This morning, we continue our series, “The Miracles of Jesus.” Before we get into the miracle, let’s look at the foundational scripture I will share with you all year.
(Psalm 126:4 TPT)
Now, Lord, do it again! Restore us to our former glory! May streams of your refreshing flow over us until our dry hearts are drenched again.
This is a season of refreshing and restoring for us. I pray you get refreshed and restored as we study each miracle.
(Read Mark 8:1-21)
I have been using the miracle of the feeding of the 4,000 as a launching point to discuss the importance of spiritual perception. We have been looking at this miracle and this concept for days. Let’s do it again.
In Mark 8, Jesus fed 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread. Afterward, He and His disciples boarded a boat to head to the other side of the lake. Once in the boat, the disciples realized that they only had one loaf of bread. This caused an argument about who was supposed to bring the food. Jesus said, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see? Are you not able to understand? Do you have eyes that can’t see? Do you have ears that can’t hear? Remember what I did before, when we did not have enough bread? I divided five loaves of bread for 5000 people. How many baskets of food were left over?” The disciples answered, “12 full baskets.” Jesus continued, “And when I divided seven loaves of bread for 4000 people, how many baskets did you fill with the leftover pieces?” They answered, “Seven full baskets.” Then Jesus said to them, “You remember these things I did, but you still don’t understand?“
Jesus often seemed like He was in another world because, in a way, He was. He was in this world, but He was receiving His daily “marching orders” from heaven. He was not driven by the urgency generally associated with the goings-on of this world. If there was ever any urgency behind His actions, the urgency came from the Holy Spirit, not from this world. Incidentally, I know people like this. These people are so in tune with God that they sometimes seem out of tune with this world. When the world puts pressure on them to answer a problem, it’s like they slow down even further, relying entirely on God and only moving when God says, “move.” The human pressure to perform does not move these people. They are only moved by God’s Spirit. Guess what? This is the way we are all supposed to live.
In Friday’s message, I said, “Jesus was frustrated with His disciples because they did not discern what He was doing, nor what He was capable of doing. He was being led of God’s Spirit and they were being driven by the circumstances of this world.” If we were honest, the sad truth is that most days, many of us look more like the stumbling, bumbling, worrying disciples than we do the confident, submitted, and Spirit-led Jesus. This is what keeps me going. The frailty of my humanity keeps me on my knees and at Jesus’ feet.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. The unseen realm is the superior realm.
— Living by faith means living your life based on a reality you cannot see with your natural eyes) or validate (with sense realm evidence).
— Living by faith means living on earth in sync with heaven.
— Just because you cannot see something with your natural eyes does not mean it’s not there. Everything you can see in this world comes from a world you cannot see. The writer of Hebrews said it this way, “Faith helps us understand that God created the whole world by his command. This means that the things we see were made by something that cannot be seen” (Heb 11:3).
— The point that I am making here is a spiritual one, but it also applies to natural things. I will give you a few practical examples. The screen you are looking at was conceived in the mind/heart of someone well before it was manufactured in a factory. The technology behind the speakers that carry my voice was born in the unseen realm well before it was made visible. Our spirits receive input from the seen realm, but they are not limited to what our eyes can see. Our spirits have the ability to see in a realm that far exceeds where our eyes can look. Our physical eyes provide input to our mind, so we can process what the natural realm looks like. But our spirits can also provide input to our minds, and we are able to SEE, upon the canvas of our “minds eye,” a world that is beyond this world. This is the UNSEEN, and it is where God does most of His work.
— The Bible teaches us that the UNSEEN realm is the superior realm in God’s eyes. What we can see in the natural realm is subject to change.
Paul said it this way:
(2 Cor 4:18 TPT)
Because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.
(2 Cor 4:18 AMPC)
Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.
— The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is natural sight. This is why Paul said, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor 5:7). Jesus was living His life by faith. The disciples were living their lives by natural sight. This is why they were alarmed when they only had one loaf of bread, but Jesus was not. They were focused on the seen. Jesus was focused on the unseen. The question is: what are you focused on?
2. Jesus paid too high a price for you to live a life you could have lived without Him.
— We are not called to live only by earthly limitations or information alone. What fun is it to live a life that is completely human?
— If you are never going to believe God for or even attempt the supernatural, then why do you think Jesus died?
— Jesus did not die JUST so you can live the same way you were living without Him.
— The blood of Jesus is too high a cost for you to remain the same. The cost of the cross must call you to see the invisible and attempt the impossible!
3. In the Kingdom of God, you must SEE IT before you will HAVE IT.
(Gen 13:14,15 NLT)
14 After Lot had gone, the Lord said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west.
15 I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession.
God told Abraham that he could have all the land that he could SEE! In other words, God was telling Abraham to open his eyes spiritually to all the land He was destined to receive. This was the land God ordained for Abraham and his descendants forever. But the key is that Abraham had to SEE IT in order to HAVE IT!
Even 400 years later, when it was time for Abraham’s descendants to take possession of land, they had to be able to SEE IT in order to HAVE IT!
(Deut 1:8 NIV)
Lord said to Moses, “See, I have given you this land…”
Here are some things we can glean from this:
— If you can’t SEE IT, you won’t ever BE IT!
— If you can’t SEE IT, you can’t HAVE IT!
— If you can’t SEE (by faith) what God is attempting to give you (by grace), you risk missing out on God’s best.
— God speaks to you about His plans for your future, but you must mix faith with what you hear.
— Where there is no grace, there can be no faith. Faith begins where the will of God is known. To release faith, you must be able to discern what God has already given you by grace. This is what happened with Abraham and the land. God was saying, “As far as you can SEE, you can HAVE! I have provided the grace for you to have the land. Now you must provide the faith. Your faith will tap into my grace. If you have little faith, you will only tap into little grace and the land will be small. But if your faith can SEE what I am giving you in the spirit, you can have the FULLNESS of what I destined for you to have!“
— Once God reveals to you what He already gave you (in eternity), you can release your faith to access it (in time).
(2 Cor 4:18 TPT)
Because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.
— We are supposed to spend time looking at things we can see that are beyond our physical eye’s ability to look.
— Your capacity to believe either releases God TO or restricts God FROM moving in your life.
— You must open your heart to SEE, BELIEVE, and RECEIVE God’s plans for your life.
— Your legs will never take you where your soul and heart have never been.
— Your life will change forever the day you can see and believe what God believes about you!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, this is a season of refreshing and restoring for me!
I walk and live by faith and not by sight. I spend time peering into the unseen realm by faith. The unseen is more real to me than what I see with my natural eyes.
I believe what You believe about me! I am who You say I am. I can do what You say I can do. I am the person You birthed me to be.
I walk in my divine assignment daily. Nothing and no one can stop me because Your grace is on me to be me. Therefore, no one can stop me from being me!
I can see what You see about me. And since I can SEE IT, it is only a matter of time before I BE IT!
Living this way, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
