Thursday, June 4, 2009

MkITN, Verses 35 - 56

35. And this spontaneous teaching evolved into an all-day seminar, lasting until very late in the afternoon. So as dusk began to set in, His disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and isolated, and the day is almost over.

36. We need to send the crowds away so that they can go into the nearby country and villages to buy themselves something to eat."

37. But He replied to them, "No...let's not do that...why don't you just give them all something to eat right here?" And they said to Him, "Are you suggesting that we take money and go ourselves to buy them enough bread to eat, and then get back here before dark to serve it to them?

38. But He said to them, "No...how many loaves do you have here right now? Go and see." And when they looked around at what was on hand and available, they came back to Him and said, "It looks like we have five loaves of bread and two fish."

39. When he heard this, He instructed the people to sit down on the green grass, organizing them by companies.

40. So they cooperatively separated themselves into ranks of hundreds and fifties, spreading out all over the hillside.


















41. Then, taking the five loaves and two fish, He looked skyward, gave thanks, blessed the bread, and started breaking it. And He kept on breaking loaves and breaking them again and again, handing them to the disciples to give to the people. He also miraculously divided the two fish among them all.

42. And everyone ate, and everyone was completely satisfied.

43. After they all were full, reclining on the ground, the disciples filled up twelve whole baskets of broken pieces from the loaves and of the fish.

44. And when they counted the people by companies, they discovered that those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men, accompanied by women and children.
45. Immediately following this, He insisted that the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He personally finished dismissing the crowds.

46. After the last of them had moved on, He went off by Himself into the hills to pray.

47. By late evening, the boat was out in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on the hillside.

48. From where He was standing, He could see that His men were experiencing great difficulty with the rowing, because the wind was strong and against them. So, sometime after midnight, in the very early hours of the morning, He came out to them, walking directly on the surface of the water. Initially, He just casually walked by them, as though taking a leisurely stroll on the lake in the middle of the night...in fact, He would have just passed by them and walked on if they hadn't noticed Him.

49. But they did, in fact, notice Him walking by, only they thought He was a ghost, and began to scream and cry like scared little children.
















50. But He said to them, "All right, boys, calm down...it's Me! There's no reason for you to be afraid!"

51. And He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind settled right down. And, even though they had just seen the miracle of the loaves and fish...and even though they had been performing miracles, themselves...they were still apparently astonished beyond measure by the miraculous.

52. It was as if the feeding miracle that had occurred only a few hours earlier had never even happened. Observing supernatural manifestations had not enlarged their capacity for understanding spiritual things, nor had it increased their tolerance level for the suspension of natural law. They were still glaringly underdeveloped in these areas, and so they were still quick to panic and become overwhelmed by fear when faced by natural challenges.

53. But there was no more discussion about it this time, and when they had crossed over, they reached the land of Gennesaret, and came to anchor at the shore.

54. And it didn't take long for the action to begin again. In fact, as soon as they got out of the boat, the people recognized Jesus,

55. And they started running from everywhere, carrying around sick people on their sleeping pads to any place where they heard or thought that He might be.

56. And, for that window of time, wherever and whenever He came into villages or cities, they would lay the sick in the marketplaces and beg Him to walk by so that the people could touch the fringe of His outer garment. And, sure enough, as many as touched Him were completely restored to health.

20 comments:

Pamela said...

with our willingness and the Lords miraculous, anything and all things are possible.
What we may perceive as insignficant or nothing to work with, the Lord sees as the way for the Glory of God to be Magnified.
Just remember we are in this world not of this world and we are who God says we are not what this world says we are. Let your actions and words be in alignment to what God has decreed over and about your life, that you are a Child of God, made in His image, Lil Elohim. love Pamela

Izumi/JOY said...

v.35-37 - Hey, v.8-10 of chapter 6 could go here...

38. ..."And when they looked around and saw what was on hand..."

Whose hand?

Also interesting is their, "It looks like..." (suggests natural sight)

Five loaves reminds me of the five-fold ministry. (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers) Fold = an open courtyard before a house.

Two fish reminds me of agreement and provision.

Donald said...

