Priscilla Shirer - Give Your Gifts to God
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Summary
Priscilla Shirer brings up a really good point about the taxing, dull seasons we all face. She likens it to the repetitive chores in The Karate Kid—God uses those exact moments to get us ready for bigger victories. In Luke 9, during the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus had already called the disciples, empowered them, and sent them out. Even when they were wiped out, He used that massive crowd not just to fill bellies, but to pull out the hidden potential they didn't realize they had, using just five loaves and two fish. The main thing to grasp here is trusting the Master’s method, giving Him our meager resources, and seeing Him multiply them beyond expectation so everyone ends up fuller than when they started.
Opening Personal Story and Encouragement
Wow, listen, don’t take your seat yet. Send back a summary, 'cause I want to pray over you. I want us all to stand together in the presence of God while I pray over you. This Saturday morning, I wanted to tell you before we pray that the last time I was with you at least four Pink Impact events ago, I sneaked into Gateway often; however, the last time I was with you at Pink Impact, we were over at the Fort Worth Convention Center. I had received a doctor’s report several weeks prior that a mass was seen on my lungs, and I had been waiting for a phone call that day because I had gotten the x-ray done again, or the CT scan done again, in hopes that it had diminished.
So, the phone rang in between sessions at Pink Impact, and they called to say my doctor, in her very calming yet concerned voice, told me that the mass had not shrunk at all and was still there. I remember feeling paralyzed, like, are you serious? You just expect them to say, «Oh, it wasn’t that, you know, no big deal.»
So that mass is still there, and I want you to know that the fact that I got that call while I was with you made all the difference because there is a protective covering, and there is a sense of truth and hope that resonates in this house and this gathering. That made me so grateful to the Lord that I got to be in this place when I got that news. I told Jim Greenwood that day, and Jan Greenwood laid her hands on me and prayed the fire of God’s Spirit down on me. Praise the Lord! In the weeks that followed, they discovered that it was benign; it was just scar tissue that settled there. But I want you to know that that uncertainty I had in that moment when I came back into the session, and I felt that uncertainty after that phone call—not knowing what in the world my life would be like in those next weeks and months—coming back into the session and hearing the truth of God and being amongst the people of God and feeling His love and hope emanating from the worship and the Word.
Listen, the reason why you are in this place today, if you’ve got some uncertainty, a phone call you’ve just gotten, a betrayal that’s just happened, or a broken heart that has become a part of your reality because of a child of yours that is struggling, or a spouse or a friend, or a phone call you just got from a doctor, I’m saying the reason why you’re in this house in this uncertain time in your life is because your God wants you to know He loves you, He is for you, and no matter what, thus far, He has got your back. Amen?
Prayer
I bring to you every single dollar that is under the sound of my voice, both in this room and on the other side of the screen, and I pray right now in Jesus' name that whatever the uncertainty is, you would cover it by the blood of Jesus. Lord, I pray that You would infuse hope where there is no hope, that You would infuse, Lord, Your love where there is a feeling of being unloved or forgotten. Lord, where there is no hope, I pray that You would bring hope and fill the hearts of Your women. Where there is discouragement, I pray that You would lift the discouragement off of somebody’s life and replace it with Your courage in Jesus' name. Lord, I pray that if there is any assignment of the enemy, that that assignment would be canceled in the name of Jesus and by His Word that has been shed on Calvary. We are in the house today for Pink Impact because we believe that You have sent us here for these days for Your purposes so that we can leave different than when we first started. Father, we believe You, we trust You with our lives, and now we come to You on this Saturday morning over your Word, fully anticipating that You have a specific word for every single person that is in the room and beyond. We are Your servants, and we are listening. Speak, Lord; speak to Your people. In Jesus' name, all God’s women agreed when they said, «Amen.» Thank You, amen.
Introduction with The Karate Kid Illustration
Take your seats, y’all. Stop crying; get yourselves together. So, in the 1980s, there was this movie that really took the entire world by storm. Everybody was talking about this movie; everybody enjoyed it and loved it so much, and it just kind of went on, so much so that 20, 25 years later, they made a remake of this film. The name of the film was «The Karate Kid.» I’m sure you saw at least the remake in 2010. I said to my boys recently, «Guys, have y’all seen 'The Karate Kid'?» and they were like, «Yeah, you know, with Will Smith’s son,» and I was like, «That one was good too, but you have to see the original version.»
As I look out at at least those of you who are gathered in this room with me, it occurs to me that many of you weren’t even born in the 1980s. I’m so troubled right now! But it was about 1985 or so when the original «Karate Kid» came out. Do you remember Daniel-san? He was being terrorized by some bullies at his school and/or in his neighborhood, and he was just trying his best to deal with them, but he wasn’t able to do it on his own. So he finds a sensei of sorts, Mr. Miyagi, and he goes to Mr. Miyagi and says, «Mr. Miyagi, I need you to train me in the art of karate so that I am able to stand firm against this enemy because they are really running me over, and I need some tactics. Can you please help me with this?»
