Matthew chapter 14

John the Baptist was in prison for telling the King what was right. Do you have enough courage to "speak the truth in love" as the scripture says? The King knew John was right, he even listened to John preach, but he cared more to be popular. When he was seduced by his wife's daughter, he was asked to cut off John the Baptist head. This is where we see he cared more for popularity. The officials looked on to see what his response would be. He ordered John to be beheaded. Jesus, being John's first cousin, was grieved at the news.

Jesus made an attempt to go and be alone. People saw Him leaving and followed Him. Sometimes people are not sensitive to the feelings or the needs of others. They did not consider for one moment that Jesus' relative was just murdered. The people had themselves in mind. Maybe some did not know of the death of John or possibly the relationship between John and Jesus. Nevertheless, Jesus served them. He taught them the Word of God. I am assuming that part because the scripture said "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." The scripture says Jesus healed the sick. I am saying that they obtained faith to be healed by the hearing of the Word of God taught to them.

Then He fed them. He took five loaves of bread and two fish and thanked God for them. It is better to thank God for what you have rather than complain about what you don't have. Jesus blessed the food and began distributing it. The supply did not stop until everyone had eaten and was full. The number of people was 5,000 men plus women and children. The supply was so great that there were twelve baskets of food left over. Where did the twelve baskets come from? Possibly from the same place the food came from.

What have you learned so far? Remain faithful to speak the Word of God and God is our never ending source of supply.

After such a great meeting Jesus sent everyone away. Once He was alone, He again began to pray. This is what He went there to do from the beginning, but the people delayed Him. Have you ever been delayed in doing something you wanted to do? Has it ever been a time that you felt your answer or request from God was delayed? Just maybe He was healing the sick or feeding the hunger. This is not to say that God can not do more than one thing at a time, but I am saying that those He uses may be on another assignment; but they are coming to us. Jesus never forgets what He was planning to do. You may recall this happened when He was on His way to heal Jairus' daughter. The woman with the issue of blood delayed Him. She interrupted their journey by releasing her faith and obtaining her healing. Jesus is so loving that a faith delay is really not a problem at all.

Well, Jesus spent His time in prayer, then He left to join the disciples on the boat. It appears that the water was not a concern to Him. Jesus walked from land to water, apparently not missing a step. It appears He did not have the thought, "how am I going to get to the other side?" He knew what He had to do and He did not allow natural situations to deter Him. Notice, natural situations will not pull Him off His course, only people situations. The disciples saw Him walking on the water. Peter asked if he could join Him. Jesus allowed him to come and walk with Him. Peter walked on the water. Peter walked on the water long enough to reach Jesus. Jesus only had to reach out His hand to keep Peter from sinking. They were pretty close. Peter did not sink. The scripture said, "he began to sink." Additionally, Peter walked back to the boat with Jesus. Remember to look at the things you are accomplishing. Praise God for the accomplishments and He will help you where you need it. Now, Jesus did ask Peter why he doubted. We can hear Jesus say, "there is absolutely no reason why you can not walk on the water, just believe it." We can say to ourselves from this passage, believe and you can do whatever the Lord instructs, the Word commands and your heart desires.

When they got to the other side, many people brought the sick to Jesus. They asked permission to just touch the fringe of His clothes. All the people who touched His clothes were healed. Faith - the currency of the spirit. Use your faith to obtain your healing from the Lord. He is not here for you to touch His clothes or for Him to place His hands on you, but through the Spirit you can receive your healing if you will believe. All things are possible to the person who believes.