What Is Already in Your Hands?

What if the provision you are praying for is already in your hands, but it is waiting to be surrendered?

In Matthew 15, Jesus is surrounded by thousands of hungry people. The disciples see the need and immediately recognize their lack. There are too many people and not enough resources.

But Jesus asks them a fascinating question:

“How many loaves do you have?”

Their answer is almost laughable compared to the size of the need: seven loaves and a few small fish.

Yet Jesus does not despise what they have. He takes it.

He gives thanks.

He breaks it.

And He multiplies it.

What was insufficient in their hands became abundant in His.

This reminds me of the widow who had only a little oil. She did not possess what she needed to solve the problem in front of her. But when she took what she had and surrendered it by faith, God multiplied it until there was abundantly more than what was necessary for her provision.

Sometimes, though, surrender is even more costly than giving God our extra. Sometimes we do not even feel like we have enough to feed ourselves.

There are seasons when what is in our hands feels barely sufficient for our own survival. Everything within us wants to cling to it because we are afraid that if we release it, there will be nothing left for us.

But what if the very thing we are clinging to for self sufficiency is the thing Jesus is asking us to surrender?

This is where faith becomes costly.

When what I cling to in an attempt to provide for myself is surrendered into the hands of Jesus, He can multiply it so abundantly that not only do I discover there is enough for me, but somehow there is enough for others as well.

Surrender can turn personal provision into provision for a multitude.

Suddenly, people who desperately need provision begin to experience abundance as a byproduct of my trust, my surrender, and my faith.

This is the mystery of the Kingdom. God does not always multiply what we accumulate. Often, He multiplies what we surrender.

There is something about surrender that creates room for multiplication.

Whenever we take what we have and surrender it to Jesus, He has the ability to multiply it.

God is a God of multiplication, not merely provision. It would be enough if He simply gave us exactly what we needed, but throughout Scripture we repeatedly see a God who loves abundance. In Matthew 15, everyone ate and was satisfied, and seven baskets were left over.

Jesus did not merely meet the need.

He multiplied what was surrendered until there was more than enough.

Maybe, then, the solution to what you need is not simply God providing something you do not have.

Maybe the invitation is to surrender what you already do have.

Maybe what seems insignificant in your hands is actually the seed of the miracle you have been asking for.

We often look at our lack and ask, “God, what are You going to give me?”

Perhaps sometimes Jesus responds with another question:

“What do you already have?”

What gift do you have?

What resource?

What relationship?

What opportunity?

What dream?

What ability?

What little bit of oil?

What few loaves and fish?

Maybe what you currently have feels embarrassingly small compared to what you need. Maybe you are even afraid that surrendering it will leave you with less than you need.

But the question is not whether what you have is enough in your hands.

The question is what it could become in His.

What is insufficient in your hands can become abundant in the hands of Jesus.

So what are you holding onto that Jesus is inviting you to surrender?

What is it that you need from Him?

And before asking what He is going to give you, what is He first asking you to give Him?

When the little that we have is taken out of our hands and placed into His, it has the ability to multiply beyond our wildest imaginations. And sometimes the multiplication becomes so abundant that the miracle does not stop with us. Our surrender becomes someone else’s provision.

Maybe you do not need more in your hands.

Maybe you need to place what is already there into His.