Modern Day Multiplication Miracles:

If you know your New Testament, you are most likely familiar with the Bible stories of Jesus miraculously multiplying bread and fish. In John 6:1-13 we have the story of how Jesus took five small barley loaves and two small fish, gave thanks, and then did a miracle that feed over five thousand people. This story is repeated in Matthew 14:13-21, Luke 9:10-17, and Mark 6:32-44. Jesus later repeats this miracle in Matthew 15:29-39 and Mark 8:1-10, this time feeding four thousand people by multiplying seven loaves and a few fish.

You may not be aware that there are also food multiplication miracles described in the Old Testament, done by the prophets Elijah and his successor, Elisha, through the power of the Holy Spirit. 1 Kings 17:7-16 tells the story of how the Lord directed Elijah to live with a poor widow in Zarephath, and how miraculously she never ran out of flour or oil during all the time of famine. 2 Kings 4:1-7 tells the story of how Elisha multiplied the little oil that another widow had to make enough for her to sell to pay her debts. And then lastly, in 2 Kings 4:42-44 Elisha, in a foreshadowing of Jesus' miracles, multiples 20 barley loaves to feed a hundred men.

But these multiplication miracles are not just unique to the Bible. We have documented cases of the Lord intervening in people's lives during modern times through similar miracles.

One of my favorite multiplication stories is given in "Like a Mighty Wind" by Mel Tari. In the 1970s there was a Christian revival in Indonesia. Mel (short for Melchoir) was 18 when the revival started and has documented some incredible miracles that occurred during this time period. In Chapter 4 of his book (titled "The Age of Miracles") he describes an incident where one of the mission teams went to the pastor's home in a small village to stay with him. At the time, the pastor's wife had only four tapioca roots and only a little sugar and tea in her cupboard, not nearly enough to make a meal for the twenty members on the team. But through a series of instructions from the Lord, she steps out in faith and makes a small flat loaf of tapioca bread and a pot of tea. As she breaks the loaf in half and gives one half away, the other half becomes whole again. And when she pours the tea, miraculously there is enough for all of them to have two or three glasses of tea each. All the team members ate until they were completely full, and there was actually enough bread left over to feed the family dogs.

Joan Wester Anderson, in her book "Where Miracles Happen" documents five different cases of multiplication miracles:

The first story involved a prayer group in El Paso, Texas in 1972, who decided to shared Christmas dinner with Mexican trash grubbers and their families in Juarez, Mexico. More than 300 people showed up, when the Christians preparing the feast had only planned for 150. While volunteers gave each guest generous portions of ham, they reported that the ham continued to stay the same size. Tamales and other food items multiplied as well. So much food was left over, after the feast, that all guests were able to take home left overs. These multiplication miracles, ranging from multiplying grapes to multiplying condensed milk for children, lasted for months.

The second story documents a story of a "miraculously multiplying meat loaf" in 1969, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Though the original meat loaf made from a two-pound package of ground beef was only large enough to give the nineteen unexpected guests for dinner each a small slice, amazingly when people reached for a second helping, the meat loaf was only half gone. And then when people reached for a third helping, the meat loaf was still only half gone. There was even enough meat loaf left over the next day for sandwiches.

The third story in "Where Miracles Happen" talks about how God intervened to provide just the right tint (color) of paint after the original paint ran out, while the fourth story describes how God multiplied the fuel in a propane tank for a poor widow living in New York in 1992. Though she used the propane fuel in the tank for months, the gauge stayed almost at the same spot. Because she didn't have to worry about large fuel costs any more, the widow was able to start paying back her debts and meet her basic financial needs.

The fifth and last multiplication miracle listed in "Where Miracles Happen" is the story of the "miraculously multiplying macaroni." Once again God intervened to help out a poor widow, in this case a single mother of two. She was completely out of food, so she prayed and ask God for help, and then sensed He was telling her to check her empty cupboards again. To her surprise, there was one lone box of macaroni and cheese left. So she cooked up the macaroni, fed her children, and discovered that there was still plenty macaroni left after they all ate their full. She refrigerated it and they had it for dinner. There was STILL plenty left over, so they had it again, for breakfast. They ate macaroni out of that pan for an entire week, until she had enough money to buy food again.

What is the take home message of such wonderful witnesses? I think it is a very simple, but profound truth: You can trust God. Surrender and give all your needs to Him and He will take care of you.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:25-27)

Blessings!

Sources
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version
Mel Tari. Like a Mighty Wind
Joan Wester Anderson. Where Miracles Happen