Mr. Miyagi is a little bit reluctant and hesitant, but finally, he says, «Yes, I will take you on as a student.» So Daniel is very excited. He leaves that night after getting the yes from Mr. Miyagi, and he comes back the next day ready to learn the art of karate. Instead, Mr. Miyagi hands him two wash rags and says to him, «Wax the cars. Wax on and wax off,» and he takes him to a lot filled to capacity with cars. He says, «Wax all the cars.» So Daniel gets started. He figures he’ll do the old man a favor for a little while before they get started on the real reason why he came, so he waxes on and waxes off. Any time he gets sloppy along the way, Mr. Miyagi shows up and says, «Uh-uh, don’t do it that way, Daniel-san! Wax on and wax off.»
The day turns into evening time, and he’s finally finished with every car in the lot. He goes home, coming back the next day fully expecting and anticipating that this will be the day he learns some actual karate. Instead, Mr. Miyagi puts a paint can in one hand, a paintbrush in the other, and takes him to a wooden fence surrounding a patio. He says, «I want you to paint the fence. Paint the fence, and I don’t want you to do it any old kind of way. No, I actually want you to paint it exactly like I’ve asked you to paint it.» So he paints the short distance that exists between the beginning of the fence line and some brush trees that are there, and he thinks he’s done and says, «I got it done, Mr. Miyagi.» But Mr. Miyagi says, «Daniel, spend the whole fence; paint the fence!» Any time he gets sloppy along the way, Mr. Miyagi shows up and says, «Uh-uh, Daniel-san! Do it exactly the way I’ve asked you to do it.»
He is now frustrated and pretty irritated because this is not the reason why he came. He didn’t come to be the old man’s house manager; he came to learn actual karate. He goes home that evening expecting that the next day will be the day that he actually learns what he came to learn. Instead, Mr. Miyagi hands him some sandpaper, sets him down on a wooden deck, and says, «Sand the floor! Sand the floor!» Any time he gets sloppy along the way, Mr. Miyagi comes by, shows him exactly how it is supposed to be done, and says, «Do it my way!» Now Daniel-san is completely irritated. He cannot believe it! For the past three or four weeks, he has been a house manager and a housekeeper for Mr. Miyagi, and he decides to give Mr. Miyagi a piece of his mind.
He says to him, «You have got to be kidding me! This is not the reason why we agreed for me to show up every single day. I can’t believe you’ve got me doing all this random nonsensical stuff around your house.» As he’s expressing his irritation to Mr. Miyagi, Mr. Miyagi begins out of nowhere to throw random punches, and Daniel-san instinctively begins to block every punch that comes his way. Because in the training process, he didn’t realize that what seemed like a complete waste of time was actually preparing him for punches that the master knew would be coming his way.
I can only imagine that in this group size, both in this room and on the other side of the screen, there are so many of us in seasons of our lives where there are things happening, phases that the Lord is putting us through, things that He’s asked us to do, or asked us to be in this season of our lives—whether in marriage, parenting, ministry, or at our jobs—and we’re trying to figure out what in the world does this have to do with the big overarching plan, God, that I think You have for my life. Could it be that the master knows that there are things coming your way that, if you handle them appropriately and responsibly and diligently today, will actually set you up to be victorious later on?
I was thinking about this in regard to areas of my life and areas of some guys' lives that we’re going to meet in the Scriptures here in just a few minutes. There are things that either are tedious for us or even taxing for us; they’re weighing on us, and we’re wondering why the Lord has us going through these things. Maybe those things are the very things that press us enough to produce the best out of our lives.
Scripture Reading: Luke 9
I see this happening in Luke chapter 9. Do you have your Bible? If you actually want to turn there with me—if you still use a paper Bible like I do or your iPhone, your iPad, or any manner of i-ness—just flip on over to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9 is a very familiar story. I’m going to read several verses of Scripture to you, and then we’re just going to talk a little bit through this story because I think we’re going to find out how sometimes the most tedious or taxing portions of our lives are God-ordained and used to bring the best things out of us.
Luke chapter 9, verses 1 and 2, and then I’m going to read the familiar part, verses 10 through 17. It says, «And He called"—somebody say He called—"Jesus called the twelve together, and He gave"—somebody say He gave—"He gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal diseases.» Verse 2 says, «And He said"—somebody say He sent—"He sent them out.» Verse 10 says, «And when they returned to Him, they gave Him an account of all that they had done.» Taking them with Him, He withdrew by Himself to a city called Bethsaida. But the multitudes were aware of this, so they followed Jesus. Welcoming the multitude, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing all those who were in need of healing. Verse 12 says, «And then the day began to decline, and the twelve came to Jesus and said, 'Would you please send this multitude away? They need to go to the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get something to eat, because, you know, Jesus, we’re in a very desolate place.'»
