Bread of Life

John 6:48  I am the bread of life.

     If you were to see this stat--Attendance:93  Bible readers:5--on your church wall, what might you think?  Would it bother you?  Would you be concerned or would you just realize that people are busy and don't really have time to read their Bibles?  I'm curious what priority you put on Bible studying; is it something that is unnecessary, something that would benefit you, if you had time, or something that you cannot live without?  Sadly, most Christians fall into one of the first two categories.

     Today, I would like to challenge you to revisit your priority list and see if Bible studying is where it should be.  The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus is the Word (John 1) and that the Word is our bread of life (John 6).  While your physical body was made to live on physical food, your spiritual body was designed to be sustained with the Word.  That is why we have many, many believers today walking around on spiritual life support (and some are just plain dead).  Some are propped up by a weekly Sunday service, which acts like a spiritual flotation device; take it away, and that person sinks into spiritual death.  Others seek no propping at all, and are just content with their social gathering; either not realizing, or not caring about their spiritual deadness.  It is a shame that Christ has given us a resource that is designed to create strong, vibrant, productive and healthy followers, but we have reduced it to a book end on our book shelf.

     As believers, we must gain our strength and endurance from the Word daily; allowing it to rebuke, correct and instruct us in righteousness.  My hope and prayer is that you will understand the importance of His Word, and then reprioritize your life, so that it takes center stage.  I believer that then your life will begin to become a fountain that living water flows from.

     May Christ richly bless you as you seek His face.

A Lesson from Jonah

     Many lessons could be ascertained from the short book of Jonah, but one that may be overlooked, which is of utmost importance is God’s Providence.  Four times (1:17, 4:6, 4:7, 4:8) we see that God prepared something for Jonah.  First, it was a great fish to swallow him; second, a plant to shade him.  Then God arranged for a worm to eat the plant that He provided.  Lastly, a strong east wind was prepared.

     All of these provisions were designed with one distinct purpose in mind: get Jonah’s mind on the right track.  God used different circumstances, that many of us would say were awful, to draw Jonah’s attention back to Himself.  The same could be true in some circumstances in your life today.  Maybe God is allowing certain events to occur in your life as an attempt to draw you back to Himself.  Many resist God’s calling, choosing rather to blame Him than submit to His will.  I do not claim to understand why all things happen in today’s society (death, destruction, poverty and starvation), but I do understand that I serve a Sovereign God who controls the wind and waves and has a perfect plan that I may not understand.

     I also believe in God’s promise found in Romans 8:28.  It says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”  For the God-seeker, life is centered on the understanding that God is in control and that He wants what is best for us, even if we do not understand it now.
   
    Will you submit to His will?  Will you surrender your will and allow Him to begin to direct your steps?       

Tithing and Free-Will Giving

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Victory over sin

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