What Are YOU Reading? – Blessings Overflow

well good morning ladies happy monday morning and um this morning we're going to go ahead and just jump right into something that i've been reading i've been making my way through john i've been in various portions of scripture um but this morning we're going to jump straight into the book of john and this actually i've kind of been marinating on this just a little bit um over the past few weeks And this passage still stuck out to me, and I did a little more research on it, and it's exciting. So if you would, if you have your Bible, if you just want to listen, we're going to turn to John 6. And this is the familiar passage of the feeding of the 5,000. And it says in John 6, it says, Sometime after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, that is the Sea of Tiberias. And a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover festival was near. I stumbled over that, but the Jewish Passover festival was near. And so it's interesting, at home I was reading, this is the NIV, and at home I was reading from the ESV. So this is my Bible that you can see it's a little more than I take it with me. It's always in my purse. But this passage, it said the Jewish Passover was at hand or near, it was coming. And so the tradition of Jewish people, they could be celebrating or preparing for the Passover for a while. So it could even be 30 days up to in advance where they were kind of preparing and getting ready. And so for some reason that hit me while I was reading that it's interesting that 5,000, the number that we have recorded here, it says 5,000 men, so it could have been more than that. I don't know, um, that 5,000 were out there seeking Jesus when the time of Passover was just about at hand when everyone's supposed to go to Jerusalem. And so that kind of, um, just got me really interested in that Jesus was not focused on going to Jerusalem just yet because his timing is always so important and that instead there are all of these out in the wilderness seeking him. And so that kind of hit me and made me wonder, what am I truly seeking? I did just a teeny tiny, if you were on the retreat with us, you know, LaDawn and I talked about like research and, you know, looking at the context and clues and turning aside whenever something catches your interest. And I did a little bit of research and the Feeding of the 5,000, you may know this, is the only account that's in all four of the Gospels. So I think that that is so neat. And also, while we are here reading that Jesus breaks the bread, and then right after this, this is what's cool. I've never, for some reason, this time when I was reading the Bible, you know, you always, it's a living word, you pull back the layers, and for some reason it hit me that then just below this, in John 6, let me see, let me get my verse here. That verse 32, it said, Jesus said to them, he's talking to the Pharisees at this point, very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. And how fascinating is that when he's just fed the 5,000 with bread and he gave thanks to God. And then all of a sudden now we have Jesus, the bread of life, talking about himself as the bread of life in comparison to the manna and Moses and the bread of heaven. And so, um, I just think that's a fascinating correlation that we first have him feed the 5,000 and God gives the bread there. And then we have Jesus as the bread of life, his body broken for us. Um, and so really what that kind of hit for me was, you know, what exactly when I'm praying, if you got to hear, um, Dr. Morgan a few weeks ago, if you got to hear him um when he spoke and he was talking about thanksgiving in prayer and so it made me wonder with just this whole group of people going out you know we're we're coming up on easter we're coming up on passover you know we're going to focus on passover and then easter and um christ christ resurrection and it made me wonder what am i seeking at during this season am i truly seeking the Lord or am I seeking um almost just rituals and there's there's it's fine to have family traditions and things you do on Easter but am I truly seeking God and his presence and thanking him for what he has done in my life and for salvation I mean how often do I just thank God for salvation alone and so um I was then reading so we're kind of jumping around here but I was reading you know John 6 saw that the 5,000 people were out in the wilderness seeking Christ. And then Jesus is the bread of life. And then yesterday I was reading Psalm 23. You know, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. That's a very familiar passage. But where I wanted to focus was verses five through six, which says, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. So that just abundance, that same abundance that we see feeding the 5,000, right? Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And this Psalm just hit me of how often do I approach prayer and first praise and thank God, you know, rejoice always pray with Thanksgiving, you know, um, pray without seizing, you know, give thanks in all circumstances. And so I guess that's my little bit of what am I reading today is just these various, um, parts of the Bible that have really, um, stuck to me and just kind of got me thinking of how often do I go into prayer, just thanking God for what he has given me. And, um, the neat part about that was I'm somebody who I write in my, I write in my Bibles. Um, some people, you know, my Bible, God's Bible, his word, but some people don't, But you can see there's a bunch of pencil marks I write in pencil because sometimes I even write down questions because I don't understand something. But what's neat is sometimes I write down prayers. And you'll see, if you looked in my Bible, there's a lot all through Psalms I'll write down prayers. And what's neat is there was a prayer from about three years ago while I was in a season of waiting for marriage and just saying, Lord, I remain hopeful and your cup will overflow. And just reading that prayer made me realize of how often in that season of waiting was I thanking God even in the waiting. And it reminded me of how God's cup does overflow because I've seen it. I've seen his cup overflow in so many different ways. And so that's just a little bit of encouragement and also a little side note for you to write prayers and put a date with them because I could have written this prayer. I've got some in here that are prayers, and they're still important, but they don't have dates with them. And it's neat to see the dates because you can remember what season you were in when you prayed that prayer. And just to see God's abundance. I mean, it says, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, whatever that can mean. It could be of enemies that they would see the blessings. You know, it could even be the enemy himself. but you anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows and that his blessings just in life just overflow. And so my encouragement for you today is just to remember that Jesus is the bread of life, that we are to be seeking him even in these moments where tradition is coming forward. And then also that we would just pray with thanksgiving above all else. So those are my thoughts for today. And that is what I'm reading and just what God's teaching me and having me ruminate on. So I hope that was encouraging for you this morning and I hope that you have a wonderful Monday and a great rest of your week. Thanks.

Originally published at warren.church.