The Bread of Life

“I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:48).

Greetings,

My little granddaughter loves bread! It’s the one food she could happily eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  Somehow, she knows that eggs are for the morning, and lentils for the afternoon.  Chicken is a dinnertime go-to, and milk is for bedtime.  But bread? Toast a piece of nut bread with seeds and chia, slather it in organic butter, and watch out.  She’ll bite your hand off to eat it! Any time is a good time for this grainy goodness.

The same can be said of Jesus. He is the “Bread of Life.” All day every day is the perfect time to feast on His goodness, wisdom, protection, joy, peace, and love. 

PRAYER: Dear Lord, thank You for the Bread of Life. Christ sustains us, nourishes us, and fills us with blessings.  Give us this day our daily bread! In Jesus  name, AMEN.

Holy Permission

Greetings,

See if you can identify with this sequence of events:

1-     You have a need/concern.

2-     You pray.

3-     By faith, you believe God has heard you.

4-     You trust that He is coming up with a plan of action.

5-     God implements the plan!

Sometimes, however, or maybe most of the time, it seems we live stuck between numbers four and five. What are we thinking on those days or even weeks or months when we are still waiting for an answer?

Maybe we give up – doubting God?  Or maybe we don’t want to keep bothering Him with the same thing over and over again?

This is where having the Bible comes in handy.

Then Jesus said, “Imagine what would happen if you went to a friend in the middle of the night and said, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. An old friend traveling through just showed up, and I don’t have a thing on hand.’ “The friend answers from his bed, ‘Don’t bother me. The door’s locked; my children are all down for the night; I can’t get up to give you anything.’ “But let me tell you, even if he won’t get up because he’s a friend, if you stand your ground, knocking and waking all the neighbors, he’ll finally get up and get you whatever you need. “Here’s what I’m saying: Ask and you’ll get; Seek and you’ll find; Knock and the door will open” (Luke 11:5-10).

These verses give us holy permission to keep on knocking until we receive an answer. We must never give up just because our timeline differs from God's. He wants us to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking because He knows the answer is worth the wait!

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, You will always come through for us; we must never give up. Thank You that You have made it clear in Your Word that You want us to be persistent with our prayers. We take You up on that invitation and ask You to bless us today. In Jesus' name, AMEN~

God-given Fleas~

Greetings!

“What man is there among you, who if his son shall ask him for bread will offer him a stone?  Or if the son shall ask him for a fish will offer him a snake?  If you then, imperfect as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:9-11)”

I remember one year how excited Jorge and I were to give our kids a Backyard Discovery Cedar Wooden Swing Set. It was by far the biggest gift we had ever given them, and Jorge even put artificial turf in the clubhouse so they wouldn’t scratch their little knees while playing up there.  We made such a big drama at the unveiling too.  We blindfolded them, and carefully led them out to the yard. They had no clue.  I videotaped their happy reaction, and I was thrilled that they were so thrilled. However, there is a great distinction between us and God.  While we – far far far from perfect – can still give and do good things, like spend loads of money to buy a swing set and then spend loads of time building it, our heavenly Father will always surpass us in His giving; it’s not even close!

Sometimes, however, it appears as though God has given us stones and snakes instead of fish and bread. It looks like we have received something bad instead of good.  It feels like a letdown and not a blessing.

Like fleas for instance…

Corrie Ten Boom is one of my faith heroes.  She was an amazing woman who helped many Jews during World War II.  Eventually, she was arrested and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp.  You can read her amazing and life-changing story in her book The Hiding Place.  As you might imagine, she endured many difficult situations.  And just when she thought it could not get any worse, she and the others in her barracks came down with fleas.

Fleas in a concentration camp where there were no ointments, baths, remedies or relief.  God, really?  But Corrie was a woman of faith and did not allow the fleas to deter her faith.  She even thanked God for them.  What? Yes.  She thanked God for the fleas. 

The fleas were not stones and snakes in disguise.  They were the choicest of bread and fish – the best possible gift from God.  The fleas kept the abusive guards away and allowed Corrie to share the gospel and have prayer meetings in those barracks.  Many many women came to know Jesus because of those fleas.

God-given fleas turned out to be a blessing that spared Corrie and those women unspeakable horrors.  God-given fleas allowed salvation to come to others.  God-given fleas are responsible for a legacy that will last for all eternity.

The swing set?  Eventually the kids outgrew it, it started to fall apart, and into the trash it went.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Sometimes we think that we have received the wrong “gift” when all along it was exactly what we needed to ultimately be blessed and bless others.  Help us to trust Your goodness over what our eyes see or what our minds think.  You are the best gift-giver, and we are grateful.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN~

Feed Your Soul~

TGIF Greetings; May you all be violently overtaken with a spirit of joy!!!!!

We will go through all kinds of stuff to satisfy our desire for food. There’s an ice cream parlor inDavie called Jaxson’s, and my family and I once waited over two hours for a seat.

When I was preggers with Hormone, I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night with an intense desire to eat grape jelly and cream cheese on a bagel. Groggy Jorge stumbled out to get it, but that’s not even a gross craving compared to one I heard of: Banana sandwiches with mayonnaise and onions.

Food is yummy, it nourishes the body, and can even put you in a good mood. Chocolate anyone?

And haven't we have all said, “I’m starving!” Our gullets rumble or we feel faint, and we know it’s time to fuel our bodies. Let’s face it: If we stop eating altogether, we will, you know, expire.

As critical to life as eating is, the Lord reminds us in Matthew 4:4 “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Another version says it like this: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”

In other words, when God says in 1 Peter 2:2 to “desire God’s pure word as babies desire milk,” He is essentially saying that to stay alive we must feed our body AND soul, and we must be as enthusiastic about eating up His truths from the Bible as we are about eating up a hot fudge sundae with two scoops of chocolate chip mint ice cream, sprinkled with butterfingers and whipped cream on top.

The questions are why and how?

Let’s chew on this over the weekend.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We all have a favorite food, and we are grateful for the blessings of being able enjoy several good meals a day. We also desire the beauty, peace, protection, hope, faith, wisdom, and guidance in our lives that comes from living on Your Word. But please give us a hunger for You that we might grow even bigger and stronger in our faith. In Jesus’ name, AMEN~