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Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.”  John 6:35

Jesus speaks clearly when He says that He is the bread. He does not say that He is like bread or like water, which could lead to confusion and arguments. For those who are hungry, this is excellent news. They draw closer and ask, “Then will You feed me?”

There is a fundamental trust in the character of Jesus that underpins His claims. If He said it, it must be true. Understanding and application will surely follow because He is the kind Rabbi/Teacher who takes pleasure in making disciples.

Spurgeon expands this beautifully.

We cannot sit down to table but what the piece of bread speaks to us.  Jesus has come down from heaven to keep you from absolute starvation; he has come down to be bread and water to you. As you take up that loaf and think of the processes through which it has passed before it has become bread, it preaches a thousand sermons to you concerning the sowing of Jesus as a grain of wheat in the earth, his grinding between the millstones of divine wrath, his passing through the fiery oven. We see the sufferings of Jesus in every crumb we put into our mouths.  

For those of us willing to trust, Jesus being referred to as the “Bread” fills our hearts with countless profound implications. When we prayerfully meditate on this beautiful truth, the warmth of our connection with Him deepens. However, for those who are resistant and seek to undermine the words of our Lord, Jesus’ claim may seem increasingly absurd. Arguments do not disappear over time; rather, they tend to grow. There’s a reason for that.

Just as the Holy Spirit nurtures the seeds of truth, allowing them to grow and fulfill their purpose, the Deceiver cultivates the seeds of apostasy. These seeds also grow but serve to satisfy pride and stubbornness. Truth has the power to either draw people in or push them away. The Gospel, in its simplicity, challenges those who hear it, separating those whom Jesus calls from those who consistently choose darkness over Light.

You feed the hungry.  We are Your sheep and eat from Your hand.  Amen

It is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us this bread.”    John 6:32-34

When Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a local well, they had a conversation about water and thirst.  Using that as a segue way, He told her that there was such a thing as ‘spiritual water,’ something that could satisfy her thirst forever after just one drink.  When the woman felt the urge to experience it for herself, she asked Him for a drink of this water.  Immediately, he pointed out her deepest spiritual need.

Similarly, in this John 6 passage, Jesus interacts with a crowd of people who have just witnessed Him feeding five thousand people with a meager amount of bread and fish.  He tells them that there is such a thing as spiritual bread, a bread that comes from heaven, a meal that forever satisfies.  They ask Him for that kind of bread.  Immediately, He takes them on a steep learning curve. 

He reminds them that He is the ‘Bread’ that will erase hunger and ‘Water’ that will eradicate thirst.  Then He says, “But you don’t believe Me!”  Their unbelief keeps them shallow, only looking to Him for temporal solutions to earth-bound crises.  They miss out on the richest gifts, spiritual food that satisfies their innate ache for God.  If they would only come as beggars to the table, they would be filled.  Forever. 

Show me my true spiritual needs today.  Amen

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross.  It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.  John 19:19

It is said that Pilate designed this sign as a reproach.  The hidden meaning was, ‘Can you imagine anyone from Nazareth claiming to be king?’  Earlier in Jesus’ ministry when his humble beginnings were discussed, some said, ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’  The place of Jesus upbringing had been a stumbling block the belief that he could be Yeshua, the One who would save and deliver His people.

God will exalt whomever he chooses.  None is disqualified for lack of breeding.  God is found in unsuspecting places.  His face shines through unexpected vessels.  After all, Jesus was born in a stable.  Who thought to find God there?

I am convinced that I have looked too hard for God in places where I assumed he would be found.  The larger the church, the more of God you’ll find, right?  Not always.  Christian entities might be well funded, utilize the latest marketing strategies, and offer everything from self-help groups to aerobics, but the system can still be carnal.  While size can be a sign of blessing, we must not forget to look for the face of God in places like Nazareth.  He may be found behind a shabby storefront.

Finally, what if you are from Nazareth?  You feel discounted.  Your confidence is marred by your lack of credentials.  Jesus died beneath a sign of reproach, but no one was laughing three days later when he rose from the dead.  If God chose you to do great things, no birthplace and wrong last name can thwart the purposes of our sovereign Savior.

Jesus is my brother, from Nazareth.  Use my life, God.  I’ll do my part.  I’m confident you will do yours.  Amen

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. … When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing.  Galatians 3:13

Yeshua was born with a purpose that defied understanding.  He wasn’t born to be a teacher, or to tell stories about God, or to perform miracles, or to be king of Israel.  He was born to reverse the curse that was pronounced in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve failed to believe God about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Turning their deaf ear to God’s boundaries, and then sealing it with an act of disobedience, ushered in immense consequences for them and every one of their descendants.  Is it any wonder that Jesus would grow up to say, “Whoever believes in me, though He dies, yet shall He live.”  

The sin of unbelief was committed in a garden.  Thirty-three years after little Yeshua was born, He would enter another garden to deal with the weight of our curse and to give up His life to reverse it.  Unbelief brought the curse.  Belief in Jesus lifted it. 

Every one of us who has embraced this Savior and believed in Him is no longer cursed ~ but blessed.  The theme of our life is not ‘paradise lost’ but ‘paradise restored.’  Barren landscapes, once brown and decayed by sin, are now lush and green.  Futility and hopelessness were instantly banished with this pronouncement, “It is finished.”  

