KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Thursday, October 18, 2018
Chapters: John 6
Message: I Am That Bread Of Life
Hello My Friend,
Bread, it is a beautiful thing. There is nothing better than the smell of real bread baking in the oven. As soon as it comes out, the golden brown crust invites you slice off a piece right there, add some butter, and you are eating a slice of heaven right there. Sadly, I cannot eat bread, unless I want to suffer immensely, and if I want anything close to that I have to make a version of it that actually has cheese and almond or coconut flour as a base, and while it can be sustaining, it lacks the nourishment for my body to operate at its best. The same thing is true for our spiritual body, we need more than the bread that can nourish our bodies, we need the bread that will nourish our soul as well. We can read all the spiritual books we want, feed off of our efforts of charity or even serving in the church, but unless we feed it with the bread of life we lack the nourishment to operate at its best. And there is only one bread that can sustain our soul, and that is Jesus Christ. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life.” – John 6:47-48.
Prove; To try; to ascertain some unknown quality or truth by an experiment, or by a test or standard. Jesus did a lot of experiments to prove to His disciples as well as those who followed Him that He truly is the Son of God, and the very one all the prophets talked about throughout the Scriptures. This time, He sees the multitude of people and decided to prove them by feeding them, five thousand to be exact, but first, He asks a question.
“After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.” – John 6:1-7.
“And this he said to prove him:” You see, Jesus specially asks Philip this question? And Philip responded the way most of us would, “We do not have enough money to buy bread for all of them.” We who live by faith, do have the utmost faith in God, but we still comprehend things by fact rather than faith. A question to ask yourself is, “How often do I define the things I do by my paycheck rather than my faith in God?”. If we are honest with ourselves, we will discover that we do rely on that paycheck more than God. And then we wonder why we struggle financially, and this has nothing to do with our giving tithe or the lack thereof, but everything to do with our minds telling us that we have to do the work to provide, forgetting that it is God who provides. To receive, we just have to trust Him, and do His work. And I am in tears as I type this because of the next passages, when Jesus tells us this very thing. Can you imagine five thousand plus people following Jesus wherever He went? No wonder He wanted to escape into the mountains. I say that because Jesus knew that the majority of these people had no faith in who He is, they merely followed Him because they were fed, and Jesus called them out.
“When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” – John 6:24-29.
“This is the work of God,” Believe in Jesus, that is the work of God. Labor not for the bread that just sustains our physical bodies, but the bread that sustains our souls. Let me tell you, the reason I am in tears is that I asked God before I even read the chapters to show me what He wanted me to do so that I could get a better job, and increase my hours and pay. Before I even begin to write the devotion I copy sections of Scripture that pops out at me, then I just start writing, the Holy Spirit is literally typing these words, and not me, and I know this because the next passage of Scripture just lines up perfectly. Much of this week, we have been reading and learning about the importance of telling the Gospel to everyone we see. Last night, I sat in the church service and what was the message? Preach the Gospel. I have not sat in a Wednesday night service and felt so moved, I swear in months, perhaps even years. Jesus is telling all of us something, things are really going to get bad, and quickly, we really need to tell everyone we see about Him. “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” – Revelation 3:2-3.
As you can imagine, even though they saw the miracles, Jesus proved them right, He knew they did not believe in Him, they wanted physical signs, like the manna sent down from heaven, to make them believe. “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” – John 6:32-35,40.
“evermore give us this bread.” They literally wanted Him to send down manna, but let me tell you, even if He did, they would not have believed, which is why He would never and still never succumbs to their tempting Him. The second Jesus said that He is the bread of life they fussed. “The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” – John 6:41-43,49-51.
“Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.” What Jesus is saying here is that the Israelite’s did not seek God for the miracle itself, only to be fed, they never believed therefore, they are dead souls, in hell right now. If they believed in the miracle, I mean come on, it rained grain from heaven so that they could be sustained physically for forty years, then their souls would be alive and in heaven right now. They cared less about God, fully knowing that He was right there in front of them in the pillars that guided them day and night. So many people come to church, not to be spirit filled, but to be belly filled. I have seen people come to church just to get financial help, I have seen them come only to see a friend. Sadly, the majority of people who come to church these days, especially in the secular church do so to get their bellies filled. Now, things took a turn for the worse as soon as He said He would give His flesh to eat. “The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?” – John 6:52-54,60-61.
“This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” Even the disciples had a hard time understanding this, and many walked away that day. Did they actually believe that He was talking about literally eating His flesh and drinking His blood? This is how blind in faith they are, whether we were the first to be created by God or the last, we all must live by faith in the Gospel. Jesus was not known in the flesh by the prophets and believers back then, but they knew the LORD, and that He is the only one to save their souls. They lived by the same faith we do today, in the hope of everlasting life. “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” – Hebrews 11:32-35,39-40.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” – John 6:40.
Today’s Prayer: God, The message is clear, I get it, and You have been telling me this all week long, “Preach the Gospel!”, “Tell them about my Son!”, “Do my work!” Forgive me for trusting in my own works to sustain my flesh, it is so easy to push Your work aside when the bills pile up, the cupboards are bare, and the body is afflicted. We think we have to do all this on our own, He have great faith in You doing amazing things, but lack the faith that You can do it for us, and for this, I am sorry. You prove time and time again that You take care of is when we trust You, and do Your work. Lord, lead me and guide me, feed me my daily spiritual bread, feed me with Your power to live by faith and not sight, to be a witness, and testimony of Your great work in me. Let me not live in fear or worry about feeding my flesh, but have faith that while I do Your work you sustain and provide me with everything I need. I ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: http://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: http://imfollowingjesus.com/index.html
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/byhisstrength
Copyright © 2018 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.