S. Sekou Abodunrin
[The following prophecy was brought forth while writing this article – 1pm May 29 2007]
By no means submit to the cheap offers of fear
Nor participate in that false economy of corrupt imaginations
Do not stand with reverence in the presence of fear any longer
But practice the things of victory in Christ
and stay your heart in submission to the one who has the last say-so
The majestic one of the heavens who is the architect of your new nature
Lend your emotions, yea! Lend your feelings
To the mighty stream of the joy that is in Jehovah
And in the worst of situations you shall have the best of times
For all of me, yea all of my supply is available as you stay your mind in meditation
Identify with that heavenly melody and make music in the hard place
And know the sweet triumph of God through the new nature
In you I am stronger than the troubles that surrounds
Through you I shall manifest great peace and lead you into a greater revelation of peace!
Please read through John 6 before proceeding. [It is actually better that you read Mk 6:34 -, Mt 14:14 -, Lk 9:11 - also]
I want you to realize that the miracle of feeding multitudes with loaves and fishes happened more than once in the ministry of Jesus.
He seemed to repeat the miracle because he wanted to convey a point that the disciples had a hard time learning. In fact this feeding of the 5000 is the only miracle prior to his crucifixion that is recorded by all the gospels.
Students of bible numerics know that the number 5 is a symbol for grace, while the number 2 is the basic unit of testimony concerning disagreement or agreement. The number 12 seems to denote government or administration and often stands as a symbol of Israel. The rendition of this miracle by John shows that Jesus is the bread of life. In simple terms, if you are willing to accept it, the message contained within the miracle is this – God’s grace is the fullness of God’s government by which he freely gives himself as the total provision for man. This system will take Israel away from Jerusalem [where the temple was] into the desert where manna fell for their fathers, but unlike that other bread that couldn’t give life, this new administration will be life giving through the life-imparting bread.
You understand that the feeding of the 5000 preceded the feeding of the 4000. This is a subtle way of “saying” – to the Jew first, and then to the gentile. In other words this bread from heaven will meet the need of man globally. We’d consider this fully some other day. Meanwhile …
John’s account of the feeding of the 5000 men is insightful. Jesus poses a question to Philip. He was hoping to stir in Philip something that would awaken Philip to the soulish slant of his life. Jesus already knew what he would do. He wasn’t looking for answers from Philip, but helping the young man locate his system of value. Sadly this is still the case with many Christians. We see something in the word and then try to live up to it; we exert all of our strength, and then fail miserably. We often fail to see that the one who gave the word is also the answer to the very requirements stated within its pages. Most Christians, like Phillip, never seem to locate Jesus as their full and infinite supply.
Jesus said what he said to prove Philip. Understand that Jesus already knew things that Philip was refusing to acknowledge – Philip had just seen Jesus perform miracle after miracle but the impact of it all was lost on him. The aim of this proving was to expose Philip to a fresh comprehension of Jesus as his infinite supply. Philip's answer originated from what resources he had in the natural. His response could have originated from God’s supply in their midst. The people were proved also. All that they saw was a prophet and nothing more. To us however the veil is lifted, he is more than prophet. He is the bread of life. As prophet he was external to them, but as bread he is ingested, absorbed and retained within. You become what you eat. They had him as bread so that he could be life within them. Given that it is the disciples that asked that Jesus release the people to go look for food, it is likely that it was the disciples that were hungry and not the crowd! The disciples stood in the presence of Jesus [living bread] and all that they acknowledged was another form of bread! John has a soft rebuke in his rendition – he seems to be contrasting knowing the bread on a natural level with receiving the living bread into manifestation as our very life.
Jesus blessed the fishes and loaves and then asks 12 adults to feed the multitude with it. It wasn’t obvious to the disciples, but it was the same one that blessed the loaves and fishes that would feed the people. His question was an invitation to them to lend him their bodies as vehicles of his infinite supply.
The disciples however were blind to the fact that the answer was standing in their midst. Their emotional struggle had blinded them. They were in an emotional struggle because they didn’t know what Jesus knew in that situation. He knew what he would do, so there was no crisis, worrying or fretting in him. The disciples could have participated in the emotional triumph of Jesus if they would have rated his perspective higher than theirs. They were adults, they had experience and they knew how the “system” worked and so they clung fiercely to their position instead of receiving rest for their emotions in the person of Jesus as the living bread.