That whole multiplying the bread and fish thing has always puzzled me.
Were new fish actually created and prepared instantly or were existing fish somehow beamed into the basket already prepared for eating?
Likewise with the bread. Were the ingredients suddenly created and made into bread or did existing ingredients miraculously get brought together in the basket.
Ah, what the heck, it just happened. Let's eat!

Northern Light said...

AH.....this one is an easy one for me.

As the parent of 8 kids, (5 still home), I see this miracle occur on a regular basis. Lately, it seems almost daily. It never fails, whatever little there seems to be, everyone gets fed and there's something to clean up in the kitchen.

No complaints, whining,or details.

The Miracle just IS ~ and I Praise HIM!

Peace,
Northern Light

Anonymous said...

First and formost for me to believe in miracles is like believing in life. Life is eternal before my present consciousness of it and will be after this state of existence no longer is. Miracles are as natural as life and there is much information not yet known about either.

Donald, just to mix a little of this with that, what if Jesus borrowed from His dimension as God in that moment and the food replicated itself like manna. There is current study with real promising results on the process of self duplicating biological life in a type of cloning process that does not involve the full product of a living plant or animal but just the portion that is needed for human consumption as food. What has been yeilded in the labs is highly nutritious, non contaminated with environmental toxins and doesn't have a face. I always thought the vegan slogan of don't eat anything with a face was predjudicial against vegatebles anyway. I've seen many a mater and tater that had faces and some of them had more than one. I actually saw a tater once that had a face on one side and a butt on the other. But anyway what does that have to do with anything.

Last night's Tale of Two Trees remixed was absolutly what the doctor ordered. In retrospect, the people who spoke on what the teaching meant to them all said similar things from different views. From the acknowledgement of taking personal responcibility for our choices to understanding that God's Love is Patient, Kind and Unfailing there was a single thread in common. We as humanity have made the mistake of calling that which the Lord has blessed as cursed and even worse we have believed it. The growth in this area is a challenge to see what was meant to be as a reality for the now and not just a promise for some divine future. I liked the comment made concerning what would have happened if Adam and Eve had just turned around and went back into the Garden. That is beautiful food for thought that has great multiplicity potential. How about we just accept that we are in a new age of the Garden experience and use the power of our words to keep the Garden growing and producing as it should. This leads toward a new concept of seeing the fall of the first Adam being nothing more than a belief in a lie that we told to ourselves. It was completely shown to us by the Living Word among us that the lie is more than revealed, it is abolished. WE just need to believe the Truth that The Word has told us. For some ungodly reason humanity has been reluctant to accept that Truth and has continued practicing the belief in being fallen. What will bring us into the knowledge of the Tree of Life and a return to a Garden society. Some think it will not happen in this dimension as if the whole death, ressurection and ascension thing was a hoax or something. And then there are those who do not give themselves to such non productive arguments but go about living life and doing what they can to make it better for others. They are sorta like rocks in a way. As a matter of fact it has been shown that the same basic elements that rocks are comprised of if harnessed for their calculating potential could create a computor made from about a two pound rock that will blow away anything we presently know of in the computor world. How about that for a rock crying out?

Where this brings me in my meditation is to embrace as much Life as I can and give as much thanks as this life is capable of to the One who gave that Life to all. The return to The Garden is in direct line with humanities gratitude for Life.

A special acknowledgement of thanks is due to Bishop Swilley for his courage and open love for God.

Northern Light said...

When I truly just think of this in simple every day terms of "being fed".....I have another example of God meeting the needs of one of His.

Having recently returned home from a G0D-favored & gifted trip to Maui, to see my eldest son (who on my suggestion, moved there 15 months ago), this story is so fitting.

While Justin originally found employment, with benefits, that job ended approx. 8 months ago. Since that time, he has moved from one thing to another. His current position is that of "roadside stand organic farm guy"....boy, pretty generic wording, but I'm drawing a blank at anything that describes it truer or better.

He looks up to a tree, or down to a ground crop, and THERE IS ENOUGH FOOD. He has all he can eat for the work he provides and sleeps in a tent, in the jungle basically, and has no complaints. (happy in this tent, after living in a condo and 2000 sq. foot house in the first 6 months there.) All provisions and needs met. No $$, and he's the coolest, laid back, content 28 year old I know. God Bless him. Yes, GOD DOES....every day, with the manna at hand. It never runs out, and it's Paradise.

