Happy First Day of March! Today’s devotion ends our reading on Matthew 15.

BIBLE VERSE – Matthew 15:32-39 NLT
“³² Then Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they will faint along the way.”

³³ The disciples replied, “Where would we get enough food here in the wilderness for such a huge crowd?”
³⁴ Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”
They replied, “Seven loaves, and a few small fish.”
³⁵ So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. ³⁶ Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.
³⁷ They all ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. ³⁸ There were 4,000 men who were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children. ³⁹ Then Jesus sent the people home, and he got into a boat and crossed over to the region of Magadan.”

REFLECTION
While there are many observations in these verses, here are ten quick observations for this morning.

• The people sat with and heard Jesus preach for three days.

• Jesus had their wellbeing in mind and had compassion to feed them. 

• The disciples questioned how to provide food for the large group. 

• Jesus asked (paraphrased by me) What do you have?

• The disciples told Jesus what they had.

• Jesus instructed everyone to sit down.

• Then Jesus thanked God for the seven loaves and small fishes. Broke them into pieces and gave it the disciples to give to the crowd.

• The crowd ate as much as they wanted. 

• Seven large baskets of food was leftover. 

• 4,000 plus were fed.

The disciples had already experienced the miracle of feeding 5,000 plus. The Lord, shows them again. However, this time I noticed he asked “How much bread do you have?”

Brothers and sisters, the world is in need. The world needs people who are concerned about their wellbeing and to have compassion on them. Sometimes, the Lord needs us to sit down at his feet to see the need and to look to Him to help us address the needs.

Today, the Lord is asking: What do you have? _________

Brothers and sisters, what do you have that the Lord can use to help feed (physically and spiritually) his people and show compassion for them? __________

In the end, the disciples were blessed with more than they provided, which shows the Lord not only wants to bless others He wants to bless you too. It may not be a financial blessing, but a spiritual blessing to see the amazing work of God and the opportunity to be used by Him.

Your gifts, talents, time, money, etc., in the hands of God will bring a great return…in this case it fed 4,000 plus. Allow God to use your gifts to care for His people.

PRAYER
Heavenly Father, thank you for today. Thank you for opening up our eyes to see you move in a mighty way. Lord, thank you for saving us from our sinful and destructive path, to follow you. Lord, you know everything about us and yet, you give us an opportunity to repent of all our sins and surrender our lives to you. Lord, forgive us, we surrender our all to you and will follow you from this day forward. Lord, teach us your ways. Use us Lord to help advance your kingdom and learn all your ways. Lord, remind us to be still and sit at your feet to hear from you. Lord, teach us to be attuned to your voice when you ask us “what do we have”. Lord, remove the obstacles around us that are holding us back from fully serving as you desire for us to serve. Lord, cover our families: marriages, children, friends and loved ones. Restore what has been broken, pour out forgiveness and love, saturate our hearts with your Holy Spirit and change us to be more like you. In Jesus name, amen! Amen!

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