When God calls us to accomplish an assignment for Him, He doesn’t expect us to do what we can’t do. Instead, He asks us to bring our “little” to Him and then step back and watch what only He can do. In other words, the Creator of the Universe wants us to bring our little connections, our little influence, our little resources, our little time, our little talent, our little abilities to Him and then stand amazed at what He has up His sleeve. He will bring His favor, His connections, His power, His resources and His divine nature to the situation and make something incredible happen. He flung stars into space, spoke worlds into existence and He is in the miracle-working business today. That’s where faith comes into play. You see, God is asking us to play our ‘little’ part, then rest and trust Him! That’s when He goes to work! 

Philip and Andrew, two of Jesus’ disciples had to learn this lesson. In John 6, we find a great crowd of five thousand men, plus women and children gathering in the middle of nowhere to listen to Jesus teach and watch Him perform miracles. People were getting hungry, so Jesus asked Philip, “Where can we get enough food to feed all these people?” He was testing Philip for He already knew what He was going to do. Philip replied, “It will take six months’ worth of wages just to feed each person a single bite, let alone a full meal!” Andrew overheard Philip and Jesus talking and he said, “Here are five small loaves of bread and two fish. But what are these compared to this large crowd?”

Jesus already had a plan! He simply wanted Philip and Andrew to bring what they could to Him…what was in arms reach, and then rest and trust God. God can do what man can’t. He is God! He can multiply our efforts and make something out of nothing! He took a small amount of food and fed well over five thousand people until they were completely satisfied. Afterward, the disciples picked up 12 baskets full of leftovers! This experience taught the disciples to simply bring what they had available to Jesus and He would take their little and multiply it…something that would normally take 6 months of hard labor to pay for! 

I have learned this lesson in my own journey with God. One evening, God spoke to me, “Cory I want you to set captives free.” I was like, How can I possibly set captives free? I am broke. I have no money and nothing to my name! In that particular season, I had lost everything in the 2008 economic collapse. I lost my job, my stable income, my house, my car…EVERYTHING, including my pride…lol! In desperation, I had to move home to my dad and stepmom’s basement for the first time in 11 years. I then lived with them for two full years without a vehicle, rebounding financially. It was a very, very humbling experience. So when God spoke to me to set captives free, I was at the lowest point in my life financially and in a very difficult season! Naturally, I gave God all the reasons why I couldn’t do something to help others. I was broke! My carnal reasoning couldn’t comprehend how God could use me to do something incredible in my current predicament. 

But with mustard seed size faith, I stepped out and tried to do what God was asking me to do. Again, with no resources, no connections, no degree in writing and no real plan. Long story short, I was encouraged by a friend to step out and start writing an online blog using a free blog platform to share my own story from brokenness to wholeness. My desire was to help people get unstuck spiritually and introduce them to Jesus. To my surprise, my blog gained a quick following and within 2 months of me launching it, the largest Christian newspaper company in the USA at the time contacted me. They shared that they loved the way I wrote and they just so happened to be looking for new writers like me to write for them. That began a published writing career for me. 

I didn’t have a background in writing; my degree was in landscape architecture. And I didn’t have resources or connections. But I had God and He gave me an assignment. He took my little writing ability, my little time, my very, very, very little income and He multiplied them. The editor-in-chief of the Christian newspaper company contacted me and said, “I love how you write. I believe the message you are sharing needs to be told. What would you think about writing for us.” I said, “Yes!” That job gave me more influence than I had ever had before in ministry. And it paved the way for future God-opportunities. God knows how to increase our level of influence, to help people find us on the backside of a desert. He is an expert at taking you and me from the back of the line to the front and He can do it in a moment of time! You don’t even need to strive to make it happen. Just bring your loaves of bread and fish to Jesus and watch Him make a miracle happen on your behalf. 

Are you in the game, fulfilling your eternal destiny or are you sitting on the sidelines giving God all the reasons why you can’t do what He has asked you to do?  It’s time to get back out on the playing field. It’s time to combat those excuses with the truth of God’s Word. If Philip and Andrew were here today, they would encourage you to bring your little to God, then trust Him. He has a plan and He wants to include you in it! I also want to encourage you. God is faithful. Bring God your little and watch what only He can do!