Have you ever been really hungry and then walked past a really good bakery and the smell of the freshly baked bread nearly drives you insane?
When the first century Jews heard Jesus refer to Himself as the “Bread of Life” they likely thought of the basic staple, the life-sustaining constant in theirs and our daily diet.
In John 6:35 Jesus indeed declared “I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Amazing words with astounding consequences.
The main point is that Jesus is indeed necessary for life. BUT how many of us actually feed from the “Bread of Life” or just manage to scrape a few crumbs off the table cloth?
Where does Jesus stand in your life? Is He your number one thought in the morning and your last thought at night? Does He have any standing at all through your busy day? Do you depend on Him in the day to day decisions and in the big moments in your life?
Or has life just got too busy for Jesus?
I have been so convicted lately as to just with what I am filling my eyes, ears, mind and time. For example, how long do I sit at the computer, or the TV, or reading some secular novel or magazine, gullibly swallowing every bit of unbelievable junk I hear or see.
Now, please don’t take me wrong – these things are OK and worth enjoying BUT when they take over from God then they become such a sin – God wants so much more from us and He wants so desperately to give us so much more.
Truthfully, how long has it been since you said “I am going to wait on the Lord” in His presence – just He and you alone quiet, forgetting everything and everyone else.
Without the Spirit of God fully working in our lives, we are empty and virtually hungry so do we fill this void with other ‘things’? – getting so busy that our minds and hearts really have no room for Jesus and what He is so freely prepared to give us.
God is not going to pour out His Spirit where He doesn’t find hunger. How long has it been since we have been so hungry for God that all else fades into insignificance? I feel our problem is that we have never been really hungry. We have allowed ‘things’ to satisfy our lives and satiate our hunger.
I am so afraid that it is the same for many of our churches – we get so consumed with following agendas and Orders of Service we don’t really expect to be in the very presence of God. We can get carried away with the music or busy ourselves with what needs to be done that we rarely expect the unexpected – God’s Spirit moving in remarkable and extraordinary ways in His people.
God is the bread of life – He said “Feast on me” instead we are so content with the crumbs off the table. He said FEAST not NIBBLE.
Our churches are filled with worship and songs etc, but is God’s Spirit really there? Do we really even catch a glimpse of God when we go to church?
I heard recently on a “Christian radio station” an advertisement that went something like this “Sundays are so busy! Got no time for church? then come to our church we are open on Saturday nights” WHOA!! – There we go – “So busy” – Too busy for God it seems.
We often hear preachers pray for revival – I feel there won’t be a revival unless we repent before God – place Him in His rightful place in our lives – expect to really meet Him, either alone or in our church services, when we come in true repentance and prayer.
I pray for revival in me in our churches and in our lands. Instead of filling our lives with God, we fill them up with anything and everything including our worries. No wonder God’s Spirit isn’t really working in the lives of so many of us.
Jesus said in Matthew 5: 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled”
If you, like me are truly serious about being really ‘hungry” for God, then please join me in this prayer:-
Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit will grip our hearts, that you will turn us into Warriors of worship and obedience to you. Lord, we need you, our cities and nations need you. We are so tired of scraping just crumbs off the table, please send us a feast of your bread from Heaven. Amen.
My prayer for you is to be overwhelmed by God, to be totally consumed with His grace, love and forgiveness. That His Spirit will floor you with a revival in your life that will so change the way you think, live and act. May God bless you as you draw near to Him.
Faith in God is believing His Word over anything you may see, hear or experience. Married to SueAnn and living in Newcastle NSW Australia – We both love Jesus – he is our strength, our Hope and our Redeemer.
Categories: FAITH FOR TODAY, INSPIRATIONAL ARTICLES, OUTREACH
Luke 21:36 "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."