Pursuit Of His Presence

John 6:5-13 

5When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?

6And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.

7Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.

8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,

9There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?

10And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

11And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.

12When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.

13Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.

 

Devotional

Time Has Culminated in Jesus!

by Kenneth Copeland

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.” Amos 9:13
Time as we have known it is over. These are different times now. And what I’m about to tell you is almost unthinkable, not from a bad standpoint, but from a good one.
You and I have entered into a sliver of time, a little, narrow band of time, which is the biggest and perhaps the most important block of time since the creation of Adam. We have stepped over—in the spiritual realm and the natural—into exceeding, abundantly above all that we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).
John 6:5-13 records the event where Jesus took the basket of five loaves and two fish and fed thousands of people. Now if there was ever a picture of exceeding, abundantly above all that we can ask or think, this is it. There were thousands of people eating until they were full, and 12 baskets filled with leftovers.
People today would say, “My, what a wonderful miracle!” And they’re right, it was a miracle. But this was more than a miracle. On that day, time culminated in Jesus. It was compressed, or tightly compacted, within a short space. The growing time for the seed the little boy planted in Jesus’ ministry was instant.
The disciples told Jesus, “There’s a boy here with some bread and a couple of fish.” Jesus asked for the food, and they got it for Him. He took it, looked toward heaven, gave thanks for it, blessed it, broke it and distributed it among His disciples. They, in turn, took the food and distributed it among the people...and they distributed it...and distributed it—to approximately 20,000 people. Then, they went back and picked up all the leftovers. There were 12 baskets full!
What I want you to see is that this whole process of Jesus’ taking the loaves and fish into His hands, blessing it, breaking it and distributing it, is the whole sowing and reaping process condensed into a matter of moments.
That lad sowed his five barley loaves and two small fish into the ministry of Jesus. Jesus received the boy’s seed—planting it in fertile soil. He watered it, then immediately there was a harvest. Not only was there enough to feed everyone until they were full, there was also plenty left over for the storehouse. Whose storehouse? That little boy’s storehouse! He was the one who planted, wasn’t he?
So what happened? The reaper caught up with the sower. Amos 9:13 prophesies that there is a time coming when seedtime and harvest time will run together. That young fellow sowed his bread and fish into Jesus’ ministry that morning, and went home later that afternoon with 12 baskets full—all because time culminated in Jesus. And that, my brother and sister, is the kind of time we’re living in today.
Speak the Word
“Because of Jesus, time has culminated. The time has come when the plowman has overtaken the reaper. Seedtime and harvest time are running together.” —Amos 9:13
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