But He said to them, «Uh-uh, you give them something to eat.» They said, «Come on, Jesus, you know we only have five loaves and two fish. Unless perhaps we go and buy more food for all these people!» The author wants you to know that there were about 5,000 men. Scholars say that doesn’t include women and children, so there were probably 15,000 people there that day! He said to the disciples, «Have them recline to eat in groups of about fifty each.» Verse 15 says, «So they did, and they had them all recline. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and then He broke them, and then He kept giving them to the disciples to set before the multitude, and they all ate and were satisfied, and the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, and there were twelve baskets full.»
The Recipe for Effective Ministry
I know that many of you have heard this passage of Scripture before. This is a familiar, beautiful portion of Scripture where Jesus has an encounter with a multitude that is hungry and needs to be fed. But I really believe that this miracle doesn’t start when the people get hungry; I think it starts really at the beginning of this chapter, where we meet the twelve, the disciples who are in close connection, close fellowship with Jesus Christ, like you and I have been in our lives, but specifically over the last few days when we are having a close-up, face-to-face encounter with Jesus. These twelve are connected to Jesus in a very personal and intimate way in these first two verses of Luke chapter 9.
In fact, this exact same story is told in another Gospel, the synoptic Gospel, which is Mark chapter 6. You don’t have to turn there but I’ll just tell you. In Mark chapter 6, when this story is told, we get more flesh on the bones of this story. I want to tell you that anytime you read the same story told in the synoptic Gospels, meaning where there’s synergy in the stories that are told in those Gospels, and you see something that seems contradictory, what that tells us is that there’s some flesh, some layers, some texture that’s gonna help us get a handle on that story even better.
It’s kind of like if somebody offers you a one-layer chocolate cake, you’re going to enjoy it, but if somebody gives you an option between one layer and seven layers, I don’t know about y’all, but I’m going to take the seven-layer chocolate cake every single time. That’s because the more layers there are, the more rich, full, and delectable the experience really becomes, right? In Mark chapter 6, we get a layer of chocolate cake. It tells us that this is the time when the disciples came to Jesus, and then He sent them in pairs. Do you remember that? He sent them out two by two to the neighboring towns, communities, and cities to perform miracles and to teach and preach and authenticate that Jesus was who He said He was.
Their ministry was so effective that Mark chapter 6 tells us when they came back to Jesus, they were completely depleted, tired, and exhausted because they had given so much and had expended so much. In fact, Jesus is the one who recognized their exhaustion because they had been completely spent in doing what it was that Jesus had asked and assigned them to do. So they came back to Jesus, looked Him in the face, and gave an account of how they had handled the assignment they had been sent on.
The author in Mark chapter 6 wants you to know they had been so busy they had not even had time to eat. Has anybody in the room ever been that busy? I’ve never been that busy, but these men were so busy they had not even eaten. Jesus recognized their exhaustion; they came to Him and gave an account. They had handled the assignment they had been given so fully, completely, and with integrity.
If you don’t mind, I’ve got to just open up a parenthesis here before we get to the feeding of the 5,000. I want to make sure you don’t miss that the disciples handled the assignment that Jesus had given them with so much integrity that they were able to look Jesus in the eyes and give Him an account for how they had handled that assignment. Do you know that there is a time coming sooner than we think when we’re going to see our Savior face to face, and we’re going to have to give an account for how we’ve handled the assignment He sent us on? Whether it’s being a mother or a wife or a single woman or a woman in ministry or in a corporate setting, whatever assignment He’s given you to do, the day is coming where we’re going to see our Savior, look Him in the face, and have to give Him an account.
I don’t know about you, but when I give my Savior an account, I’m looking for «Well done.» I want to hear my Savior say, «Well done!» Not because I’ve spent my days impressing people but because my life has garnered the applause of heaven. I remember my grandmother before she passed away said to me, «Priscilla, when I see Him face to face, I don’t want to meet Him with my head hung down. I want to be able to lift my head up and look at Him.» Not in arrogance or pride, but in integrity that I did the best I could. I finished my race; I ran with integrity with the baton He gave me as a wife, as a mother, in ministry. I did what He had called me to do.
The disciples gave an account, and I thought it would be interesting to try to figure out if there was some sort of recipe for effective ministry in this passage. Just to be clear, every single one of us under the sound of my voice is in ministry. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you’re in ministry! The enemy wants us to think we have to be standing on a platform with a microphone in our hands to be in ministry. It is the enemy that has compelled the global church to minimize or downgrade the gifts that happen to be behind closed doors and behind the scenes.
