Tag: loaves and fishes

Don’t Give Up, Get Up!

Jennifred Jones

It’s so easy to give up. All you have to do is do nothing! What more could you do?

But the law of sowing and reaping says that if you sow watermelon seeds, you’ll get watermelons, if you plant apple trees, you’ll get apples, and if you plant nothing, you’ll get nothing.

There’s a certain something about working for what you get that has a way of rewarding you that nothing else can. No free handout, no check from the relatives feels quite as good as obtaining it by your own two hands! God said He would bless the works of our hands, so we do the work, and He will bless and prosper it, to cause increase so our needs will be met…whatever need it is that needs to be done or had at the moment, whether it’s getting the bed made, your garage swept, your closet cleaned, or your  resume updated.

Of course, the Bible says, “the poor you shall always have with you”,  yes, there are some who are unable to help themselves for one reason or another and we need to help them, and feel for them, and pray for them, but for the rest of us, we can be confident that whatever God has given us capabilities to do, He will bless them and provide for us through them, and even have left over to help meet the needs of others….remember the story of the little boy’s lunch of fish and bread that Jesus prayed over and divided to feed not just one small boy, but over 5000 men, plus women and children!  And then they had baskets and baskets of food left over. Jesus was not stingy! Jesus did this twice to prove He cares about people, their hunger, their needs, their lunch, as well as their spirit.

If we can get a handle on how much Jesus really does love us, not only in word, but in deed, it will revolutionize our thinking and we won’t be among the ‘giver-uppers’, we’ll belong to the ‘get-uppers’!

Because if God will help us and grant us success, we just won’t want to give up. Once we get moving and start seeing good fruit developing in our lives, and progress being made by our own two hands, we won’t want to remain seated any longer!

Let the excitement begin!!!

The Power of Your Story

Jennifred Jones

People say there’s power in your story.

“But I’m just one person, how can that make a difference?” “I haven’t lived any special kind of life. Nothing significant about me that I can think of…I haven’t won any medals, or rescued anybody from drowning. I haven’t even got a college diploma. I’m just a mom, or I’m just a cashier, or I’m just a mechanic, or I’m just a factory worker, a skilled laborer going to work on third shift for the last 30 years. What kind of story is that?”

God has done something in your life that is worth sharing and that is the foundation of your story.

A little boy shared his loaves and fishes with Jesus, and Jesus used it to feed 5,000 people. We’re still remembering that important story. Hungry people need to be fed; feed their bodies first and then their souls will want to hear from God.

The woman at the well met Jesus and was amazed how He knew all about her past and her many, many husbands, yet he cared enough to talk to her, a woman no respectable person would spend time with. He sought her out. That became her story and she ran back to town and said to the men to come see the man who told her everything she’d ever done, and they went out of the town and came to see Him…all by the power of her story. (John 4:27-30)

The man born blind, in John 9 was healed. He went and told everyone his story. His neighbors asked him what had happened. They had seen him as a beggar all his life and now he was washed, clean and walking around seeing everything. He told them the story. They wouldn’t believe it. The religious leaders didn’t believe either, but that didn’t cancel out his story. God did it to show He is a loving, caring God. Although many wouldn’t believe, some did. His story mattered. It mattered to him. It mattered to God. He believed and was healed. Others could have been healed too- if they chose to believe.

The little Israelite girl, who had been captured by the Arameans in Elisha’s time was made servant to Naaman’s wife. Naaman was a leper. This brave, caring little girl said to his wife, “I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy.” 2 Kings 5:3 (NASB) She took her story of Elisha being able to pray for lepers and shared it, so Naaman could be healed. If she hadn’t shared her story he might never have recovered.

I have nothing that important to share, you say, and nobody will listen to me. If God has touched your life in any way, that’s part of your story, and it matters to God. He said, “Go tell.”

People don’t want a religion to believe, they want a reason to believe. God is that reason. We need to show people the good reasons to believe in God.

People have seen enough religion and what that has done to civilization. They need to hear your story of a powerful working God; the God who cares about His creation and came to save them from evil and help them in their daily lives. Down here. On earth. Right now. In the thick of trials, and hard family situations…not thinking they have to wait until they get to heaven before they can see God do something good for them.

They need to see a ‘today God’!

I have seen and know the ‘today God’, have you?

Talk to Him! He has time to listen.