You rescued me from eternal darkness and alienation from You. You are my Yeshua.  Amen

[Jesus] who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.  Titus 2:14

I was not created to love evil.  Quite the opposite.  If Adam and Eve had never sinned, I wouldn’t know what evil was.  I’d be walking in Paradise, communing with God in the evening after an enjoyable day at work.  Instead of pondering my regrets of the past 24 hours, I’d be savoring the beautiful moments on God’s perfect earth.  Instead of brainstorming on how to keep my soul safe from unsafe people, I’d be soaking in the beauty of perfect intimacy, one without any reservations whatsoever. 

But that’s not how the storyline unfolded.  A knowledge of good and bad opened.  Acquaintance with evil came into view, and with it, an incapacity to understand the breadth of wickedness.  It is still too shocking for the human mind.  Too horrific to grasp.  Yet, before we came to Christ, we had an appetite for what it might be like to explore the edges of the canyon of evil desires.  One taste after another put us deeper into the pit with an enemy who never intended to let us go.  Once in his web, he lured, tormented, condemned, and maligned the only Savior who could rescue us.

Praise Jehovah Tsidkenu – that’s not the end of the story.  Nothing could stop His plan of redemption.  Jesus came to snatch us from the fire, to give us a new nature, one that would no longer want to sin.  Wickedness would repel us.  Dressed in His garments of righteousness, we would dance in our new identity.  We would forever stand in awe of Jesus’ shed blood, for by it, we have been purified and perfected. 

There is Paradise in my soul now.  But Paradise for my body – coming later – is still a sure thing.  Even so come Lord Jesus.  Amen

I will not execute my fierce anger. I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst. Hosea 11:9 

God stood on the brink of executing judgment. When He looked upon His people, His heart was filled with waves of love. He controlled His anger instead of executing it. It’s as if He couldn’t stand the thought of the pain they would experience. He explains the reason for such holy restraint. He is God and not man. 

Because God is God ~ He did not leave me to die in my sins without any chance of being saved. He sent a Savior, even though it meant sending His Son for sacrifice.  He did not send me to eternal judgment, even though I deserved it. He credited all my sins to His Son’s account, the Son He loves. How humbling!  He forgave me for every wrong thing I did and I was made perfect when Jehovah Tsidkenu clothed me in His Son’s righteousness.

I am now His image bearer. I cling to righteousness and not to the ways of the anti-kingdom. God’s nature is being fully formed in me and I am perfect in my Father’s eyes. This affects every decision I make today.

A lover of righteousness ~ I can restrain my anger and redirect with love and good deeds. I can withhold what someone deserves and give grace instead. I can suspend making a list of wrongs done against me and offer someone a clean slate in its place.  And, I can pray for my accuser instead of delivering a pointed speech. Restraint, prudence, purification and redirection. These are the hallmarks of a child of God. 

I am Yours, dressed in Your perfection. I make different choices as I live by Your Spirit. Amen

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.  I Thessalonians 5:24

We are each called to do something outside our ability to produce it.  To escape the pressure, we will play it safe, engaging in the areas of our natural giftedness.  We will rely on the results of the spiritual gifts tests we’ve taken, but even those can be exercised in the flesh.  Though my natural talents may be admired by others, and though it might appear that I’ve done significant kingdom work from man’s viewpoint, I will have achieved little that is supernatural.

When God sets us apart for kingdom work, we faint at the call.  Knowing we’re in over our heads and feeling inadequate, we cry out to God for help.

When someone asks a person to take on a ministry opportunity, they will often say, “Please do it.  You’d be so good at it.”  But no one should ask another person to sign up for a kingdom endeavor without asking them to pray about it first!  And no one has any right to agree to a request without a season of prayer!  Natural giftedness all too often replaces an anointing on one inadequate.

Jesus said, “He who believes in me, from His innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38  ‘Innermost being’ is the phrase for womb.  Each of us is to birth something for eternity that will produce living water.  It should begin with divine conception and then ~ obedience through faith ~ in a faithful God..

Forgive me for the times I’ve engaged in ministry like it was busy work.  Amen

Now this is His name by which He will be called: Jehovah-Tsidkenu”. Jeremiah 23:6

Adam and Eve were created with God’s righteous nature but when they sinned, they corrupted it. Their righteous legal standing with God was nullified and we who were born after them suffer the same corruption.

This scripture is the only place where Jehovah Tisdkenu is referenced. Jeremiah foretells that there will be Messiah who will be called ‘The Lord our Righeousness.’ The Hebrew is specific in its use of the pronoun ~ ‘our’. This name not only means that Jesus is righteous but that He is also our righteousness. The legal standing Adam lost is restored when we put our faith in Christ.

For the next four days, I will share the deep and rich implications of righteousness being gifted to us through Christ. Though it can be a heavy handed doctrine, it is also simple enough for a child to explain. A five year old might say, “My heart was black with sin but Jesus washed it white as snow.” Never will there be a more stunning explanation of this great exchange ~ i.e. I give God my sin and He gives me His righteousness.

This week’s name may seem daunting to unwrap. It is not. Join me in asking God for childlike understanding. When He answers our prayer, we will know it because we will grasp the beauty of this truth. We will then praise Him. And we will tell others about it with breathless wonder. Only God can change the spiritual nature of a sinful man and make him holy.

Lord, I remember Your words to Your people. ‘I am God and there is none other.’ This is my testimony and affirmation in prayer today. Amen