November 21, 2024

The Word is Life

March 6, 2015 by

SeekingHimLogo

Recorded in the Gospel of John, our Lord made seven statements referring to Himself as I AM…

I AM The Light of the World
I AM The Bread of Life
I AM The Door
I AM The Good Shepherd
I AM The True Vine
I AM The Way, The Truth, and The Life
I AM The Resurrection and The Life

Each week during this season of Lent, here on the Seeking Him blog, we will be focusing our devotionals on a different aspect of Jesus’ revelation of Himself as I AM.  The aim of Lent should be to prepare our hearts for the remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice—His trial and torture, the Crucifixion and His death…and above all, the celebration of His Resurrection from the dead.  We pray that this will be a great encouragement to each of you who read them.  And that all of us will consider the significance of Jesus’ words and, through them, be helped as we remember and are thankful for all Jesus went through during the last few weeks of His life on this earth.

Then Jesus declared, “I AM the Bread of Life.
Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry,
and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.
John 6:35

(context)

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‘I AM the Bread of Life‘ is the first of the seven I AM statements recorded in John’s gospel.  Each of the I AMs emphasizes an important aspect of the personal ministry of Jesus.  This first statement tells us that Christ is the sustenance that nourishes spiritual life.

Jesus said… “I tell you the truth
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink His blood you have no life.”
John 6:53

We receive spiritual life by believing in Christ and sharing in the redemptive benefits of His death on the Cross (Romans 3:24-25, 1 John 1:7).  We continue to have spiritual life as we remain in fellowship with Christ and His Word. (Compare John 6:53 and 63).

“…the words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.”
Verse 63

Thus we partake of Christ as we continue to have faith in Him and prayerfully receive His Word.

Jesus is the Living Word and the Bible is the written Word.  Jesus call Himself the Bread of Life and elsewhere He relates this bread to the Word of God:

Man does not live by bread alone
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4

Therefore we eat His flesh by remaining in Him and by receiving and obeying the Word of God.

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Father, we thank You for Your goodness and mercy that follows us all the days of our lives.  We thank You because You are not man that You can lie nor son of man that You can change Your mind…what You say You will do, surely You will do it.  We thank You for the grace to reunite us with Christ.  Give us the grace, Lord, to obey and absorb what is truth in our hearts.  May Your name be glorified.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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The Bread that Quenches Hunger and Thirst

March 5, 2015 by

SeekingHimLogo

Recorded in the Gospel of John, our Lord made seven statements referring to Himself as I AM…

I AM The Light of the World
I AM The Bread of Life
I AM The Door
I AM The Good Shepherd
I AM The True Vine
I AM The Way, The Truth, and The Life
I AM The Resurrection and The Life

Each week during this season of Lent, here on the Seeking Him blog, we will be focusing our devotionals on a different aspect of Jesus’ revelation of Himself as I AM.  The aim of Lent should be to prepare our hearts for the remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice—His trial and torture, the Crucifixion and His death…and above all, the celebration of His Resurrection from the dead.  We pray that this will be a great encouragement to each of you who read them.  And that all of us will consider the significance of Jesus’ words and, through them, be helped as we remember and are thankful for all Jesus went through during the last few weeks of His life on this earth.

Then Jesus declared, “I AM the Bread of Life.
Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry,
and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.
John 6:35

(context)

*   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   * 

Jesus says that He is our Light and that He will lead us in this life we live.  Jesus also says that He is the Bread of Life.  Not only does He light our paths, but He sustains us spiritually.

Everyone is searching for something.  We all are missing something in our lives. We all have a hunger/thirst that only the Lord can fill.  That is how we were made to be. God being the total Provider that He is, made provision for us to have all that we need.  In Jesus, God gave us so much.

…this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches,
which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19

Many people search high and low to fill a longing that they do not understand. Even as Christians we can sometimes forget that we already have all that we need in Jesus. We can often fall into the trap of relying on our money or our jobs or our friends or our family to help us feel better about ourselves or the things happening in our lives. We find comfort and show pride in the things we have accomplished. Nothing wrong with comfort and pride, but when we lean on it as if it is our Rock…that is where we run into problems. Comfort and achievements can disappear just as quickly as they arrived. The only “thing” we can trust to never change is Jesus. He will always provide for us what we need…always.