The only reason why you and I could be in this building today is because there’s somebody humble enough and yielded enough to come in here after we leave to clean up the floors and the seats and to make sure that we have a place to sit and receive what God is doing in our lives. The only reason we have this opportunity is because there are people behind those cameras, behind the stage, and taking care of our children in Sunday school to make sure that we have the privilege to be in this place. May we never downplay those gifts, those talents, those ministries! Whatever He’s called you to do, you ought to do it with all your might because one day, we’re going to give an account.
I wanted to figure out what the recipe for effective ministry was, like these disciples had, where they were completely spent and yielded and desirous of looking at Jesus to give Him an account of how they had handled their assignment. Y’all, there is a recipe right here in verses 1 and 2. The recipe has three ingredients. Is anybody interested in a recipe for effective ministry?
The very first ingredient in the recipe says that He called them. Jesus called them; they did not call themselves to an assignment. They heard the call of God! God, in all His deity and holiness and authority, wrapped in humanity, made it so that humans could hear His voice and know what His assignment was for them. Do you know that because of God’s Spirit, you can hear and heed the calling of God for your life? When the disciples heard the call of God, they didn’t ignore it; they did not circumvent it. They didn’t hope someone else would fill in this assignment while they pursued bigger and better ambitions and goals. They heeded the call of God.
The first ingredient of effective ministry is hearing and heeding the call of God for your life. There is no ambition, no personal aspiration, that is more meaningful than the call of God. That’s what you were made for! Do it to the glory of God! Don’t let there be any fear or insecurity that keeps you from saying, «Yes, sir,» to the call of God on your life. Where your heart burns, where there’s fire shut up in your bones, when you can’t just sit back because the Holy Spirit is poking and prodding and compelling you to go, then go by the Spirit of God. Wherever you are called, know He will equip you for that calling. The disciples, y’all, they were called!
Lord, forgive us when we have called ourselves to tasks that were never meant for us. Lord, forgive us when we have walked down a lane that was actually somebody else’s lane to walk down. Make us women who hear, heed, and value the call of God on our lives. But there’s not just the first ingredient; there’s a second ingredient. I love that before He sent them, there’s an ingredient right there in the middle. It says, «He gave them power and authority.» In other words, they could not go on their own skill or their own gifting or their own talents. They had to rely on the entrusted power and authority of God’s Spirit given to them for the task.
Because can I tell you, the enemy hopes that we will go in our own power? He hopes that we will go in our own skill, our own gifting, or our own talent. But if we want to pray for people, and those prayers actually break yokes in people’s lives, if we want to sing a song and it does more than just impress people and garner a standing ovation, if we want to speak or write the blog post or poem or book, and it actually changes and transforms the hearts of people, then we can’t go in the natural. We have to go in the supernatural! If He has called you, know that He will also give you the power and authority to accomplish the task to which you have been sent.
Lord, forgive us when we have gone in our own strength and power because, y’all, it’s not by might, and it is not by power; it’s by the Spirit of God! Some trust in chariots, and others trust in horses, but not us; we trust in the name of the Lord our God! Whatever He’s called you to do, even while you’ve been sitting here at this conference, you’ve felt the unction, the sparks of the Holy Spirit going off like wildfire in your soul. You know what it is He’s asking you to do, whether it’s to forgive someone, or to ask for forgiveness, or to give that gift, or to offer that song, or to start that ministry. Whatever it is that He’s called you to do, know that He will equip you with His power and His authority to accomplish the task.
They were called; they were equipped. But there’s a third ingredient in this recipe. It says that He sent them. Listen to me: He’s the one that did the sending! Just as important as your calling is, is the timing in which that calling is actually outworked in your life. Resist the urge; restrain yourself from sending yourself to an assignment that it is not yet time for. If He has not yet sent you, then restrain yourself from coming out of the protective covering of His developmental process too soon.
Because if you give birth too soon to a calling that is not yet time for, you will abort the process. You will abort the character that He was trying to establish in you, the fortification that He was trying to build in you, the stuff you would need to stand sturdy in the calling to which you have been assigned. You will abort that process if you go too soon. And listen, if the spotlight that you may be craving hits you and you have no character, the spotlight you are craving will burn you to a crisp! So, restrain yourself from going too soon into a calling that is not yet time for.
These disciples, they were called, they were equipped, and then they were sent by Jesus Christ. And because this recipe was working in their lives, they were able to come back to Him and say, «Lord, we did what You asked us to do. We finished the race; we did the best of our capacity— not perfectly, but at least intentionally and purposefully what You asked us to do.» And I want to be able to look my Savior in the face, don’t you? It doesn’t matter if I’m a single woman, a mother, a woman in ministry, or a woman that is married to a particular man in a particular assignment. I want to be able to say, «I did what You asked me to do—not perfectly but purposefully and by the Spirit of God.»
