One of the most fascinating stories in the Bible is the one where Jesus fed five thousand men, apart from women and children, with just five loaves and two fish. Fascinating for the sheer dimension of the supernatural that was in open display at that moment! But also fascinating because… how did Jesus even think about feeding nearly twenty thousand people when you account for the women and children?
Like, who goes to a football stadium filled with fans and thinks… “hmmn, I need to buy food for all these guys, they must be hungry!” I’m more fascinated by the attempt than the actual miracle of multiplication. Yes, I know it was an unforgettable evening for the disciples who watched 5 loaves and 2 fish multiply right in their hands and saw how it was sufficient to feed over 20,000 people. But how and why did Jesus make it His business to feed so many people who weren’t even asking him for it? Why bother about the needs of those you’re “not” responsible for?
The miracle of compassion is the pre-condition for the miracle of multiplication!
When we observe the sheer ruthlessness with which people treat other human beings in our day, you realise that compassion itself was the greater miracle in that story. How does a person love others so much that he picks up their burden and goes the extra mile to solve it for them without ever expecting them to repay him?
The reaction of the disciple to Jesus’ enquiry was very normal — Phillip was not being malicious when he said 200 penny worth of bread would not even begin to scratch the reality of the need at hand… He was only being “realistic.”
200 penny worth is 200 denarii, which is 7 months’ worth of wages. Its present-day worth would be between $10,000 and $20,000. Now that’s a lot of bread, but even that could not go round all 20,000 people if they all ate in small bites. Where will they even find the bakery that had that much supply of bread available on demand? But that is what happens when logic leads the conversation in a moment poised only for a supernatural encounter!
The supernatural is often preceded by compassion and not logical analysis. Yes, it doesn’t make sense, and it probably never will. But there is something about compassion that prepares the atmosphere for the miraculous. Jesus wanted to know which part of his disciples would respond to His question about the needs of the people — their compassion or their logic. The Bible says, He himself knew what to do — compassion always finds a way! What a lesson in the school of the supernatural The Lord taught His disciples in that moment! He didn’t do the miracle apart from them, He partnered with them in executing it.
This year 2026, let compassion lead! If you bring every conversation down to the logical plane, the chances are that you won’t end up with a miracle!
The mandate upon your life demands that the supernatural is not optional, therefore, you must ensure to live a life that catalyses miracles!
If you don’t have an impossible task ahead of you in the magnitude of feeding five thousand people with just 5 loves and 2 fish, then you may not find this useful. But if the assignment on your hands and in your heart this year 2026 requires the injection of the supernatural hand of God, then pay attention to these very important steps:
How to feed five 5000 in 2026:
- Develop an appetite for spotting the needs of people. Let love lead that business idea, not the sheer desire to make money. Let compassion chaperone your drive for excellence, not fame or prestige. Let the fulfilment of meeting needs remain your north star and not the ambition of doing better than your competitor. Let it occur to you to do something about what everyone else complains about or ignores. Jesus could have ignored the needs of those hungry thousands, but He didn’t. Let compassion stand you out.
- Start with what you have, it’s enough. Everywhere the miraculous happened in the Bible, God never did it alone. He ensured to partner with our mortality as a signature of His divine strategy. Man partners with God in working miracles. It could be with 5 loaves and 2 fish, or one last barrel of oil, or pots filled with water or a rod in your hands! You have more than enough to partner with the God who fills the needed gap! That skill, that story, that gift… that thing you have, it’s enough!
- Partner with others, don’t do it all alone. Jesus ensured to partner with his disciples in performing this miracle. The multiplication actually couldn’t have happened in Jesus’ hands, He only had 5 loaves and 2 fish to bless. The multiplication happened in the hands of the disciples. As they obeyed and went ahead to distribute, the bread and fish just never finished from their trays until everyone had enough and to spare. Don’t attempt to hug on too tightly to God’s glory. Be ready to bring others into the avalanche of the miraculous that He’s about to release over your life.
- Do well to clean up, no wastage. This year, have a no-wastage policy. The 12 baskets of leftovers, which were no longer useful for the 5,000 was a feast for the pigs in the nearby farm. Jesus insisted that the leftovers do not go to waste. Find ways to maximize every part of your life. Your time, your gifts, your relationships, your resources… nothing must go to waste. That little time you have left in the day, mentor someone with it, learn a new skill with it, serve God with it. No wastage. God does miracles with what we have, we just need to let Him.
When you do these 4 things, I guarantee that the same God who fed 20,000 people with just 5 loaves and 2 fish, who happens to be the same today, as He was 2,000 years ago, will make His abode with you and cause you to flourish, increase and prosper all the days of the year 2026.
He will empower your little with His mighty, charge your weakness with His strength and optimise your ordinary with His extraordinary!
Welcome to your best year yet!
God bless your heart!
Dami Oguntunde
IG: @damioguntunde
Push Buttons is a weekly devotional of The PowerPoint Tribe.