Got Bread?

I recently was able to go to a short Jimmy Needham concert (I know right??!?!) and it was an amazing show and time of worship. During the concert he stopped playing and began to preach for a while. He spoke on John 6 and about being satisfied in the Lord and this has rocked my world with revelation! I wanted to share some things he said and also some of my thoughts.

In John 6 Jesus talks about how he is the bread and water of life. He is bluntly saying what God had been revealing for years. Did you know that Bethlehem means "house of bread"? Our translation of that would be a bakery. Also, a manger is used for water for the animals. (some say food some say water, but let's go with water for now) Do you think God was trying to give us a picture? (I have to say that I really enjoy God's sense of humor)

John 6:48

"I am the bread of life."

What exactly is he saying? He was saying that he is Satisfaction and Life! Without bread we die, we hunger for it and our body longs for it. Our soul longs for the Lord in the same way and we hunger for him. This seems like it would be a good thing right? That we all have a longing in our soul, a thirst only quenched by Him.

The problem is that most people don't get satisfied with the right thing and the run to other things. Yes, this includes Christians.

Sometimes I will be craving something to eat and I won't know what it is. So what do I do? I snack a little on tons of random things trying to figure out what my body is craving. Sour, sweet, salty, etc. None will satisfy me except the thing that I want. When I finally eat what I have been looking for I stop eating and am satisfied. That is how we tend to work in our lives. We think consciously or unconsciously, "I am not satisfied, I need to find what I am craving or I will go mad! Is this it? Is this it? What is it?!" Eating disorders, addictions, flirting, so many things are rooted in needing something to fill that craving we all have.

John 6:35

"And Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.'"

So it's Him that I have been craving? Is He the reason I have been running to so many other things and my sin grew more and more and got deeper as I tried to be satisfied but never was? He is what our soul longs for, and until we eat of Him we will never be satisfied. An addiction is just looking for the next best thing until we think we have found the best and can be happy because we have what we have been craving. We will continue to be addicted until we find the better bread for ourselves.

John 6:31-33

"Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them manna from heaven to eat.' Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

God gave so many pictures of Christ in Exodus. Manna from heaven was one of them.

Think about this, and think of Jesus in the same context.

The people were hungry, they cried out in hunger, God sent down manna from heaven, they ate and were filled.

Manna is such an amazing picture of the Lord. It is send down and all we have to do is ask and collect. But we need to collect and eat it to be filled. Also, manna spoiled in a day so you could not store it up, you had to collect it daily. If you ate manna all day one day wouldn't you be hungry the next day? Then you would have to collect more.

"Give us this day our DAILY bread."

This convicts my heart. How often do I think, "I spent all day yesterday with Jesus, I should be filled up for today as well and I'll be satisfied." Then I find that I start to go through a "dry season" and when I do "eat" it's a half hearted meal and I don't get all of what I need from it. To be satisfied we need to be filled daily and eat of Him and drink of Him (I really don't find that verse 'gross' or 'scary' anymore).

But most of the time we still run to other bread. Because God is not the only one offering satisfaction, but he is the one offering the true satisfaction.

Saten has his own bread, the bread of the world.

John 6:27

"Do not labor for the bread which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you."

When we eat bread of the World we will soon be hungry again, because it doesn't satisfy us. But we take the maggoty bread that looks like it will. We are told that if we eat it then we will be filled, then when we are hungry again they say to eat more, that "this time it will fill you, you just have to eat a lot." This is a lie from the pit of Hell! This bread wont satisfy, and that is why we are so easily addicted out of desperation! Overeating, pornography,sex, drugs, alcohol, shopaholics, all of these things promise satisfaction as they pull you in deeper and deeper. Yet we work so hard to achieve it. We have our hands full of this perverse bread and we are bind to the bread we really need!

God is saying "Come, eat the bread I sent down. He is what you crave, He will satisfy. Come and feast."

Jesus is Life...

John 6:63

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."

We cannot satisfy the supernatural with the natural. Jesus is asking us to be satisfied the right way, through the Living Word and the Spirit.

We have to throw out the maggoty bread and take up the daily manna in order to be satisfied.

What we crave is eternity, an abundant life, and above all else intimacy. It is intimacy with the Lord, the Spirit, the Word, that will fill the whole. You can be Saved and not filled up. Once you are satisfied with Him you wont need the other things any more! Spending time in fasting, prayer, fellowship, and by speaking the words of life you are satisfied and then you have taken the bread and water of Life.

John 6:51

"I am the living bread which came from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

Feast on the Word, spend time with Him in the secret and intimate place. Let him into the innermost parts of your heart and soul! Only then will you be satisfied. He is the only "cure".

(I probably have more to say and forgot some things but oh well!)

Please, read John 6 for yourself and see what the Lord reveals to you! Lets become addicted to him, he is faithful to set us free from our addictions once we run to him.

-Keeping the Faith,

C.A.M

(Please leave comments on what you think, I want to hear what the Lord reveals to others!)