Intimacy as Cure for Exhaustion
So when the disciples come back to Jesus with this report, they are tired. They are exhausted. Here’s the deal: Jesus sees them at their exhaustion, and He does not rebuke them because they’re tired. He does not say, «Go away from Me! Take a nap, get yourself together, and come back later when I can actually use you.» I have a word for anybody in the room who is just plain old flat-out tired because God’s assignment for you has been a little bit taxing this year. You have been giving everything you’ve got to that marriage, or that ministry, or that job! You have been doing your best to parent those toddlers or, Lord help us, those teenagers! Those adult children have taken you for a ride. You have been giving everything you’ve got, and honestly, this conference has met you a little bit tired.
The disciples know exactly how you feel, and the great thing about our God is that He does not say to us, «You’re too tired and exhausted for Me to actually use you.» He doesn’t say, «Go away from Me and get yourself together before you can come back and be useful for My purposes.» He says to us the exact same thing He said to the disciples: «Come away with Me!» In other words, intimacy is the cure for your exhaustion. Intimacy with Him is what you need!
If you’re tired today, don’t go away from Him; get close to Him! This is the time where you will find that nearness to the Savior rejuvenates everything that has been depleted by the assignment you have been pouring yourself into.
Zebras Illustration: The Power of Intimacy
I took my boys—oh, actually it’s been almost two years now—we went to Cape Town, South Africa. I had to speak there, and I knew a year in advance, so we saved up all this money and planned to do everything we could. I thought, «Who knows if I ever get to go back there in my life? I’m going to take these boys.»
So we planned as much as we could to get those boys there. Up until last year, I was homeschooling the three boys. We had been doing that for four or five years, so they could travel with us and be engaged in ministry with us. I sort of planned school around the fact that I knew we were going to Cape Town, so we studied the geography of Cape Town. We were studying Nelson Mandela and apartheid, and I had them look up different animal species from Cape Town. We just threw ourselves into this experience!
Then when we got there, I think they thought they were going to be on vacation and just stay in the hotel room and swim. Yeah, I was like, «We’re going to see every single thing there is to see in Cape Town!» So every morning, I was that mother: «Get up! Let’s go!» And they were all like, «Oh, mom, we just want to stay here!» I was like, «We’re not in Austin! We’re in Cape Town! Let’s go!» One day, we went on a little safari. We drove two hours outside of Cape Town early in the morning. We got into one of those little open jeeps with a very bubbly guide sitting at the front, and he took us around.
We saw lots of different animals we had studied—things that we don’t see lots of times here in the States—but we also saw a herd of zebras. Now, there’s nothing particularly fascinating about that, because we see them here. But it was fascinating what the guide said. He pointed to the herd of zebras; there was a little baby foal there. He pointed to it and said, «This is the first time I’ve seen the baby back with the herd.» He said, «For about two or three weeks now, we have not seen the mom or the foal.»
The reason why is when a mother gives birth to a baby, she will take that baby away from the rest of the herd for quite some time. He said, «We never know when they are coming back.» He said, «Here’s the reason why.» He pointed out that you can’t tell by the naked human eye, but the configuration of stripes on every zebra is as unique and distinct as the fingerprints of human beings! You can’t really see it, but particularly the configuration right in the center of their forehead is their fingerprint; it’s unique to every single zebra.
So when a new baby is born, the mother will take that baby aside and away for a little while, so there will be so much intimacy and closeness and fellowship and singularity in their focus that the baby will become completely familiarized with the configuration of stripes on his mom’s head. This way, when they come back to the herd, there will never be any trouble in distinguishing which one of these zebras is the one who loves me most!
It’s the intimacy and the closeness and the awareness of that baby with the mom that makes that possible. This is why when you are most fledgling, most vulnerable, most weak, most tired, it’s not the time to go away from Him. It’s the time to get close and study His stripes! Because, let me tell you, it’s by His stripes that you are healed. Intimacy is the cure for your exhaustion.
That’s why these few days that you have set aside, and that you have sown this seed into the spiritual fabric of your life, this is why this seed is going to reap a harvest that will transform this next season of your life. That’s why He has set us aside at Pink Impact, where He’s basically taking us on a date for a few hours this weekend, where He’s whispered sweet things in our ears, where He’s reminded us that we’re loved, where we’ve studied His stripes, where we’ve worshipped Him in spirit and truth, where we’ve opened up the Word of God and let Him speak over our lives—this kind of seed always reaps an incredible harvest.
The Multitude as a Gift
So the disciples are taken away with Jesus. Jesus knows they need to be refreshed, they need to be rejuvenated; that’s the whole reason why He’s taking them away in the first place. He says, «Let’s go away on a little retreat! You need to be refueled!» So He takes them across the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee to a little patch of stony ground right outside a town called Bethsaida. When they get there, there are 15,000 hungry people waiting on them!