Some Greek scholars say that the Greek word for fish here is the one for raw fish. In other words 12 adults watched Jesus bless raw fish and then they hear him instruct them to feed the people with it! The disciples must have stood in shock as the fish became edible somewhere in this process! The secret was this - they had acted upon the words of Jesus. It was obvious to them that there was no panic in him as he gave the instruction for he is humble and gentle of heart. His emotions were at rest.
The emotions of the disciples were pressured for each knew that 8 months salary was not enough. The trouble is that their emotion was locked and ceilinged by this prideful economics. The problem was not with economics, but with the system of supply that they were willing to submit to and live under. Economic principles were in tact for supply far exceeded demand but they couldn’t see this unless they learned the lesson - Jesus was involving them as channels of his infinite supply!
All were fed, yet no disciple would have felt the weight of feeding that multitude for each kept giving out of what was in his hands – it wasn’t something hard for all that they were required to do was to keep on giving out of the resources they had. The greatest challenge would be a low estimation of that which they had. Literally the burden was light. Each disciple would have gotten bolder with every bunch of 100 or 50 fed. The burden was lifted off their souls only after they saw with their eyes the miracle that flowed from Christ’s infinite supply. You realize that Jesus was dealing with men that were dead spiritually. He worked with all that they offered – their senses. He had to engage them in the realm where they were perceptive. The needs of men were met on two levels – in the body and in the soul. You and I are called to live by invisible but real abilities in Jesus! He was meeting needs that were manifest around the disciples and using it to teach their soul about himself. The miracle was a physical demonstration of Jesus the bread of life.
According to Jesus the starting point was with what the disciples had. All they needed to do was to act upon that which Jesus has said. He is bread. It was so easy to ask for more of something or the other for we always tend to think there is something more that we need. We often fail to see that the bread is in our hands – at our disposal. Jesus guarantees that. I have caught myself often in prayer asking for more of one thing or another in order to meet the need of the hour and have often had to stop and repent when it dawns on me that I had failed to see that my greatest obstacle was that I little esteemed the infinite supply that Christ is to me, in me and through me now. In the midst of turmoil and affliction I used to seek calm and respite not understanding that the calm and emotional release I longed for was already living in me. Imagine a believer asking for a “baptism of love” to help him handle the hurtful and hateful things that people do to and around him. He is failing to see that love lives in him. It is not a baptism that he needs, but a resting in the power of love within. He must admit that love lives in and is active through him. Failing to realize this he will toil in sleepless nights of needless requests.
The following was given by tongues and interpretation as I was writing this – “Can you dare to believe that calm lives in you right now? You are to hold firmly to this affirmation until it leads your emotions into a new understanding of peace. One of these days the overwhelming feeling will be that of oneness with Christ in your consciousness. This is living beyond panic. The purpose of God is to produce in you the same quality of life that characterizes him. You and He are kindred in your emotions just like you are one in spiritual union by the new birth. God has taken residence in you now. He speaks through you in that beautiful expression called tongues – he also wants to see through your eyes and feel through your emotions until you no longer participate in the corruption of the present system but lend him your emotion until it hands you over to a new set of feelings in Christ Jesus”.
His Burden is light and His yoke is easy and I am to take these. Then I find rest for my soul.
The way of the sinner is hard not the way of Jesus in the new man. In a sense you are correct if you consider this zoe life “impossible”. This is because when God releases instructions he is addressing his nature within you and not your flesh. His animating life - this is what fulfills this impossible life. He doesn't stand aloof telling us what to do.
The key is union. We identify with his strength in this. Only his strength can bring these things to pass. We have this strength in the new nature.
His statements are not merely utopian. Colossians says life is not some force that we possess or something that God gives us. Life is a person. This eternal life is God in me acting as me and operative through me. When he spoke those words in Galilee long ago he was describing life as it functions in God. Today he speaks this within our new nature indwelling us and not as some external lawgiver as of old. It isn't a commandment to live up to but a person to yield to in order that the higher order of life be manifest. He is gentle in and through you. He is humble through you and as you.
“I am trying to live up to this as one would an external command” totally misses the point - I am to receive his activity into my emotional life until in him I find rest for my soul. He is rest for your soul. This is oneness not struggle.
To the eastern mind bread wasn't just a loaf but life itself. The lesson learnt is that He is in you and in your hands to meet the needs around you. Panic in our emotions is proof, not of the magnitude of the situation, but of the fact that I have taken my eyes off the supply of God within. This is why our soul is restless. Restlessness is symptomatic. It is not the real issue. The issue is the failure to see that he is in me already as the answer to everything as the bread of life. When he says that we find rest for our souls, he is referring to the discovery that the believer makes about the true nature of rest – rest is not something that God gives you. Rest is God himself.
