Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Have you ever noticed the more that you focus on what you don't have, the more you'll have of it?
[00:00:19] If you're having lack of peace and you just keep focusing on the lack of peace you have, it seems like peace is first, further away. You could fill in the blank. It might be money, it might be rest. Whatever you're focusing on, you will get more of it, whether it be lack or whether it be plenty. We're going to jump into an incredible story, particularly focusing on where Jesus himself has worked with his disciples in a very crazy circumstance that when Jesus takes the lack or what we see as lack and turning that into something of abundance.
[00:01:02] It's crazy that I believe.
[00:01:05] It's crazy that we believe that what we currently have in our possession is all that we're going to have.
[00:01:13] That's actually the definition of scarcity, to be honest. Scarcity gets rooted in fear, not fact.
[00:01:22] So if you only have a little bit of something, whether it be a little bit of money, a little bit of rest, whatever it is, you only focus on the fact that you won't get any more of it.
[00:01:36] There's no future vision for the fact that there's a possibility that you might get more of it. You're just looking at the fact that this is what I have, and I. I don't know how am I going to get more of it. So there's no expectation of more or plenty or abundance. And you just don't see it. You just choose. I don't think we choose not to see it. I think we just are so excited or enthralled about the fear of not having that. We don't see the possibilities of what could be.
[00:02:12] And I'm gonna go right to the scripture that talks about this. Many people have heard this particular scripture. It is something that's prevalent not even in the church world, but everywhere. I believe. I guess so I should say, I assume. But it's in Matthew, chapter 14.
[00:02:32] I'm gonna try it.
[00:02:34] There we go. Move it around the mic. Chapter 14.
[00:02:40] And this is the.
[00:02:43] This is the parable or the story about Jesus feeding the 5,000.
[00:02:47] And this kind of sets. It brings context to it in its own right. But this is what God does with a little bit. Okay, I'm gonna read is Matthew, chapter 14 said 13. Chapter 14, verse 13 says, When Jesus heard this, he departed from there by boat for a deserted place by. But when the people heard of it, they followed him on foot from the cities. Jesus went ashore and saw a great assembly and he Was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. When it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, this is a lonely place and the day is now over. Send the crowds away to go into the village and buy themselves food. But Jesus said to them, they do not need to depart. You give them something to eat.
[00:03:50] They said to him, we have only five loaves here and two fish.
[00:03:57] He said, bring them to me. Then he commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took five loaves and two fish. And looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke and gave loaves to his disciples. And the disciples gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were filled. And they looked. They took up 12 baskets full of fragments that remained.
[00:04:22] Those who had eaten were about 5,000 men, besides women and children.
[00:04:29] Okay, I love this scripture.
[00:04:33] And there we go.
[00:04:37] I think what's cool about it is that Jesus says to his disciples, no, you feed them.
[00:04:47] He's like, no, y'all need to figure out the food part. He said, you know, especially when you got people around. You know how it is when you have folks over your house and you kind of over them being over at times you're like, no, leave them alone. Like, let them go home. They're tired. They. They've been sitting out all day in the sun. And no. Jesus is like, no, y'all feed them. Y'all figure it out. And he's like, the disciples. And there's other. This particular miracle is in all three gospels, right? So are three things in all four gospels, I believe. But at least in the synopsis, synoptic gospels, in all three, for sure. But they're like, all we've got is five loaves and two fish. That's all we have. And it's. And Jesus says, well, give me that. Give me what you have.
[00:05:37] And I think what's crazy about it is we have to figure out and decide are we going to give what we have in order to gain more of what we need.
[00:05:50] It requires us to let go of a current of what we currently have. Letting go of the fear of not having enough. There's a psychological term called selective attention.
[00:06:05] And selective attention basically says you see more of what you focus on. Think about this. When you are looking for a car, say it might. Whatever your favorite car is, or if you're in the market for one, all of a sudden, once you have made a decision to get that car, it seems like all of the cars or that particular model show up on the road magically. Like, it's like you brought that circumstance into the present, being time, present time. And all of a sudden you're seeing cars all around you that you want. I remember getting my. My vehicle at one point, and I literally would see it every single place. And I'm like, oh, this must be God letting me know I need to get it.
[00:07:00] Maybe it's because I never paid attention.
[00:07:04] It might have been these cars might have been there passing me by the entire time, actually, maybe more than often, but because I wasn't paying attention or I wasn't looking for it, I never saw it. I never paid any attention. I never focused on what I wanted until I wanted it.
[00:07:27] So I got more of what I decided to focus on.
[00:07:32] And how often are we focusing and blowing up the lack and the scarcity in our lives, the lack of sleep, that we're tired, that we are.
[00:07:44] Whatever it is, whatever negative thing it is, we end up having more of it.
[00:07:49] If work stinks, if work sucks, one day you're just blowing up. The fact that work sucks. That's saying you're acting like it doesn't happen because some days it does suck, right? But if you choose to focus on something positive, you can actually shift the way that you are seeing a circumstance. You can take a challenge and turn, and you can change a challenge and turn it into an opportunity if you have the right mindset.
