ALMS - JOHN 6:5-13
5 When 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?
6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,
9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
10 And 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.
11 And 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.
12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples,Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
13 Therefore 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. KJV
In the Apostle John's account of Jesus feeding the multitude we see a different start. In verse 5 it is mentioned that Jesus looked up and saw a great company coming unto Him which means they had a reason (purpose) for drawing near to Him. It is not clear whether the great crowd was coming to Jesus for teaching, healing, deliverance or food but the Lord knew what they needed. It is interesting that Jesus tested (proved) Philip to see if Philip was listening to the Holy Spirit. If Philip had been listening to the Holy Spirit then he would have thought about the option of multiplying the food they had on hand. We understand from verse 7 Philip did not pass that test. The Lord will test (prove) your heart with questions to see if you are thinking spiritually or naturally from time to time. However, according to verse 8 one of Jesus disciples did bring an inventory of what they had on hand. The Apostle Andrew headed in the right direction of obeying Jesus with the response that, "a lad has five barley loaves, and two small fishes". In Mark’s account of this feeding we learn that Jesus told His disciples to take inventory of their current food supply.-Refer to Mark 6:38 However we can tell by his next question, "but what are they among so many?" that even Andrew was unsure about how to feed the great company. It is very interesting in this account that the Apostle John who was one of the twelve disciples mentions that only "one" of the disciples said something about the present food supply. This is very common in Christianity today, generally speaking the majority of the believers present will not see the wisdom of God in obeying a simple instruction from Jesus. There is typically only a remnant of Christians who will accurately hear in their heart the word of God then vocalizes the thoughts of God's Heart and obey His Word. This is because many Believers are carnal minded as opposed to being spiritually minded which brings life and peace.-Romans 8:6 The reason it is so easy to be carnally minded is because it requires no effort, nor does it require resistance. However, to be spiritually minded requires discipline and strength and faith. The spiritually minded believer must be disciplined to spend time with God on a regular basis. They must be strong enough to resist the temptation to give up on the promises of God. The spiritual child of God has to walk by faith which speaks God's Word in the face of contrary circumstances or situations. Speaking the accurate Word of God is critical to any successful operation of establishing God's Will upon this earth. Notice in verse 10 that Jesus spoke to the disciples to give them instructions for preparation. The Lord will always give us instructions for preparation because our Gracious Savoir does not desire for us to be overwhelmed or unsuccessful. We must imitate the disciples by staying close enough to Jesus to listen and then do His instructions to the best of our ability. We must constantly keep in mind that He is the Master while we are His servants when it comes to performing His Will. Remember, in our Heavenly Family we have a Loving Father who cares for His precious children. The disciples were quick to execute the Lord's wishes to take the one great company and have them sit down into more manageable smaller groups.-Refer to Mark 6:39,40 This was done for proper preparation and the perfect fulfillment of God's Provision. The Lord knew these people are His sheep and sheep listen to their shepherd according to John 10:4,27. The Lord had the people to sit down because it made it easier for the distribution of food. Similarly, even today, it is always easier to pass something along when people are sitting down because their laps (legs) can be used as a small table and it is easier to reach over people when they are sitting. Also, when people are sitting down there is less movement compared to when they are standing up because people are less mobile when their legs are not being used. Now that the people were in place (proper preparation) the Lord Jesus was ready to fulfill the will of our Heavenly Father. We must remember that it is always the Love of our Heavenly Father that motivated the acts of kindness displayed by Jesus. Since Jesus was always in communion with our Heavenly Father He only needed to give God thanks for the provision because He knew God’s will. Jesus took the loaves in His hands and then reached up His heart and soul unto our Heavenly Father in an attitude of gratitude (thanksgiving) for the abundant provision and after that He distributed the miracle manifestation to the disciples. If you would like to partake of a miracle of God you must be willing to get between the need of a person and the source of God’s power. The source of God’s Power on this earth is His Word, Jesus Christ, and the channel through which His Power flows is the Holy Spirit. You must be willing to remain close enough to God that you can hear His whisper while at the same time focusing your attention on a hurting humanity. Miracles are never by accident they always come with purpose of heart in the spirit of faith in the Greater One living inside of you. It has been said that one reason Jesus and our Heavenly Father came to live inside of us is because they knew we would let them out to help others when called upon. We also should note that the miracle was not limited to a system of equality. The Lord did not give each person a reserved portion, the Lord allowed each person to take as much as they desired (wanted). This reminds us of the 23rd Palm which states, "Lord has prepared a table of provision specifically for us so much so that our cup runs over". When it comes to the provision of God you must decide (not God) exactly how much you want and the Lord will keep feeding you according to your appetite. In verses 12 and 13 this fact is confirmed because there was plenty of food left over. Some people could say that God made too much food but we believe this to be a sign that God encourages prosperity to the point of having your own personal needs met with some left over for others in your life. Since our Lord is prudent and wise He had the disciples gather up the extra for at least two reasons. The first, being the spiritual side which reminded the disciples that they had nothing and now they have something. They were empty (without) and now they have sufficiency (provision) through the Grace of God. Secondly, the disciple had natural subsistence for their next endeavor. The Lord Jesus is always several steps ahead of us and that is why we must be willing to follow Him. In this example the “alms” deed was the giving of food to the hungry and the giving of a lunch to the disciples of Jesus. The blessedness of seeing a need and giving toward that need in all sincerity of heart is what is called the giving of godly "alms". We must recognize however that having Jesus in the midst of our "alms giving" makes all the different in the world. The Lord is the one who multiples the little we have into an abundant harvest. Surely, without His Blessing upon our “alms” we would never have enough to meet the needs of others in our own strength or in our own resources. So look at the people first, then look to the Lord to see what He sees, after that you will know if an "alms" is appropriate for the situation (person) you are contemplating helping. Just like in this example "alms" giving is your own free choice based upon your appetite to get involved. If you do decide to give "alms" to another person lay your hand upon your holy gift and give God thanks, then give unto the receiver because you have scripturally qualified yourself for a multiplication of that seed sown. However, we at IHLCC firmly believe that you do not give "alms" to get something back from men, but rather primarily because you love the receiver and desire to see God's will performed in their life. Some will say that you can expect to receive a great harvest on your “alms” gift. However, we noticed even in the ministry of Jesus Christ when the harvest came He gave it back unto His Disciple because our Lord is Perfect, wanting nothing. Angela and I pray that you would be just like Him having all your needs met to completely concentrate on others. This is our goal as Christians, to be so blessed that once your cup is overflowing you only have to focus on filling the cups of others around you in Jesus Name. Amen!
In His Love, Eric & Angela Foster