Psalms 136: 23-26 reminds us of the Lord’s awesome provision and our need to give thanks to Him for His amazingness.

He remembered our utter weakness. His faithful love endures forever.
He saved us from our enemies. His faithful love endures forever.
He gives food to every living thing. His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.

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Lord, You are all that we need. I thank You that we do not have to go searching through worldly things to find what fills our hearts’ desire. You are enough. You will always be enough. Let us remember that YOU are the Bread of Life. Amen.

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Slice of Life

March 4, 2015 by

SeekingHimLogo

Recorded in the Gospel of John, our Lord made seven statements referring to Himself as I AM…

I AM The Light of the World
I AM The Bread of Life
I AM The Door
I AM The Good Shepherd
I AM The True Vine
I AM The Way, The Truth, and The Life
I AM The Resurrection and The Life

Each week during this season of Lent, here on the Seeking Him blog, we will be focusing our devotionals on a different aspect of Jesus’ revelation of Himself as I AM.  The aim of Lent should be to prepare our hearts for the remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice—His trial and torture, the Crucifixion and His death…and above all, the celebration of His Resurrection from the dead.  We pray that this will be a great encouragement to each of you who read them.  And that all of us will consider the significance of Jesus’ words and, through them, be helped as we remember and are thankful for all Jesus went through during the last few weeks of His life on this earth.

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but 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, “always give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I AM the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

John 6:32-35

(context)

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Have you seen how they slice bread in a grocery store deli or a bakery?  I have.  I used to be able to slice bread onone of those bread slicers.  I still vaguely remember how to use that slicer.  The bread was usually very cool but soft on the inside.  The crust very crusty and crumbly on the outside.  What a mess.  Cleaning it could be particularly hard. Yet it had to be cleaned up for the next slicing.  It was the rule.

People buy bread to eat it.  They buy bread to combat hunger.  That is part of human life.  We must eat to survive because eating gives us energy.  Yet, what about eternal energy?  How will we survive eternity?

Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice by dying on the Cross for us.  He is the Bread of eternal life.  When we accept Christ into our hearts, we receive the Bread of eternal life.  We accept Christ as our Savior, and He is all we need to survive in this world.  Through Him we are granted eternal life.

“And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying,
“This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying,
“This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.”
Luke 22:19-20

When Jesus attended the last supper, He gave the twelve disciples a piece of Himself through communion with Him.  He would give the rest of Himself to everybody through His death on the Cross.  He would become the Bread needed to have eternal life.

*   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   * 

Dear Heavenly Father: Thank You for sending Jesus to be our eternal Lifeline.  Without Him we would suffer the consequences from sin.  Jesus is the Bread of life.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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What More Could You Need?

May 23, 2014 by

SeekingHimLogo

Let them praise the Lord for His great love
and for the wonderful things He has done for them.
For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
Psalms 107:8-9

A car?  A house?  An awesome job?  A family?  Romantic husband?  Perfect health?  No debt?  Desires…aren’t they fun things!  Desires can be limitless. Nothing can stop me from desiring to go to the moon or to be a millionaire! (Well…aside from the negative chatter in my head and those people around me who would tell me that you could not…but that’s a totally different topic.)

Desire isn’t all bad; it’s when desire is left unchecked that we can run into problems.  Before any desire, Christ should always reign.  Christ needs to be Number One for everything else to make sense.  As well, we need to be very careful not to mix up wants with needs and to remember that Christ can provide us with all we need.

It’s important to make sure we are trusting God for our needs and not just things. We must focus on the Giver not the given.

Let them praise the Lord for His great love
and for the wonderful things He has done for them.
For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
Psalms 107:8-9

Immediately, when I read these verses I thought of the woman at the well (John chapter 4).  Jesus told her He was the Living Water.  Then, I remembered that Jesus also referred to Himself as the Bread of Life, in John 6:35.  Those are some pretty large claims to make.  Jesus wasn’t saying, “I’m all that and a bag of chips!” He was saying, “I’m a never-ending five course meal.”  But! Look what He did!  He went to Calvary for us.  I think it’s safe to say He can make those claims.

So, what do you need Christ for today?  Let Him satisfy you.

