“I am the bread of life.” John 6:48 the Words of Jesus

Every ten days I feed my sourdough bread starter whether it wants to eat or not. That’s the beginning process for making bread at our house. Forty-eight hours later, my family has three fresh loaves of the yummy-smelling bread.

Bread, a diet staple for man, contains a mixture of grain and water. The earliest forms of bread were baked on hot stones, while Egypt gets credit for the first leavened bread and brick ovens. Yesteryear’s coarse bread was nothing like today’s commercially baked, enriched, sliced white bread.

In the 1900’s in the United States, 95 percent of bread was baked at home. By 1950, commercial bakeries turned out 95 percent. When a child of 12 receives 75 percent of his calories from enriched bread, that amount supplies enough nutrition for sufficient growth.

However, the Bread of Life remains essential for good spiritual health. Jesus prescribed “daily requirements” when he said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

On one occasion, a crowd rushed after Jesus and caught up in the moment of chasing after him, only one in 5000 plus remembered to bring along food. As the day grew long, Jesus noticed their hunger, and a young boy donated his food to Jesus, who in turn prayed over the crusts.

In Jesus’ hands, several loaves became thousands, and the usual processes of sowing seeds, sprouting, maturing, harvesting, grinding, mixing, and baking bypassed the usual months of labor leading up to sumptuous bread. After the meal, Jesus tried to leave the crowd, but many still trailed after him.

He knew their hearts. “You are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” John 6:26 Not any different from people today, those crowds liked the quick fix for hungry bellies.

In this same setting, Jesus connected table bread and the bread of heaven to say about himself, “He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35

In elementary school, my class took a field trip to Mrs. Baird’s bakery in Houston, Texas. I still remember the line of fourth graders with our noses aloft, sniffing the yeasty scented air. Enticed, we became instant Baird fans. After the tour, each student received a slice of hot, buttered bread. Melted butter on warm bread lingers in my memory and is probably the best straight-out-of-the-oven bread I’ve ever sampled.

As good as that slice tasted, it will never compare to the true Staff of Life, the Bread of Heaven, Jesus Christ.

Father, Jesus, often the quest to fill my stomach is stronger than my desire for you. Please reverse my appetites, for you satisfy like no morsel of food. Amen.

Connie was feeling especially down, spiritually, one day. She had recently endured some rough circumstances in her life and had almost lost hope. As she was out walking, she was talking to the Lord and made a request to him. She prayed, “Lord, if you are still with me and are going to help me, let me find a dime. Not a nickel or a penny, or even a quarter, just let me find a dime.” She walked on a little further and something caught her eye. She looked down and sure enough, there was a dime.

Of course, business picked up in her soul. Her circumstances didn’t change immediately but she had faith in her Lord and he had answered her in his own special way as she requested. You may think these things don’t really happen. Sometimes our faith gets weak and they just don’t happen for us because we never ask God for anything.

In Judges 6:36-40, Gideon asked God to let a fleece be wet one night and the ground dry and the next night for the fleece to be dry and the ground wet. Verse 40 sums up the answer with one statement:

“And God did so that night…”

Judges 7:13-15 tells us how God encouraged Gideon even more by letting him overhear the telling of an enemy soldier’s dream.

“And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshiped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, ‘Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.'” (Judges 7:15 KJV)

Connie, like Gideon, was further encouraged with every dime she found for the rest of her life.

Sometime after her mom’s death, Connie’s daughter Brenda went to the beach. I don’t know if she had been praying for it or not, but as she sat down and dug her toes into the sand, she felt something. She leaned forward and dug around and pulled a dime out of the sand. As she leaned back relaxing and dug her toes into the sand again, she felt something with the other foot. Sure enough, another dime. This was most likely a great comfort for the bereaved daughter as she took it as a sign that God was also with her as he had been with her mom.

Sometime later, Brenda’s son David was somewhere on a job site and looked down and there on the ground, he found a dime. Just as his grandma had found dimes from the Lord, his mom had, and now he had his very own. He took a picture and sent it to his mom, who I am sure greatly rejoiced over it.

This may sound silly to you but if you have ever been in that dark place and sought the Lord, you know He makes himself known to you in whatever way is needed to help you. From grandma to daughter to grandson, this family was blessed for years just because grandma sought God for comfort and assurance in a dark place in her life.

Throughout the Bible, prophets have called down fire from heaven, asked for deliverance in battle, parted rivers and seas, and a whole book full of other things. If God would do all that he did for the prophets, why wouldn’t he answer your prayer? He answered Connie’s prayer and gave comfort. After all; it only cost a dime.

“We’re not sure Dad’s going to make it this time,” Linda said to her family.

Linda’s father had been in the cardiac intensive care unit for ten days. He was dying of congestive heart failure. The most recent crisis was that his kidneys stopped working. Now he was on dialysis.

Linda said, “I had a crushing burden to witness to Dad before he died. He wasn’t a believer, and I didn’t think I had done everything I could for his salvation. I went to see him early in the morning so other visitors wouldn’t be there. Another man was moved into his room, and a curtain was pulled between their beds. I prayed for Dad and told him how much God loved him and wanted to receive him.”

