Believe
Have you ever felt entirely unprepared and ill-equipped to do something the Lord has asked you to do? I think if we’re honest, all of us would admit that we have, at one time or another, felt inadequate to do the work of the Father. It can certainly be intimidating. Jesus said that to do the work of the Father is to “believe in me,” and He also directed us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” He promised that as we follow that command, He “will be with us always.” If, then, we believe in Him enough to go into all the world, we must believe that He has equipped us with all we will need when we arrive. We must believe that He will accept our gift of “loaves and fish,” and that He will multiply them into whatever is needed.
One Boy’s Lunch
You’ve heard the story. John 6, verses 6-12 tells it this way:
“When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
“Philip answered him, ‘It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’
“Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’
“Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down.’
“There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.”
After this event, it would be a little while before the disciples would be commissioned to go into all the world, but in the meantime, they were learning the basics. They were learning to believe that Jesus had things under control. They were learning the value of “loaves and fish.”
Loaves and fish come in many different forms. Isaiah introduced them in Chapter 11: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.”
One might naturally have wisdom, but being human, one would not have perfect wisdom except by the power of the Holy Spirit, so one’s own wisdom is a metaphorical loaf or fish. By the offering of one’s wisdom for the use of the Holy Spirit, it can become exactly the wisdom that is needed for a situation.
It is the same with human understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and fear of the Lord. What we offer for the use of the Holy Spirit in us is our loaves and fish, to be multiplied as needed.
Gifts of the Spirit–Our Loaves and Fish
First Corinthians 12 presents another list of potential loaves and fish: “The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all. To some people the Spirit gives a message of wisdom. To others the same Spirit gives a message of knowledge. To others the same Spirit gives faith. To others that one Spirit gives gifts of healing. To others he gives the power to do miracles. To others he gives the ability to prophesy. To others he gives the ability to tell the spirits apart. To others he gives the ability to speak in different kinds of languages they had not known before. And to still others he gives the ability to explain what was said in those languages. All the gifts are produced by one and the same Spirit. He gives gifts to each person, just as he decides (verses 7-11).
Romans 12 has another list: “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully” (verses 6-8).
And last, but not least, Ephesians 4 says: “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (verses 11-13).
One Particular Loaf
Loaves and fish come in many different shapes and sizes, and I’m sure these lists are not meant to be exhaustive. However, I would like to focus for just a moment on the gift of tongues, Pentecostal style. If we consider the commands to believe in [Christ], and to preach the gospel to every creature, we must certainly depend on the tongue–words. The words we have in our vocabulary are our loaves and fish. When we give those to the Holy Spirit, they become what He wants, like on the day of Pentecost.
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
“Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: ‘Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?’ … Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, ‘What does this mean?’
“Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: ‘Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. … I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear’ …Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day (selected verses from Acts 2 NIV).
The people in the upper room did not know what the Spirit was up to, but they gave God what they had, they gave their loaves and fish, and look what happened!
That’s not all the Bible says about offering up our words. “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).
Words make good loaves and fish. So do all talents that the Lord bestows.
Trust the Spirit with Your Fish
Mostly, I think the offering of loaves and fish is a matter of the heart. The small boy who offered the disciples his lunch didn’t know what was about to happen. We can’t know either, what great and miraculous things God, the Creator, will bring out of our humble gifts offered from a sincere heart.
When my small drama group at school does a play, we pray before every performance. Part of that prayer is always, “Lord, please accept our loaves and fish, and grow them into whatever is needed for the moment to reach the hearts of the people in attendance for the building of Your kingdom.”
God bless you, and may you experience the offering of loaves and fish and the miracle of what He will do with them.
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