I'll just show you quickly what Jesus didm because you want to follow Jesus' example in the middle of this, so we'll have a quick look and just read this out in Mark, Chapter 6. In these few verses here, we've got an interesting story, and its some people who don't have any food, and I want to see how Jesus dealt with that. Here it is. So we find it in Mark, Chapter 6 Verse 31. Get the context - the disciples had just come back and talked to Jesus about all the things they'd done. He said come on out by yourselves into a deserted place, let's rest. There's so many coming and going, they didn't have time to eat, so they departed to a deserted place in a boat by themselves. In other words they wanted to have a holiday, but then the crowd saw them and they came, and Jesus was moved with compassion. He ministered to them, then it got very, very late in the day, and they need something to eat. Well what more could they expect? I've given up my break, I've given up my meal, I've preached to them all day. Send them home! That was the disciples, judged them: send them home.
This is what Jesus said. I want you to see what Jesus said. He just did this, He said: well you do something about it, and they got really upset about that. Then He said: well how many loaves do you have, go and see and they found they had five and two fish, commanded them to get them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. They sat down in ranks in hundreds and fifties - now here it is, Verse 41: And when He had taken the five loaves and two fish, He looked up to heaven. The words 'to look up to heaven' is exactly the same word that's used when it says of Jesus' ministry: He came to open the eyes of the blind. When you look up to heaven, you are making a decision to open your eyes to the possibilities of God, in the midst of lack and pressure and difficulty. Remember He had the demand of 5000 or more people on Him, everyone's there needing food and all hungry, and now what am I going to do? They expect me to find - it could easily have been a response of bitterness and anger and resentment. Instead He looked up to heaven.
The first thing we have to do, is to open our eyes to God's perspective. Why are we here? Why are all these people here wanting me to feed them? No, no, no, no. Look up; God, show me Your perspective on this situation. The biggest problem we have is, we don't have God's perspective. We see through the eyes of judgement, but to get God's perspective, you've got to look up to God, look up: God, show me Your perspective on this person, Your perspective on this person, Your perspective on this situation, Your perspective on this problem, Your perspective on this need. Show me Your perspective. Open my eyes to see it like You see it, and then I can operate in wisdom. You need your eyes open. So when you are facing a pressure and a problem, you just need your eyes open to the bigger picture. See, we only see the little bit, and remember they only saw that bit there where there was no water, and then there was bitter water. They didn't see there were wells coming up. They didn't see God as a God who heals.
Then they run out of food, and all they can see is they're out of food. They don't see God as a God who provides. They just don't see. That was the problem. Why couldn't they see? Because of bitter judgements - and so what happens is, Jesus looked up to heaven. So first thing is, we just - heaven is full of abundance see, so if you look around here you see huge lack. You look at people and see huge need. You look up there, and God, help me to see the abundance, help me have Your perspective on this situation, and how You want me to engage with You, to bring heaven into earth in this situation. That's the first thing.
The second thing, He focussed on God's love and goodness. How do we know He did that? Because He said what I see the Father doing that's what I do, so He made the focus of His looking into the heaven, and to looking to God's perspective, on the goodness, the nature of God. God is always good. If God is always good, He's going to provide. If God is a provider, Jehovah Jireh provider, He'll make a way. I don't know what it is, I don't know how He's going to do it, but that's okay. He'll make a way. He'll make a way. Why? No, He'll make a way. You focus on God's love.