Affirm
I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven.
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he shows us his mercy.
Psalm 123:1-2
TEXT
Mark 8:1-13 (TNIV)
During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”
“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them.
The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand were present. And having sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.
He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.
READ
“The Kingdom is coming, but primarily and fundamentally the Kingdom is. These emphases on the past and the future are essential but not the essential. The essential thing to be burned into our thinking is the fact that the Kingdom is. ‘Thine is the Kingdom.’ God is ruling, and if man does not accept that rule, then so much the worse for man. If he attempts to put the Kingdom aside, he does not succeed in doing so. He does something else—he puts himself aside, renders himself unfit to live… You can dodge an ideal, but you cannot dodge yourself.”
-E. Stanley Jones
Declare
The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.
Psalm 24:1-2