BREAD pt.2

My wife made these rolls for thanksgiving that were delicious.   I told her that they were so good that she didn’t make enough for leftovers.  In truth I saw one in the basket after everyone ate and I snagged it for later that evening.  They were good!  I hope she makes them for Christmas dinner this year. 

When I think about it… thanksgiving never ends with God.  There is always something to be thankful to God for.  God always seems to have more then enough to sustain us.  Even when things are financially tight, God somehow provides for those physical needs.   When things seem challenging and not all that positive he provides for us the spiritual strength and nutrition to endure such times as we look to Him.

We can see that in the bible as well.   Let’s look the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand men not counting woman and children.  He feeds five thousand plus people with five barley loaves and two fish.   Seems crazy but he has done that when we pass out food in Mexico, at a church that God is using to transform what used to be cardboard village on a covered garbage dump into a neighborhood of actual homes.

“After this, Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias.  And a huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miracles as he healed the sick.  Then Jesus went up into the hills and sat down with his disciples around him.  (It was nearly time for the annual Passover celebration.)  Jesus soon saw a great crowd of people climbing the hill, looking for him.  Turning to Philip, he asked. “Phillip, where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.  Philip replied, “It would take a small fortune to feed them!”  Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up.  “There’s a young boy here with five barely loaves and two fish.  But what good is that with this huge crowd?” "Tell everyone to sit down," Jesus ordered.  So all of them- the men alone numbering five thousand- sat down on the grassy slopes.  Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and passed them out to the people.  Afterward he did the same with the fish.  And they all ate until they were full.  "Now gather the leftovers," Jesus told his disciples, "so that nothing is wasted."  There were only five barley loaves to start with, but twelve baskets were filled with the pieces of bread the people did not eat!" John 6:1-13

I want you to think about something and take it to heart.  Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God The Father for it and passed it out to the people.  We are to thank God The Father for Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life and we are to pass Jesus, God’s love, out to others as instructed by the Holy Spirit.

 “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth.  They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.  It is the same with my word.  I send it out, and it always produces fruit.  It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I sent it.   You will live in joy and peace.  The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!  Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.  Where briers grew, myrtles will sprout up.  This miracle will bring great honor to the LORD’s name; It will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”  Isaiah 55:10-12

God’s bread (word) can only work in us if it is "in" us.  And in order for it to work in us we have to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our life - and let us not forget -to continually go to God to receive spiritual nourishment from Him or else (if we don’t do this) we will be come dull and indifferent and lack spiritual nourishment to live in a Holy righteous conviction.   A seed can be planted, a plant can be planted, a tree can be planted but they still need water and nutrients to grow.    

So it is the same with us, we need the Holy Spirit and God’s word to grow and sustain us in all the conditions in this life.

  

“And the same God who cares for me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.  Now glory be to God our Father forever and ever. Amen.”  Philippians 4:19-20

Through the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, we cannot only go to heaven after we pass from this life but we can receive for our daily physical needs and spiritual needs as well from God. 

Notice they ate until they were full; they ate as much as they wanted but there were leftovers.  God provides and supplies “all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”  

Spiritually there is so much of God’s truth, goodness and love that we cannot entirely grasp it all and consume it all.   It would overwhelm us but thank God Jesus breaks the bread into understandable parts so we can digest them by His Spirit (Holy Spirit) and live them by His Spirit (Holy Spirit) and still…. there is SO MUCH MORE. 

“Now we know only a little, and even the gift of prophecy reveals little! But when the end comes, these special gifts will disappear.  It’s like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does.  But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely just as God knows me now. There are three things that will endure- faith, hope and love- and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:9-13

The SOURCE of faith, hope and love – never ends!!! AND He is GOD, Our Heavenly Father!

“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.  And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him.  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love.   And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.  Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.  May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through the endless ages. Amen.”  Ephesians 3:16-2

Just as there were 12 baskets full of leftover bread from five loaves of barley bread that is what God has for us spiritually.   There is the amount our soul can consume which the Holy Spirit helps us with and then there is more that God has for us- more then we can even imagine or even consume!  The amount he has for us is beyond our understanding and even spiritual comprehension and consumption.    That is why it is so important to understand God is only limited in working in and through our life by us.

Our Lives.
He can take those five loaves of bread and two fish in our lives and multiply them to feed five thousand people.  He has unlimited resources to help us live this life not beat down and discouraged by the challenges and circumstances in life but in victory by the love, hope and faith he gives us!  Where the power of the most high dwells (lives) in us -refreshing, confirming, directing, renewing, emboldening, and giving us clear vision -not clouded by the world but the vision and reality that HE REIGNS.   He is above all things!  And we can’t help but hunger and live by the mind of Christ.

There is a story in the bible of a woman named Naomi who was staying in the pagan land of Moab.  A land of not her people or her God.  There in Moab her soul served greatly. She was hungry for the bread of her people and when she heard the Lord had visited His people giving them bread she departed from Moab and returned to the land of Judah. (Ruth 1:6-7)    

Some of us are trying to live off the food of the pagan land but still very unsatisfied and hungry.   You crave the spiritual bread you were created for by your Creator.  You have tasted this bread before.  It is good. You have just heard the LORD is giving his people good bread, take Naomi's example, come back to the LORD and His people and receive from God the life saying renewing bread from God.
  
 she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the LORD had visited His people in giving them food. 7So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.…When Naomi heard there was bread in Bethany
May God make this truth so alive in our hearts that we don't forget it- even for a moment.  In Jesus Name Amen.