I just have to believe and not doubt.

 Also remember this is the same Man that parted the Red Sea so Moses and the Israelites could walk across on dry land.  It is also the same God that created the Universe from nothing and raised Lazarus from the dead. So what on earth are we worried about? I think that it is absolutely safe to say that He can handle whatever we bring before Him today. He’s got us!   Keep doing what you already know that He has called you to do and trust Him for what you cannot see yet.

This week the breaking news on every channel was the big winter storm that would hit half of the country.  According to the weathermen, whether snow, sleet or ice, almost every state in the south as well as states on the east coast would be impacted by this big storm.

With this news came sheer panic.  The grocery stores could not keep up with the demands of their customers.  The shelves in the grocery stores became bare very quickly.  My husband went to a couple of large grocery stores and there were so many people shopping that there were no shopping carts available in the parking lots.  I guess the thought of running out of food after three to four days made everyone panic. Generators, flash lights, batteries, candles, matches, chargers, water, toilet paper and anything else that you can think of, were flying off the shelves.  All of this was in preparation for what was to come.

I couldn’t help but think of another main event that is to occur at some point in time.   And that event is the return of Christ.  Wouldn’t it be great if in preparation for this event that the Christian Bookstores would sell out of Bibles like the grocery stores sold out of food and supplies?  Wouldn’t it be great if the churches were packed out with people every Sunday morning like they were in the grocery store lines?  And it would really be great if we would share the Gospel the way we shared the weather report.  Maybe more people would be able to join us in heaven.