Jesus, in His sovereignty, knew before they got there, when He was taking the twelve on their retreat to be refreshed, that there would be a circumstance there that would not just be tedious but would be so taxing, would place a demand on them, would be something they wouldn’t understand. They wouldn’t be able to figure out what this has to do with the purpose for which He brought them, but He knew that those 15,000 would be there.
What this tells us is that the feeding of the 5,000 is not just about the multitude; it’s about the twelve! What it tells us is that Jesus had the twelve on His mind when they came face to face with the multitude—not just the hunger the multitude represented. What it tells us is that the five loaves and the two fish are the gift for the multitude, but in some way, this multitude is the gift to the disciples. There’s something about the weight of the multitude that is going to bring something out of the disciples that the Master knows is important and critical for them to be exactly who He has called and commissioned them to be.
Tooth Fairy Story: Hidden Treasure
So, I think I’ve told you this before, but I tell you again. My boys—my oldest two—are in their teenage years now. I keep a journal for each one of my boys. I went to Ross, just for less—right there in the back corner—they’ve got this little rack of journals. I bought them about ten years ago now for $3.99 apiece, someone say, «Hallelujah!» I write in these journals for the boys—not every day, not even every week or every month; honestly, just a couple of times a year when I see something happening in their lives that’s interesting, or they say something funny that I don’t want to forget.
But at least once a year on their birthday, I make sure to write something because my plan is to give it to them one day and say, «Here you go! These are my thoughts for you; these are the things I want you to know.» Or better yet, I’m just going to give it to their wives and say, «Have fun with that!» My oldest son is heading toward his 16th birthday now. I was looking back at his book. I started this when he was five, so I was looking back at five years old. Five years old was when he lost his first tooth! I wrote that down because that’s my son, Jackson, who’s never needed a lot of sleep. He always has gone to bed late and woken up early; it seems to work for him—not me, but him.
That night, he went to bed early! I have never seen that boy eager to go to bed, but that night, he dove into bed at 7:30. He could not wait to lay his head down on the pillow because we had told him if he put his tooth under the pillow, the Tooth Fairy was coming. He had been trying to make that tooth come out as much as he possibly could; finally, it loosened enough and fell out. He dove into bed that night, put it under the pillow, and tried to go to sleep. Every two seconds or so, he was waking up to see if anything had happened underneath the pillow.
Finally, he fell asleep! It was about 3 a.m. in the morning or so when I felt stirring beside me as the 6-foot, 250-pound Tooth Fairy that I sleep next to every night got up, went upstairs, and replaced the tooth for treasure. In the morning, I knew when Jackson got up and at the time—his three-year-old brother, JC—I knew when they were up because they were so excited to see there was something under the pillow. I could hear stomping on the ground, I could hear cheers, I could hear excitement. I heard them bound down the stairs into our bedroom! My boy ran in with two fists clenched closed and said, «Mom, the Tooth Fairy came! She brought me a treasure!»
He opened up one hand, and there was a package of gummy bears. That was a big deal because that was his favorite snack at the time! He opened up his other hand—and there was $5! Ain’t nobody got time for that! Does anybody in here grow up in the days of dimes and quarters? A quarter was a big deal! So I was trying to be excited but really was annoyed. I was trying to smile, but it was through clenched teeth, because I couldn’t believe this boy got $5 for a tooth!
My husband could read the body language and could tell that I was a little uneasy about this whole $5 Tooth Fairy business of his. So after Jackson left the room, my husband said to me, «Don’t worry, Priscilla. Do you remember that last month—which at that time would have been November, which is Jackson’s birthday? Do you remember that most everybody brought a card with $5 in it? We took all of those $5 bills and we put them in a birthday drawer in the kitchen.» He said, «This morning at 3 a.m., I went right inside that birthday drawer, got out one of those…» That is good financial stewardship right there!
So I watched my boy get all excited about treasure that was really already his all along! I can’t even begin to tell you the treasure that is on the inside of you—the treasure that has been given to us hidden in vessels, disposed and ready to be accessed. But often, we spend our days with the treasure of God’s gift and His fruit and the Spirit of God, the power of God that is entrusted to each of us; we have tucked it away in a drawer, underutilized, underaccessed.
And I don’t know about you, but I would hate to get to heaven only to be told, «Look at what you could have had access to that you tucked away and never experienced!» Most of the time, when we say, «Lord, would you help me to open up the drawer? Would you help me to experience everything that you’ve tucked away on the inside of me?» the way He answers that prayer is with a multitude! He puts you in a situation where you are so taxed and so pressed that you have got to pull out what you would have otherwise minimized, what you would have otherwise thought was insignificant, what you would have otherwise ignored— that gifting, that talent, that idea, that thought, that patience, that creativity, the thing that you’ve tucked away underutilized.
