The Power of a Simple Yes
When God Calls the Unlikely: The Power of a Simple Yes
There's something profoundly beautiful about impossibility—especially when it becomes the canvas for God's greatest miracles.
Consider for a moment the staggering reality: 4.35 billion people around the world are oral learners. These are individuals who, whether illiterate or moderately literate, learn through stories and spoken word rather than written text. Six million villages worldwide exist where oral traditions remain the primary means of passing down knowledge, culture, and faith.
The numbers are overwhelming. The task seems impossible. And that's precisely where God loves to work.
The Divine Pattern of Calling
Throughout scripture, we see a consistent pattern: God doesn't wait until we're fully qualified to call us. He doesn't delay His summons until we've accumulated enough experience, refined our skills, or eliminated our weaknesses. Instead, He calls us when we're young, inexperienced, and sometimes completely unaware of what we're saying yes to.
An eight-year-old girl praying at summer camp hears God's voice calling her to be a missionary—before she even knows what the word means. An eleventh-grader receives a vision to train children's pastors around the world—only to be told by his own missionary father, "That's not even a thing."
Yet here's the truth: God's calling doesn't depend on current reality. It depends on future possibility.
For twenty-six years, that vision seemed impossible. But God was patient, working, refining, and preparing. Because when God calls you to something, He already knows what He's going to do.
The Crowd, The Boy, and The Disciples
The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand in Mark 6 and John 6 reveals three distinct responses to divine opportunity—three ways we can position ourselves in God's story.
**The Crowd** showed up to see miracles. They came hungry, sat on the grass, ate bread, heard a message, and left. The crowd is always concerned primarily with their own needs: How will my sickness be healed? What will I get out of this? Does this meet my preferences?
There's nothing inherently wrong with being part of the crowd—everyone who encounters Jesus is another transformed life, another story of grace. But if you've been sitting in the crowd for years after giving your heart to Jesus, there's so much more available to you.
**The Boy** brought five barley loaves and two fish—a poor person's meal, the simplest of offerings. This child understood hunger. He knew what it meant to skip meals. Yet when he heard there was a need, he offered what little he had.
Imagine being that boy, watching Jesus take your meager lunch and multiply it beyond comprehension. Your bread, breaking and multiplying in the Master's hands. Your gift feeding your grandmother, your father, even the bully who's made your life difficult. And then—the most beautiful part—you yourself eat until you're satisfied for perhaps the first time in weeks.
When you give your simple gift to Jesus, He doesn't just use it to bless others. He ensures you're fed too.
**The Disciples** didn't know how they would accomplish the impossible task before them. "Eight months' wages wouldn't be enough!" they protested. They calculated, strategized, and came up empty.
But when they said yes anyway, they got to experience something the crowd never did: they handed food directly to starving people. They watched faces transform with gratitude. They witnessed tears of unworthiness from those receiving an unexpected gift. The disciples saw, firsthand, the miracle impact lives.
The Multiplication of Simple Obedience
Sometimes the most powerful ministry tools aren't elaborate programs or expensive resources. Sometimes it's Cheez-Its.
In a village where children had never tasted this simple American snack, a young missionary invited neighborhood kids over on Fridays. She shared Cheez-Its and told Bible stories. Week after week, they came. None of them owned a Bible, so she secured Bibles for each child through missions giving.
Years later, at a wedding, a grown man approached her: "Miss Dawn, do you recognize me? I'm Carlitos. I was one of those kids. I gave my heart to Jesus, and when you left, God told me to continue leading the group. I've been teaching others because of your investment in me."
A box of crackers. A willingness to say yes. A life transformed, who transformed others.
When a Twelve-Year-Old Changes Everything
In a Muslim-majority country where oral learning traditions dominate, a pastor trained in oral methods began sharing the gospel with children in his village. A ten-year-old girl named Hira gave her heart to Jesus.
At twelve, following devastating cultural norms, Hira was sold as a wife to a man in another village. Leaving her home, her friends, her childhood—but carrying Jesus in her heart.
In her new village, knowing it could cost her everything, Hira told the village chief—who was also her father-in-law—"I need to tell you something. I'm a Christian. I serve a man named Jesus."
"Who told you this?" he demanded.
She led him back to the pastor who had shared the gospel with her. The chief arrived with intentions of harm, but when he heard the good news—that Jesus loves him, died for his sins, offers heaven, releases him from burdens—this Muslim leader began to weep.
"Can you please come to my village and share this with everyone?"
Today, a church exists in that village. A church planted because a twelve-year-old girl was faithful. Because a national pastor was trained. Because a missionary was sent. Because someone, somewhere, gave.
The Question That Changes Everything
Jesus asked Philip an impossible question: "Where shall we buy bread for all these people to eat?"
Philip immediately calculated human solutions. But the scripture tells us something crucial: "He was testing Philip, for **he already knew what he was going to do**."
God already knows what He's going to do. He's not asking if the task is possible by human standards. He's asking if you'll say yes.
The harvest is vast—4.35 billion oral learners across six million villages. The need is overwhelming. The task is impossible.
Unless you serve a God who specializes in the impossible.
Your Place in the Story
So what will you be? The crowd, content to have your own needs met? The boy, willing to offer your simple gift and watch God multiply it beyond imagination? Or the disciple, saying yes to the impossible and experiencing firsthand the miracle of transformed lives?
God doesn't need elaborate offerings. He doesn't require smoke machines and perfect lighting. He's looking for simple hearts willing to share what they have.
He's looking for people who will say yes before they're fully qualified.
He's looking for those who understand that when He calls you to the impossible, He already knows what He's going to do.
