You must desire to know the truth before you will ever be able to understand it and put it to use in your everyday life.
Below is a powerful truth that God has shown me about the process we go through to truly understand and act unconsciously upon truth.
Mark 6: 32-45 tells the story of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand men plus women and children.
Jesus and the disciples had been so busy teaching and ministering to people that they hardly had time to eat.
They were all weary and needed to get away to rest. But when the people saw them leaving, they were so desperate to know more truth that they followed them.
When Jesus saw this, He couldn’t help but have compassion on them. The Bible says that He saw them “as sheep without a shepherd.”
They had left what they were doing and followed Jesus without even thinking about food or provisions. It was getting late in the day and the disciples started to worry about what they should do.
Naturally, they tried to think of a fleshly solution to the problem. They told Jesus to let them disperse and go to the villages nearby to get something to eat.
He answered by saying to them, “Give ye them to eat.”
They tried to find their own solution to the problem, but the only food they could find was two small fish and five loaves of bread. Of course, they couldn’t see how that small amount of food would help to feed the large crowd.
But Jesus had something else in mind. He wanted to teach them about the provision of God.
They witnessed a miracle, and saw Jesus take care of an impossible situation. He fed five thousand people by multiplying the small amount of food until everyone was filled.
Then the disciples took up twelve baskets that were left over.
What an awesome miracle the disciples had just seen. I’m sure it made a huge impact on them. But they would not have yet absorbed this truth enough for it to make them believe in the impossible another time. They hadn’t yet learned the lesson that first you must desire to know the truth and then seek it.
Jesus Gives The Disciples Another Lesson
After the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus went to a mountain to pray. The disciples got in the ship and sailed to the other shore.
While they were in the middle of the sea, a huge storm came up suddenly. They were rowing as hard as they could, but making little progress against the huge waves and mighty winds.
Jesus decided to go to them by walking upon the sea. When they saw Him, they were very afraid until He told them who He was. As soon as He got into the boat, the wind ceased and the water became calm.
The disciples were amazed at what had just happened, but Mark 6: 52 says “For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.”
A few hours before, they had seen the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 men plus women and children.
They didn’t remember about the “power” which Jesus had used earlier. And they didn’t consider that He could use this same “power” to save them from the storm.
They were not opposed to what Jesus had done, but their mind didn’t seem to connect the two things together as being from the same “power source.”
Another Miracle From Jesus
Two chapters later, the same thing happened. The crowd was anxious to be around and hear Jesus, so they followed Him again out of town.
This time they had been there three days with nothing to eat, having at least four thousand men plus women and children.
Jesus told the disciples they needed to provide food for the people.
Again, they only found a small amount of food. And again, Jesus blessed and multiplied it so the people could eat until they were full.
This time they had seven baskets left over. After everyone had been completely filled, he sent them away to their homes.
The Disciples Still Didn’t Understand
Jesus and the disciples were also about to leave when the Pharisees started asking Him questions. He wouldn’t answer them because He knew they didn’t desire to know the truth. They were only trying to find a way to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him.
He finally got away, and they boarded the ship. Keep in mind that this was only a few hours after another miraculous feeding of thousands of people using only a few fish and loaves of bread.
Jesus told them these words in Mark 8:15, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.”
Again, they had no clue what Jesus was talking about. He was trying to warn them that the Pharisees were only concerned with rules and regulations. Their power was at stake, and they didn’t want to lose it.
The disciples discussed what Jesus had said. They missed the whole point of His words. Because He had talked about leaven, they felt He must be upset because they hadn’t brought bread to feed the people.
- Jesus then recounted the miraculous feeding of the five thousand men, plus women and children, and how they had twelve baskets left over.
- He also reminded them of the four thousand men, plus women and children who had been fed with seven baskets left over.
- He not only reminded them of His sufficiency, but that there had been several baskets of food left each time.
Then in Mark 8: 21 He says, “How is it that ye do not understand?”
The disciples had been with Jesus constantly and watched Him do all kinds of miracles. This had become a part of their everyday life. They didn’t seem to understand the power that Jesus had to perform these miracles and where that power came from.
You Can Walk In the Power And Authority of Christ Using Jesus’ Name
Jesus has given every believer in Christ the authority to use the POWER of His Name to walk in victory. But you must have a close relationship with Him to learn about His character. And you must desire to know the truth.
Let the Holy Spirit show you about the Character of God, and let Him open your heart, mind, and ears to find out the truth and walk in it.
You must desire to know the truth before you can really understand it. Grasp onto the promises and truths God has given you in His Word. They will completely change your life.
God wants all His Children to be able to walk in His Power and live a victorious Christian life. He not only wants us to defeat Satan, He wants us to make huge advances for the Kingdom of God.
God wants you to be wholly surrendered to Him. Then He can use you to do mighty works for the cause of Christ.
I leave you with the words to the chorus of this song by Matthew West:
The Motions
I don’t want to go through the motions
I don’t want to go one more day
Without your all-consuming passion inside of me
I don’t want to spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything
Instead of going through the motions