When you say, «Lord, I want to see that experience in my life!» He says, «Well, I’m going to help you open up the drawer, and a multitude is what’s going to give you access to it.» So He takes these disciples who need to be refreshed, takes them to a place that doesn’t look like refreshing—it doesn’t look like a vacation, it doesn’t look like what they need to be refueled for the next assignment! But Jesus says, «This multitude is actually going to cause you to see differently the gift that you have already had access to—five loaves and two fish! They are a gift to the multitude, but that multitude is actually the gift to the disciples.
It’s the multitude that might be the gift to you—the thing that is so tedious, or time-consuming, or taxing, or just weighing on you. You’re trying to figure out how in the world could this be a gift to me? Could it be that the multitude is actually the answer to the prayer you’ve been praying?
Christine Caine Quote and Disciples' Reaction
I’ve got this friend; her name is Christine Caine. She’s a wild woman—she’s nuts! I heard her say something one time that I will never forget. She said, „We, as believers, we pray, and we say, ‘Lord, I want to see You. I want to see a miracle! ’ But in the next breath, we say, ‘Lord, please keep me out of any situation in which a miracle would actually be required! ’“
Everybody wants to see the Red Sea divided, but nobody wants to be the one who comes face-to-face with the Red Sea. Everybody wants to see the walls of Jericho come tumbling down, but nobody wants to be the one who has to walk around those walls in obedience to God, trusting that He can cause the fortress of Jericho to come tumbling down in your life. If we want to see God, then we have to trust that when He sends the weighty multitude, we can’t see how in the world this is connected to anything that we feel we need in our lives to fill us up and prepare us for what’s next.
We’ve got to trust that the Master knows exactly what He’s doing! So look at what the disciples said about this multitude in verse 12. They said, „Send the multitude away!“ Come on now, this sounds like me. Does it sound like anybody else? When I’m facing a multitude in my life, when there’s something placing a demand on me or pressing down on me that makes me uncomfortable or makes me feel out of my element or it’s not easy, it’s not convenient—it’s not what I prefer—I don’t just ask, I mean, I pray! I’m on my knees like, „Lord, if you would please take this multitude away, I would be so grateful! Lord, if you would please let this cup pass from me, Father, so that I can do the work that you have called me to do!“
But would you notice that what they are wishing away in verse 12 is the very thing in verse 11 that it says Jesus welcomed? They are wishing away the multitude that He has just welcomed! Resist the urge to wish away! Jesus is welcoming into your experience the multitude that He is not just tolerating but welcoming into your life because it is your gift! Resist the urge to try to pray it away! In fact, if you have been trying to pray that multitude away but, for God’s sovereign reasons that we may never know on this side of eternity, He has not released you from that multitude, then you can automatically assume that there is a gift hidden in that multitude for you! You can assume that with your chin in your hands and in full anticipation that if He has allowed and sustained this multitude in your experience, it’s because there’s something in it that He does not want you to miss!
So they say, „Send the multitude away,“ but Jesus won’t oblige them. He doesn’t let the multitude be sent away because He knows that sending it away means sending away the actual gift they need to be able to open up the drawer and see the treasure they already have at their disposal. So when Jesus doesn’t go for that, they have another alternative. Option B: Look at what they say to Jesus. They say, „Well, Jesus, we have no more than five loaves and two fish. So maybe let us go and buy food for all these people!“ In other words, if You won’t let us send the multitude away, let us send ourselves away so that we can go to the neighboring towns and communities and accumulate something more because, as we currently are, we are not equipped to handle what is at hand. We are not enough!
We do not have enough! We are not skilled enough! We don’t have enough resources! We aren’t talented enough! We don’t have the right ideas, the right creativity! What she has, what he has, is better or more suited for this task! „Lord, as I am is not enough!“ It has always been the directive of the enemy to make God’s people think that as they are today is not enough and not suited to the situation that is happening at that current time in their lives.
It’s the enemy that makes us think we’ve got to go somewhere and become something else, gather something more, and accumulate something different before we’ll be suited to sustain the task that is currently at hand in our life! But listen, if He has called you to it, if He has allowed it, that means that you likely already have in your hands everything you need for that circumstance you are facing! If you just open up the drawer, pull it out, and entrust it to His care, you’ll get to see a multiplying miracle of the Most High God!