Pretty close to the Garden of Eden, with different decisions.

HE is so good, HE provides....
Peace,
Northern Light

p.s. "I'm thinking of a song,Bish"..ha I want to sing every song from last night's LifeSkills all day !

Unknown said...

JB, your tater tangent has me laughin' and grinnin'!

Lovin' verse 37: "...let's not do it THAT way..."

The disciples don't mention a wry little grin and a twinkle in Jesus' eye as He saw what was to be...maybe they missed it. It sure is easy to imagine one reading MkITN...especially following A Tale of Two Trees.

wordver: smswisar..."some's wiser"
and some's not...but this blogger sure is happy to have witnessed live the "WOW, Look at THAT!" day at CITN.

Along with Troy's awareness of increased personal responsibility I received a gut level, out-of-the-head-and-into-the-heart reconciliation of old and new testaments...as if they slammed back together and became this whole, completely unseparated thing...and God was whole again...no longer some schizophrenic thing I have to figure out how to love anyway...just Love...no longer God created in man's image, but us created in His shalom wholeness. WOW...look at THAT!

Anonymous said...

Just noticed that you have Mark of the Beast in the lables line. Should that have been Mark in the Now or is there something we need to know?

It is interesting to think about the relationship to miracles and the Mark of the Beast though. When all are united in Christ then the superior Mark of the Lamb will be the cause of miracles being common place hapenings.

This is great stuff in MkITN Bish.

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

Thanks for your letter, Pamela...my bad for thanking the wrong PT for it...

I've had many requests and inquiries about a Bible School...Kim Clement even gave a prophecy about one at CITN a few years ago...

At this point in the journey I never say never...

I'm open...

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

Thanks for the attention to detail, Izumi...

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

Yeah, I've thought about that, too, Donald...when you're paraphrasing the Scriptures, you have to use your imagination a lot, without adding too much of it...the more you visualize the stories, and think them through, the more questions like that come up...

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

Cool, NL...trust the prom was a hit...

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

Thanks so much, Anon @ 10:06...I thought there would be more feedback from last night than there was, but I appreciate your take on it...

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

The song thing actually happens a lot with P. Jimmie and me, NL...good praise report...

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

Interesting concept on the wholeness thing, Avatar...thanks...

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

Also interesting, Anon @ 4:58...in case someone didn't know you were being clever, there actually is a Mark of the Beast article posted there...

Izumi/JOY said...

God morning beloved Universe!

Thank you for your attention to my attention to detail, Bish. (hehe) Thank you for such interesting material.

I appreciate how the pic under v.40 causes me to wonder about the gift exchange. While I know what the text says, the illustration seems to show the benevolence of the adult hands, too.

v. 44 surprised me. I just read that Bethsaida means, "house of fish". Reading that made me laugh, wondering if that's how everyone got fed. (did the Lord's depth draw them from the waters?)

With all creation they sing...

Unknown said...

You're welcome, Bishop...you & Holy Spirit gave it to me...glad to keep the flow going!

Izumi/JOY said...

For it has been promised that you would be those who would taste of the world that is to come. The announcement goes forth heralded by angels that that age is here. The age of the Spirit of the Living God. This is the age of God, the age of the Spirit. You have left the old world, with the old world customs and the old world ways. You have come where Mount Zion is and by the power of the Spirit, you have discovered the new world.

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come. Welcome to the New World…where the Spirit is Lord and where there is liberty.” Selah.

Prophetic Word
CITN
Bishop Jim Swilley
5-31-09

Reading this word looks and feels like v. 49. The disciples perceived the Lord walking, like that of a ghost. And they were correct.

Holy, holy, holy!

Love how the pic is placed above a verse of jubilee.

wordver: citivera

karl said...

Bishop, good to see you Wednesday, and thank you for everything.

I had a lot in my head when I tried to talk to you a few things after service, not sure it all came out very coherently but glad that you know me after the spirit.

Praise God I finally got a new computer and hope to have the internet going by next weekend...looking forward to blogging more and keeping in touch.

Have a productive, and creative day.
I say "it's a great day for creativity and ingenuity"...also, "let there be LOVE!

-Karl