[The following prophecy was brought forth while writing this article – 1pm May 29 2007]
By no means submit to the cheap offers of fear
Nor participate in that false economy of corrupt imaginations
Do not stand with reverence in the presence of fear any longer
But practice the things of victory in Christ
and stay your heart in submission to the one who has the last say-so
The majestic one of the heavens who is the architect of your new nature
Lend your emotions, yea! Lend your feelings
To the mighty stream of the joy that is in Jehovah
And in the worst of situations you shall have the best of times
For all of me, yea all of my supply is available as you stay your mind in meditation
Identify with that heavenly melody and make music in the hard place
And know the sweet triumph of God through the new nature
In you I am stronger than the troubles that surrounds
Through you I shall manifest great peace and lead you into a greater revelation of peace!
Please read through John 6 before proceeding. [It is actually better that you read Mk 6:34 -, Mt 14:14 -, Lk 9:11 - also]
I want you to realize that the miracle of feeding multitudes with loaves and fishes happened more than once in the ministry of Jesus.
He seemed to repeat the miracle because he wanted to convey a point that the disciples had a hard time learning. In fact this feeding of the 5000 is the only miracle prior to his crucifixion that is recorded by all the gospels.
Students of bible numerics know that the number 5 is a symbol for grace, while the number 2 is the basic unit of testimony concerning disagreement or agreement. The number 12 seems to denote government or administration and often stands as a symbol of Israel. The rendition of this miracle by John shows that Jesus is the bread of life. In simple terms, if you are willing to accept it, the message contained within the miracle is this – God’s grace is the fullness of God’s government by which he freely gives himself as the total provision for man. This system will take Israel away from Jerusalem [where the temple was] into the desert where manna fell for their fathers, but unlike that other bread that couldn’t give life, this new administration will be life giving through the life-imparting bread.
You understand that the feeding of the 5000 preceded the feeding of the 4000. This is a subtle way of “saying” – to the Jew first, and then to the gentile. In other words this bread from heaven will meet the need of man globally. We’d consider this fully some other day. Meanwhile …
John’s account of the feeding of the 5000 men is insightful. Jesus poses a question to Philip. He was hoping to stir in Philip something that would awaken Philip to the soulish slant of his life. Jesus already knew what he would do. He wasn’t looking for answers from Philip, but helping the young man locate his system of value. Sadly this is still the case with many Christians. We see something in the word and then try to live up to it; we exert all of our strength, and then fail miserably. We often fail to see that the one who gave the word is also the answer to the very requirements stated within its pages. Most Christians, like Phillip, never seem to locate Jesus as their full and infinite supply.
Jesus said what he said to prove Philip. Understand that Jesus already knew things that Philip was refusing to acknowledge – Philip had just seen Jesus perform miracle after miracle but the impact of it all was lost on him. The aim of this proving was to expose Philip to a fresh comprehension of Jesus as his infinite supply. Philip's answer originated from what resources he had in the natural. His response could have originated from God’s supply in their midst. The people were proved also. All that they saw was a prophet and nothing more. To us however the veil is lifted, he is more than prophet. He is the bread of life. As prophet he was external to them, but as bread he is ingested, absorbed and retained within. You become what you eat. They had him as bread so that he could be life within them. Given that it is the disciples that asked that Jesus release the people to go look for food, it is likely that it was the disciples that were hungry and not the crowd! The disciples stood in the presence of Jesus [living bread] and all that they acknowledged was another form of bread! John has a soft rebuke in his rendition – he seems to be contrasting knowing the bread on a natural level with receiving the living bread into manifestation as our very life.
Jesus blessed the fishes and loaves and then asks 12 adults to feed the multitude with it. It wasn’t obvious to the disciples, but it was the same one that blessed the loaves and fishes that would feed the people. His question was an invitation to them to lend him their bodies as vehicles of his infinite supply.
The disciples however were blind to the fact that the answer was standing in their midst. Their emotional struggle had blinded them. They were in an emotional struggle because they didn’t know what Jesus knew in that situation. He knew what he would do, so there was no crisis, worrying or fretting in him. The disciples could have participated in the emotional triumph of Jesus if they would have rated his perspective higher than theirs. They were adults, they had experience and they knew how the “system” worked and so they clung fiercely to their position instead of receiving rest for their emotions in the person of Jesus as the living bread.
Some Greek scholars say that the Greek word for fish here is the one for raw fish. In other words 12 adults watched Jesus bless raw fish and then they hear him instruct them to feed the people with it! The disciples must have stood in shock as the fish became edible somewhere in this process! The secret was this - they had acted upon the words of Jesus. It was obvious to them that there was no panic in him as he gave the instruction for he is humble and gentle of heart. His emotions were at rest.
