Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Father, please give me faith to trust that Jesus can make my feeble resources, skills, and intellect more than sufficient to meet the needs of those you want me to serve. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

The apostles {that Jesus sent out} came back to Jesus. They gathered around Jesus and told him about all the things they did and taught. Jesus and his followers were in a very busy place. There were many, many people. Jesus and his followers did not even have time to eat. Jesus said to his followers, "Come with me. We will go to a quiet place to be alone. There we will get some rest." So Jesus and his followers went away alone. They went in a boat to a place where there were no people. But many people saw them leave. The people knew it was Jesus. So people from all the towns ran to the place where Jesus was going. The people were there before Jesus arrived. When Jesus arrived there, he saw many people waiting. Jesus felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd {to care for them}. So Jesus taught the people many things. It was now late in the day. So Jesus' followers came to him. They said, "No people live in this place. And it is already very late. So send the people away. They need to go to the farms and towns around here to buy some food to eat." But Jesus answered, "You give them some food to eat." The followers said to Jesus, "We can't buy enough bread to feed all these people! We would all have to work a month to earn enough money to buy that much bread!" Jesus asked the followers, "How many loaves of bread do you have now? Go and see." The followers counted their loaves of bread. They came to Jesus and said, "We have five loaves of bread and two fish." Then Jesus said to the followers, "Tell all the people to sit in groups on the green grass." So all the people sat in groups. There were about 50 or 100 people in each group. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish. He looked up to the sky and thanked God for the bread. Then Jesus divided the bread and gave it to his followers. Jesus told his followers to give the bread to the people. Then Jesus divided the two fish and gave the fish to the people. All the people ate and were full. Afterthe people finished eating, the followers filled twelve baskets with the pieces of bread and fish that were not eaten. There were about 5,000 men there that ate.

Related Scripture Readings

Remember this: The person who plants little will harvest only a little. But the person who plants much will harvest much. Each person should give what he has decided in his heart to give. A person should not give if it makes him sad. And a person should not give if he thinks he is forced to give. God loves the person who gives happily. And God can give you more blessings than you need. Then you will always have plenty of everything. You will have enough to give to every good work.

I can do all things through Christ, because he gives me strength. I have all the things I need. I have even more than I need. I have all I need because Epaphroditus brought your gift to me. Your gift is like a sweet-smelling sacrifice offered to God. God accepts that sacrifice and it pleases him. My God is very rich with the glory of Christ Jesus. God will use his riches in Christ Jesus to give you everything you need. Glory to our God and Father forever and ever. Amen.

"No person can serve two masters at the same time. He will hate one master and love the other master. Or he will follow one master and refuse to follow the other master. So you cannot serve God and Money at the same time. "So I tell you, don't worry about the food you need to live. And don't worry about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more important than food. And the body is more important than clothes. Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or save food in barns. But your heavenly Father feeds those birds. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds. You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it. "And why do you worry about clothes? Look at the flowers in the field. See how they grow. They don't work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that even Solomon, the great and rich king, was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. God clothes the grass in the field like that. That grass is living today, but tomorrow it is thrown into the fire to be burned. So you know that God will clothe you much more. Don't have so little faith! Don't worry and say, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' All the people that don't know God try to get these things. Don't worry, because your Father in heaven knows that you need these things. The thing you should want most is God's kingdom and doing the good things God wants you to do. Then all these other things you need will be given to you. So don't worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries.