GIFTS & GRACE

GIFTS & GRACE,    “WORTH CONSIDERING”   4/28/20,    From   Ken<><

Today’s Scripture      (In my e basket this morning from Texas.)
“…Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?…”  (John 6:9, NIV)

Truly Fulfilled
In today’s Scripture, a little boy had a sack lunch—five loaves of bread and two fish. Nothing much. Yet when thousands of people were hungry, Jesus took his lunch, multiplied it, and fed the whole crowd. Think about the boy’s mother who made the lunch. She was a homemaker raising a child without a title or acclaim. But titles don’t bring fulfillment. Keeping up with your neighbors doesn’t bring happiness. Trying to impress your friends will make your life miserable, but understanding your assignment and being comfortable with who God made you to be are what bring true fulfillment.

Don’t discount the gift God has given you. Are you secure enough to play the role that God has given you? Are you comfortable enough to not have to be number one, to have the title, to keep up with others? The beauty of our God is that He has given every one of us a specific gift and purpose.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that the gifts You have given me are custom-made. Thank You that You have matched me for what You want me to do, and I have exactly what I need to fulfill Your plan for my life. I declare that I am content with my assignment. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

Ken’s Thoughts,
So we are considering obedience here.   By the scripture concerning the boy, seems that he must have offered his 2 fish and 5 small loaves as concerning the need in obedience to the Holy Spirit.  Most may have thought, “They came without food? Their Problem!”    The unnamed boy must have been caught up by the concern of the disciples of Jesus concerning the need and off hand confessed, “ I have a little.”  But obvious to all not nearly enough. 

It is about here that we usually pack our little lunch and find something else to do.  Let someone else feed the world or try to save the lost.  We only have enough for ourselves.  If God loves them then HE can feed and save them.   I have my favorite show to watch tonight and I have had a hard day trying to get others to do what they ought to do.  I have my own issues and my own security and my own comfort zone to be concerned about.  See ya latter….

But then there is the grace of God that works by faith that we need to learn more about.  I can remember back at Lighthouse Ranch that one evening more hippies showed up for our free dinner than we had ever seen before.  We were in a corner, not near enough food…  We said, OK LORD, the rest is up to you, we will feed till it is all gone and prayed.  Guess what, we also had left over stew the next day.  But this was a ministry of believers that were of one mind and one spirit and we only used the New Testament for our Spiritual Manuel.  And it worked.  Just like John 17:20-26.   We had done all that we knew to do.   Free non-saleable from Safeway produce, Beef at  .15 cent a # neck bones as butcher did not like to take the time to extract the beef.  Gov. surplus flour and butter.   Free day old bread from a bakery.   70+ people were fed for less than about $15.  All we had to do was to collect it for the 6 PM meal time and invite those who came to enjoy our 7PM Fellowship as per 1 Cor.14:26-33 & Eph.4:11-16… simple following the pattern given to Moses as followed by the Early Church in Acts 2:37-47.  A casual walk through the tabernacle in the wilderness.  Church is not a theater as we normally do today which is very safe.  But it was a forum which is explosive and like popcorn, you never know what is going to happen.  You simply try to keep up with and flow in the Holy Spirit.  No gathering is ever the same.   I had to repent one time for jumping track to my little flock, and the meeting ended in bringing a hard headed Jew to repentance and making Jesus LORD.  When the Holy Spirit is in charge there is much joy, peace, excitement and power flowing during the time of the gathering.  I can remember folks coming a 5 PM as to not miss anything and gathering lasting till 3 AM as very few wanted to go home.  It is time to put the Holy Spirit back in charge of the LORD’s CHURCH as that is HIS ministry and what HE was supposed to do.  We have reorganized HIS Church to be both safe and boring.  And we have modified HIS Truth to be more acceptable to us.  The darkness is getting much darker but Praise The Lord, HIS LIGHT is getting much brighter.  Want to enjoy living with the Creator?  Better do some really good time checking out your doctrine in your Bible, especially concerning leadership & structure.  It is not top down authority, it is bottom up,   Like with Jesus…

Yours, in HIS great love and wonderful grace and mercy,    Ken<><   www.Trinity-Aloha.org

“I can’t help but see a parallel in which our Heavenly Father is disciplining His children whom He loves. It seems to me that our Abba (Dad) has sent us to our room to re-evaluate our attitude and behavior, and hopefully to read and meditate on His Book in a quiet time separated from the world and our normal frantic activities.  He’s giving us time to re-evaluate our lives, draw near to Him, seek and pray to Him to better understand the serious times in which we’re living, and prepare…for what we’re called to do for the Kingdom in the coming days. George, Baht Rivka”    worthybrief@worthynetwork.com