Sexual Purity, Truth

The Manna!

Listening to gospel songs and watching miracles on TV or YouTube cannot replace our daily personal devotional time, the time we spend with the Holy Spirit and the word of God, in studying the word and praying the word.

Anything that replaces our devotion is called our “god,” or, biblically it is called “idol.”

What is keeping us from setting a time apart to be alone with God every day? What is comforting us to make us feel “okay” without spending time with the word of God and the Spirit of God?

Jesus said,

“Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4bESV

That means, if people can lead an okay life without eating bread, Christians can also remain as Christians without reading and studying the word of God and praying the word.

Read what Jesus said again:
 
“Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
 
Jesus was actually quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 which says:

“And he[God] humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he[God] might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:3ESV

Do you know what God was teaching His people [the Israelites] when He was letting them hunger in the wilderness?
 
To be totally dependent on God, even for a small thing as bread! These people may be farmers and their harvest can be plentiful, but to eat what they have, God has to allow it! When they understand their inability to provide to themselves and the sovereignty of God, they don’t take comfort or confidence in what they have or able to do. They don’t boast about their strength or what they have, but about God who is able to give them “bread,” bread that’s never been seen or heard about before, not bread made by man but bread that comes down from heaven.

I mean, isn’t that straightforward?

But we all stumble in many ways (James 3:2), don’t we?
 
The bread or the money we have to buy bread may run out; or, the bread may go bad without us getting a chance to eat it. And don’t we die if we don’t eat bread?

Most certainly but ONLY IF God says, “Yes, go ahead and die!”

If not, God sends “manna” from heaven to preserve our lives.

So, Jesus said,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.””  John 6:47-51NASB

My! Did you see it?

Jesus is “the Manna” that comes down out of heaven! God the Father gave His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as “Manna” to us who travel through this “wilderness” called “dark and dying world,” so that we LIVE forever, even if we die, we continue living (John 11:25-26).

So, our personal devotional time, I call it “our heavenly meal time,” is the time Christians spend with God because they know that they are TOTALLY DEPENDENT on Him and all His promises even to live for a second. When they skip or neglect their devotion, they are saying, “I am okay without this Manna.”

“How can you be okay?” You ask.

And someone may reply saying:

“I am listening to gospel songs, and I am constantly watching spiritual services, especially miracles done by “people of God” by the name of jesus christ. That means I am always constantly in the presence of God. My spiritual strength from all the things I strive to do will help me to make it through a day. I mean, I mingle only with Christians who are just like me. I don’t mingle with worldly people but only with people who watch spiritual things just like me, share with me all the spiritual and miraculous videos they watch. And I am also kind and get along well with people. I am naturally a joyful person and I don’t think evil towards anybody. So, I am “a professional christian” who doesn’t need a personal devotion especially on every single day.”

Hmm!

Are you that person? Did you replace Jesus with other people’s “spiritual and entertaining shows?”

Come back to Jesus! Jesus Christ is the only Manna that comes down out of heaven, from our heavenly Father so we can live forever. Jesus is God’s Word and God’s Word is Jesus Himself (John 1:1).

May God help us all to see and understand this truth and live according to our understanding of the truth. ///