So Jesus will not let the disciples; He will not let us work our way out of the opportunity to see and experience Him in our lives. He will not let us send the multitude away! He won’t allow us to send ourselves away! He wants us right smack dab underneath the pressure of that multitude because with that multitude weighing on us, it gives us the opportunity to open up the drawer and see what He likes to do with loaves and fish. So He says, „Actually, ” in Mark chapter 6, our layer of chocolate cake, „What do you have?“ He asks the question, „What do you have?“
He doesn’t say, „What do you NOT have?"—that she has—that you might need to go get so you can actually have what is necessary for this multitude! He says, «What do you have?» Then here’s the deal: He doesn’t give them a chance to answer because they would likely say the wrong thing! It’s like when you ask your kid when your kid has the nerve to come to you and say they are bored! I mean, it’s January, they just finished Christmas, you just scoured Amazon trying to figure out what to get them for Christmas, had a few things under the tree that you thought were perfect for them, and now they have the nerve to come to you and say they are bored?! It takes the restraining power of the Holy Spirit for you not to knock them out!
You might look at that kid and say, «Well, what do you have?» Knowing they might give you an answer that they will regret, we won’t even give him a chance to answer! Jesus doesn’t even give them a chance; He just says, «Go and look!» I want to ask you: Have you even taken the time—all the time that you’ve taken to complain or to compare—have you taken any of that energy to just go and look? Have you asked God to reveal to you, to show you what it is that you already have tucked away in your drawer?
«Go and look, Moses!» Because if you’ll just look, you’ll find out that that rod you think is just a plain old rod will, when held out over the Red Sea, be enough to cause it to divide from one end to the other! «Go and look, David!» I know you see Goliath, but if you go look down by the riverbed, you’ll see that there are five smooth stones waiting for you to show up to see them, to utilize them, to take that giant down! Sisters, have you gone to look to see what it is that is already at your disposal?
He says that resource is all you need! Pull it out, entrust it into My hands. And when they do, the Scriptures say, Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish—oh, I wish I had time, y’all! Because if I had some time, I would tell you about the beautiful thing that it is that our God takes our little bits! If we’ll just go get it, He takes it, and He doesn’t turn His nose up and say, «There are 15,000 people here! What do you think I’m gonna do with a couple of pieces of bread and some sardines?» He doesn’t say that. He says, «I will receive what you bring to Me.»
He takes the meager gifts of man! Thank You, Lord, that You take our little bit! And looking up to heaven, He blessed it! This is what you need, because everything changes when God’s blessing is on your five loaves and two fish! This is what they call favor! Favor is what makes the scales unbalanced; favor is what makes stuff unfair; favor is what takes you places where everybody else is going, «How’d you get there?» Favor is what puts you in positions you never thought you could hold! Favor is what allows you to be in proximity to people you never thought you would be around!
Favor on your five and two is exactly what I say you are after! Put it in His hands! He will look up to Heaven, He will bless it, He will break it, and then He will keep giving it back to the disciples! And it kept going, and going, and going, and there was enough for every person—all 15,000 who were there! But not just that—because it says they were left over! Somebody say leftovers! This wasn’t like some little snack, y’all! This was like Sunday afternoon dinner!
I’m talking about when we were growing up—not that you know, we all go out to eat now! I’m talking about, you know, where your mom starts dinner on Saturday night! Does anybody know what I’m talking about? I remember the smell of roast all night long and yeast rolls rising on the counter and macaroni and cheese bubbling; my mom was preparing before we ever left the house that morning to go to church! Sunday dinner was already ready! I was already salivating, and then you came home and ate this huge meal! By the end of that meal, you were basically comatose for the rest of the day! This is the kind of banquet feast I’m talking about that Jesus provided for them! So much that they were filled up to overflowing, and there were leftovers—and not just any old amount of leftovers, because there were twelve baskets—one for each of the twelve depleted, exhausted disciples!
Enough for them to take home with them, so that they left with more than they came—refreshed, rejuvenated—not exhausted anymore! Because everything changes when you’ve had an encounter with the multiplying Jesus!
Closing Prayer
Can I just pray for any of you who may be in this room today, and you need a multiplication miracle because you are in the midst of either a tedious, time-consuming, or taxing circumstance in your life? You don’t see the connection, you don’t see what this is going to have to do with that. But you want to trust the Master that He’s going to take what you’ve got, He’s going to multiply it, and make it so that whatever multitude you’ve got in your life, you’ll be brave enough to yield your five loaves and two fish and then trust Him to make it so that your five and two are enough for that circumstance.
If you’re in a particular situation right now and you need prayer in that regard, would you just raise your hand? I’m going to cover you as we close this time in God’s Word.
Lord, I thank You for every sister in this room and beyond who has her hand raised right now. She is willing, Lord, to yield to You the little bit she’s got. I thank You, Father, that all You ask is for us to give to You what we have, to yield it back to You in full anticipation that You’re going to bless it, You’re going to break it, and then You’re going to multiply it for Your glory! And it is in Jesus' name that we pray, believing this! Everybody agreed when they said, «Amen!»