[00:08:24] But you have to decide to focus on what you really want and deciding cutting off, which in its original. In the. Gosh, I can't talk.
[00:08:37] Deciding in its original language means to cut off.
[00:08:42] So you are choosing to see the positive and focus on that. You have to choose the abundance and not the lack. You literally have to choose to shift that mindset of thinking over to another mindset of thinking, even though you may only have one bit of evidence to focus on. So Jesus is saying, hey, the disciples said, we only have this amount. This is all we have.
[00:09:12] That's not enough, based on what I'm seeing, but what God is saying. Jesus is saying, hey, give me that.
[00:09:21] And every time there's a. There's a consistent piece that Jesus does here, he breaks. He blessed. Hold on, let me see if I didn't. He blessed, broke, gave. He went through that process. He blessed God for what he had. Then he broke what he had, and then he gave what he had. And every time he did that, it. It multiplied. Blessed, broke, gave, blessed, broke, gave. And that in itself is the process that if we allow ourselves to take what we have and honestly break it, in many cases sow it and give finds A way. I don't know how God's math works, I just know he likes multiplication, but he multiplies the thing that we choose to break and give, but with it being blessed, that's the prerequisite. Anything blessed has the ability to be broken and given and multiplied, period.
[00:10:28] I think it's super important for us to internalize that because most of the time we get really. We lock in on some scarcity scare stuff. Like, it's hard to shift that mindset from scarcity to abundance, but it's necessary for us to grow and experience the very thing we say we want but choose not to focus on because it's so easy to find the lack and focus on that. There's another scripture in here that I want to bring up here, and it is in the Old Testament, and we're going to move again. But it's in Second Kings, chapter six, and it's about this prophet named Elisha and. And his servant.
[00:11:26] And they were with the Arameans and. And they were resting one night and they found out that Elijah was around, so they planned an attack of. Of him and let me share.
[00:11:47] Here we go.
[00:11:50] And they were getting ready to surround him and destroy him. So this is Second Kings, chapter 6, verse 15 says, When a servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, a force surrounded the city, both with horses and chariots. And his servants said to him, alas, my master, what will we do? And he said, do not be afraid, for there are more with us than with them.
[00:12:21] Then Elijah prayed again.
[00:12:24] He prayed, lord, open his eyes and let him see.
[00:12:31] So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and saw the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha. Then he came down to him. Then when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, strike this people with blindness. And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha, okay, now don't pray, strike your people for blindness. But the point is, there was something invisible that the servant couldn't see, that Elisha could see, and that God and Elisha prayed that his eyes would be open. Aren't we sometimes blind to the fact that there is abundance and blessing all around us?
[00:13:21] And sometimes, and it's crazy, the same process that Jesus did to break the five loaves and two fish was that he prayed, gave thanks, broke, gave Elijah prayed it opened the young man's eyes.
[00:13:44] And then he prayed for God to defend him and protect him by striking blindness to his enemies. This to me is the fact that what we can't see is so much more powerful than what we can see.
[00:14:05] And if we choose to focus on what we just are able to see, we miss out on the opportunities that are out there for us.
[00:14:17] That's the. That's the piece of. That is faith in its essence now. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I'm encouraging myself right now. I find that if we don't use the faith that we have, we won't receive the things we want or we believe for.
[00:14:42] So there's no wonder why we don't have what we say we want. Because we don't see.
[00:14:49] We don't. We can't see it. We don't allow ourselves to see because it seems like we're being childlike and we're making stuff up and all that kind of thing. I don't.
[00:15:02] I'm finding that the more I reframe what I see, change what I say and steward what I've got, perhaps God can do something with that.
[00:15:23] And I'm encouraging you and encouraging myself that if the circumstances of our life are not where we are wanting them or believing God for, perhaps we need to envision further, believe.
[00:15:43] Thank God for us. And if we're having issues asking God to help us see, give us a clearer vision so that we can believe in the evidence of things hoped for.
[00:16:01] Excuse me, in the evidence of things not seen, that we can in some way shape or form have grasp of those things.
[00:16:14] I don't know how it works.
[00:16:17] I don't know how God does it. And to be honest with you, how is not my business.
[00:16:23] I just need to believe that he can the most. The biggest act of faith that the disciples showed In Matthew chapter 14 is the fact that they gave to Jesus what they had.
[00:16:46] That's the scary part.
[00:16:49] To give your only to the one who can multiply.
[00:16:57] Do you believe he can, though?
[00:17:01] They had evidence that Jesus had done miraculous things before.
[00:17:08] What about this time? So they. Oh, yeah, of course.
[00:17:11] You do your thing.
[00:17:13] So will you let God do His thing with the little bit that you have?
[00:17:20] It's a tough shift to make, but believe that God can and then see what he will do for you. All right, we'll catch you in the next pod. Have a great one. Peace.