The only question remaining is: Will you be part of His story?
There's something profoundly beautiful about impossibility—especially when it becomes the canvas for God's greatest miracles.
Consider for a moment the staggering reality: 4.35 billion people around the world are oral learners. These are individuals who, whether illiterate or moderately literate, learn through stories and spoken word rather than written text. Six million villages worldwide exist where oral traditions remain the primary means of passing down knowledge, culture, and faith.
The numbers are overwhelming. The task seems impossible. And that's precisely where God loves to work.
The Divine Pattern of Calling
Throughout scripture, we see a consistent pattern: God doesn't wait until we're fully qualified to call us. He doesn't delay His summons until we've accumulated enough experience, refined our skills, or eliminated our weaknesses. Instead, He calls us when we're young, inexperienced, and sometimes completely unaware of what we're saying yes to.
An eight-year-old girl praying at summer camp hears God's voice calling her to be a missionary—before she even knows what the word means. An eleventh-grader receives a vision to train children's pastors around the world—only to be told by his own missionary father, "That's not even a thing."
Yet here's the truth: God's calling doesn't depend on current reality. It depends on future possibility.
For twenty-six years, that vision seemed impossible. But God was patient, working, refining, and preparing. Because when God calls you to something, He already knows what He's going to do.
The Crowd, The Boy, and The Disciples
The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand in Mark 6 and John 6 reveals three distinct responses to divine opportunity—three ways we can position ourselves in God's story.
**The Crowd** showed up to see miracles. They came hungry, sat on the grass, ate bread, heard a message, and left. The crowd is always concerned primarily with their own needs: How will my sickness be healed? What will I get out of this? Does this meet my preferences?
There's nothing inherently wrong with being part of the crowd—everyone who encounters Jesus is another transformed life, another story of grace. But if you've been sitting in the crowd for years after giving your heart to Jesus, there's so much more available to you.
**The Boy** brought five barley loaves and two fish—a poor person's meal, the simplest of offerings. This child understood hunger. He knew what it meant to skip meals. Yet when he heard there was a need, he offered what little he had.
Imagine being that boy, watching Jesus take your meager lunch and multiply it beyond comprehension. Your bread, breaking and multiplying in the Master's hands. Your gift feeding your grandmother, your father, even the bully who's made your life difficult. And then—the most beautiful part—you yourself eat until you're satisfied for perhaps the first time in weeks.
When you give your simple gift to Jesus, He doesn't just use it to bless others. He ensures you're fed too.
**The Disciples** didn't know how they would accomplish the impossible task before them. "Eight months' wages wouldn't be enough!" they protested. They calculated, strategized, and came up empty.
But when they said yes anyway, they got to experience something the crowd never did: they handed food directly to starving people. They watched faces transform with gratitude. They witnessed tears of unworthiness from those receiving an unexpected gift. The disciples saw, firsthand, the miracle impact lives.
The Multiplication of Simple Obedience
Sometimes the most powerful ministry tools aren't elaborate programs or expensive resources. Sometimes it's Cheez-Its.
In a village where children had never tasted this simple American snack, a young missionary invited neighborhood kids over on Fridays. She shared Cheez-Its and told Bible stories. Week after week, they came. None of them owned a Bible, so she secured Bibles for each child through missions giving.
Years later, at a wedding, a grown man approached her: "Miss Dawn, do you recognize me? I'm Carlitos. I was one of those kids. I gave my heart to Jesus, and when you left, God told me to continue leading the group. I've been teaching others because of your investment in me."
A box of crackers. A willingness to say yes. A life transformed, who transformed others.
When a Twelve-Year-Old Changes Everything
In a Muslim-majority country where oral learning traditions dominate, a pastor trained in oral methods began sharing the gospel with children in his village. A ten-year-old girl named Hira gave her heart to Jesus.
At twelve, following devastating cultural norms, Hira was sold as a wife to a man in another village. Leaving her home, her friends, her childhood—but carrying Jesus in her heart.
In her new village, knowing it could cost her everything, Hira told the village chief—who was also her father-in-law—"I need to tell you something. I'm a Christian. I serve a man named Jesus."
"Who told you this?" he demanded.
She led him back to the pastor who had shared the gospel with her. The chief arrived with intentions of harm, but when he heard the good news—that Jesus loves him, died for his sins, offers heaven, releases him from burdens—this Muslim leader began to weep.
"Can you please come to my village and share this with everyone?"
Today, a church exists in that village. A church planted because a twelve-year-old girl was faithful. Because a national pastor was trained. Because a missionary was sent. Because someone, somewhere, gave.
The Question That Changes Everything
Jesus asked Philip an impossible question: "Where shall we buy bread for all these people to eat?"
Philip immediately calculated human solutions. But the scripture tells us something crucial: "He was testing Philip, for **he already knew what he was going to do**."
God already knows what He's going to do. He's not asking if the task is possible by human standards. He's asking if you'll say yes.
The harvest is vast—4.35 billion oral learners across six million villages. The need is overwhelming. The task is impossible.
Unless you serve a God who specializes in the impossible.
Your Place in the Story
So what will you be? The crowd, content to have your own needs met? The boy, willing to offer your simple gift and watch God multiply it beyond imagination? Or the disciple, saying yes to the impossible and experiencing firsthand the miracle of transformed lives?
God doesn't need elaborate offerings. He doesn't require smoke machines and perfect lighting. He's looking for simple hearts willing to share what they have.
He's looking for people who will say yes before they're fully qualified.
He's looking for those who understand that when He calls you to the impossible, He already knows what He's going to do.
The only question remaining is: Will you be part of His story?
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