Linda still did not receive assurance of her dad’s salvation. “But I felt at peace about it,” she said. “I told him what I felt God wanted me to tell him. The Great Banquet is prepared for everyone, but sometimes they turn it down.”

Linda was referring to the story in Luke 14.

Jesus replied, “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses.” Luke 14:16-18 NIV

The Great Banquet signifies the Kingdom of heaven. Everyone is invited, but sometimes people make all kinds of excuses for not accepting the invitation.

As Linda went in and out of her dad’s room during the day, she could see that the man in the next bed was dying. He was only 42-years-old and his name was Joey. Toward evening, Joey’s mother was there with him.

“Mother,” said Joey, “Will you please go to the lady sitting in the chair on the other side of the curtain? I want to talk to her.”

Linda walked around the curtain to Joey’s bedside. “I overheard you praying with your dad. Will you pray for me? I want to receive Jesus into my life.”

Linda led him in the prayer of salvation and asked him to repeat these words:

Dear Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I am a sinner, and I am very sorry for my sins and the life that I have lived. I repent of my sins and ask your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed His blood for my sins. I confess Jesus as the Lord of my soul. With my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. I invite you to come into my heart and become my Lord and Savior. Amen.

“It was so beautiful,” said Linda. “I could see that he had a sense of peace after he accepted Christ.”

Joey died later that night.

“I thought it was my dad who was supposed to receive salvation that day, but it was Joey. My dad and Joey shared that room for only one night, but it was long enough for this miracle of salvation. Dad got better and was able to go home from the hospital, something we never expected. Now he attends church with us and I continue to pray for his salvation.”

There are so many people with issues that seem to overwhelm them. Whether it is a father out of work, sickness in the home, broken down cars, not enough food on the table, or even a runaway child looking for their own way in the world, our hearts may seem to long for peace.

From experience, I have found that as long as I try to fix the problems without trusting the Lord to deal with them, then I am left feeling frustrated and without hope. Peace comes as I lean on God for the answers and wait on His timing.

At one particular season of my life, I was living far from family and friends. My husband had a job in which he traveled one hour from home. I had a teenage son, a toddler, and I was pregnant. There was barely enough money for food and expenses; except for the gas money to get my husband to work. It was a scary time.

I wish I could say that I immediately filled my heart with an abundance of faith and never doubted God’s ability to bring us through for a single moment. But my attitude was to face things one day at a time. I am so much wiser now. Having seen so many miracles in these recent years I know that He is more than capable of working all things out for our good.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (KJV)

The Bible even shares how, in Matthew 15, Jesus saw the multitude was hungry after listening to Him teach for three days. Jesus, being full of faith, told the disciples to gather the seven loaves of bread and fishes. He blessed the food and sent the disciples into the crowd with these items. After they all ate and were full, the leftover food filled seven baskets. The crowd consisted of four thousand men and included the women/children. Now that is how faithful our God is when a need is presented to Him.

So what is your concern today? How much faith do you possess? Even faith the size of a grain of a mustard seed is all you need to see the victory in your life.

“…Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 NIV

The paths you are following are hard to understand at times. God is with you! He is passionately in love with you and cares about your every need. The trials of today will one day be over and as you look back you will see how far you have come. As I share in a previous devotional: Hope Is Real.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 NIV

With a heart full of faith and hope for the days ahead, move onward. Trust the Lord. You will be amazed!

“I’m homesick for heaven!” complained my friend who lived in a local nursing home.

Whenever I asked her how she was doing, her response was always the same. Perhaps she meant she was tired of the physical body that eventually becomes a burden and she was ready to go on to something better. Physical death for Christians holds the promise of a new, perfect body in heaven where we will live eternally with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I’ve heard it said that each of us has a hole in the heart that only God can fill. That hole can never be filled completely until we are in our eternal home with the Lord.

My mother-in-law passed away when she was 88. She outlived her husband by two years, and all of her siblings and close friends had passed away. She was the last surviving member of her generation. She often said, “Holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries are hard because it brings back so many memories of loved ones who are gone.”

As a testament to her feelings, we found her tattered address book after she died with most of the names crossed out.

On the day she died, she was in the hospital recovering from a heart attack. She expected to come home that day; in fact, I was waiting for a phone call from the doctor telling me she was released. Instead, I got the unexpected phone call that she died suddenly.

Our family went to the hospital and gathered around her bed. The nurse who was with her when she died told us her last words were these:  “My husband died two years ago. I’m so lonesome and tired. I’m ready to go home.”

She didn’t say it in so many words, but she, too, was homesick for heaven.

The Apostle Paul wrote these words about our heavenly dwelling place:

“For we know that if the earthly tent [physical body] we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling.” 2 Corinthians 5:1-2 (NIV)

And who puts that desire in our hearts? Paul answers:

“Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:5-7 (NIV)

God designed us to be homesick for heaven. We will never be completely at peace until we share eternal life with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Will We Know Each Other in Heaven?

By: Colin Smith, crosswalk.com