The emotions of the disciples were pressured for each knew that 8 months salary was not enough. The trouble is that their emotion was locked and ceilinged by this prideful economics. The problem was not with economics, but with the system of supply that they were willing to submit to and live under. Economic principles were in tact for supply far exceeded demand but they couldn’t see this unless they learned the lesson - Jesus was involving them as channels of his infinite supply!
All were fed, yet no disciple would have felt the weight of feeding that multitude for each kept giving out of what was in his hands – it wasn’t something hard for all that they were required to do was to keep on giving out of the resources they had. The greatest challenge would be a low estimation of that which they had. Literally the burden was light. Each disciple would have gotten bolder with every bunch of 100 or 50 fed. The burden was lifted off their souls only after they saw with their eyes the miracle that flowed from Christ’s infinite supply. You realize that Jesus was dealing with men that were dead spiritually. He worked with all that they offered – their senses. He had to engage them in the realm where they were perceptive. The needs of men were met on two levels – in the body and in the soul. You and I are called to live by invisible but real abilities in Jesus! He was meeting needs that were manifest around the disciples and using it to teach their soul about himself. The miracle was a physical demonstration of Jesus the bread of life.
According to Jesus the starting point was with what the disciples had. All they needed to do was to act upon that which Jesus has said. He is bread. It was so easy to ask for more of something or the other for we always tend to think there is something more that we need. We often fail to see that the bread is in our hands – at our disposal. Jesus guarantees that. I have caught myself often in prayer asking for more of one thing or another in order to meet the need of the hour and have often had to stop and repent when it dawns on me that I had failed to see that my greatest obstacle was that I little esteemed the infinite supply that Christ is to me, in me and through me now. In the midst of turmoil and affliction I used to seek calm and respite not understanding that the calm and emotional release I longed for was already living in me. Imagine a believer asking for a “baptism of love” to help him handle the hurtful and hateful things that people do to and around him. He is failing to see that love lives in him. It is not a baptism that he needs, but a resting in the power of love within. He must admit that love lives in and is active through him. Failing to realize this he will toil in sleepless nights of needless requests.
The following was given by tongues and interpretation as I was writing this – “Can you dare to believe that calm lives in you right now? You are to hold firmly to this affirmation until it leads your emotions into a new understanding of peace. One of these days the overwhelming feeling will be that of oneness with Christ in your consciousness. This is living beyond panic. The purpose of God is to produce in you the same quality of life that characterizes him. You and He are kindred in your emotions just like you are one in spiritual union by the new birth. God has taken residence in you now. He speaks through you in that beautiful expression called tongues – he also wants to see through your eyes and feel through your emotions until you no longer participate in the corruption of the present system but lend him your emotion until it hands you over to a new set of feelings in Christ Jesus”.
His Burden is light and His yoke is easy and I am to take these. Then I find rest for my soul.
The way of the sinner is hard not the way of Jesus in the new man. In a sense you are correct if you consider this zoe life “impossible”. This is because when God releases instructions he is addressing his nature within you and not your flesh. His animating life - this is what fulfills this impossible life. He doesn't stand aloof telling us what to do.
The key is union. We identify with his strength in this. Only his strength can bring these things to pass. We have this strength in the new nature.
His statements are not merely utopian. Colossians says life is not some force that we possess or something that God gives us. Life is a person. This eternal life is God in me acting as me and operative through me. When he spoke those words in Galilee long ago he was describing life as it functions in God. Today he speaks this within our new nature indwelling us and not as some external lawgiver as of old. It isn't a commandment to live up to but a person to yield to in order that the higher order of life be manifest. He is gentle in and through you. He is humble through you and as you.
“I am trying to live up to this as one would an external command” totally misses the point - I am to receive his activity into my emotional life until in him I find rest for my soul. He is rest for your soul. This is oneness not struggle.
To the eastern mind bread wasn't just a loaf but life itself. The lesson learnt is that He is in you and in your hands to meet the needs around you. Panic in our emotions is proof, not of the magnitude of the situation, but of the fact that I have taken my eyes off the supply of God within. This is why our soul is restless. Restlessness is symptomatic. It is not the real issue. The issue is the failure to see that he is in me already as the answer to everything as the bread of life. When he says that we find rest for our souls, he is referring to the discovery that the believer makes about the true nature of rest – rest is not something that God gives you. Rest is God himself.
....to be continued
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