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Thank you, Lord, for being all that I need.  And for being able to satisfy any, every, and all my needs.  You are wonderful and worthy of all my praise!  Amen.

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“I AM” Chapter 7 – Day 3: I AM..the LIVING ONE

August 21, 2013 by

2Chron7_14_IAM

What a wonderful way to close out this study knowing that our God is the “Living One.”

 Our Living God from A – Z

A- AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH (HEBREWS 12:2)

B- BREAD OF LIFE (JOHN 6:35)

C- CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD (ROMANS 8:39)

D- DELIVERER (ROMANS 11:26)

E- ETERNAL LIFE (1 JOHN 5:20)

F- FAITHFUL AND TRUE (REVELATION 19:11)

G- GREAT HIGH PRIEST (HEBREWS 4:14)

H- HEAD OF THE CHURCH (EPHESIANS 5:23)

I- I AM (JOHN 8:58)

J- JESUS (MATTHEW 1:21)

K- KING OF KINGS (REVELATION 17:14)

L- LIGHT OF THE WORLD (JOHN 8:12)

M- MEDIATOR (1 TIMOTHY 2:5)

N- NAZARENE (MATTHEW 2:23)

O- OUR PASSOVER (1 CORINTHIANS 5:7)

P- PRINCE (ACTS 5:31)

Q- QUINTESSENCE – THE MOST PERFECT EMBODIMENT OF SOMETHING (REVELATION 1:8)

R- REDEEMER (JOB 19:25)

S- SAVIOR (LUKE 2:11)

T- TEACHER (JOHN 3:2)

U- UNMATCHABLE – NO ONE IS EQUAL TO HIM (ISAIAH 40:28)

V- VINE (JOHN 15:1)

W- WORD (JOHN 1:1)

X- EXCELLENT (PSALM 8:9)

Y- YOURS – HE IS FREE TO YOU IF YOU BELIEVE (ROMANS 10:9)

Z- ZION, KING OF (PSALM 9:11)

Revelation 1:18  I am the living one.  I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever!  And I hold the keys of death and the grave.

WOW!  God’s Word speaks for itself to show us Life (living life-Himself)

People go around asking all kinds of questions daily.  Some of the many questions we have heard are: Who made the trees?  The flowers?  The birds?  The animals?  The earth?  The rocks?  The stars, sun, moon, ocean, mountains?  Who made you and me?  And the answer is:   Someone who is greater, more intelligent than all, made them!

That Someone is the only true and living God. He is invisible to our eyes, because He is a Spirit.  He lives in heaven.  He is eternal.  He has always existed and He always will.  We know Him because we see the things He has made and because He has given us His book called the Bible in which He reveals Himself to us.  We don’t find His bones in a grave, like other gods who have died, because our God lives!

Do you know the only true and living God?  If not, would you like to?  Do you want to be free from your daily burdens of sin and have a sweet assurance of “living” with the “Living One”?

If you are ready to meet the “I AM” and “live” with the “Living One” for eternity then all you have to do is ask Him.

“Dear Lord Jesus, 
I know that I am a sinner, I believe Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood for my sins, was buried and rose from the grave.  I ask You now, Lord Jesus, to come into my heart, and take away my sins, and save my soul.  Change my heart and life, Lord, to be what You want me to be!  I thank You, Lord for the forgiveness of my sins, Your gift of salvation and everlasting life, because of Your mercy and grace!  AMEN.

Oh what a precious journey you will have as you will get to know the “I AM” – the “Living One” now that you have accepted Him as Christ your Savior.  I may not ever get to meet you personally here on this earth, but know, my friend, that I will be praying for you as you begin your new life with Him, and on the day He returns I will meet you in heaven!  Hallelujah!

**********

Let’s Pray:

Dear God,

I thank You for these past seven weeks that we have been able to dig in Your Word together, Lord, and truly get to know Who You Are and who we are in You.   I thank You for any that have received You as Savior and I ask that You help them to continue to dig in Your Word and become the beautiful creation that You intended for them to be and help them to spread this wonderful news of salvation with the world.  In Your name, I pray.

Amen!

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Winning Him Without Words: Our Deepest Need

October 22, 2012 by

Ladies, this blog today was extremely difficult for me to share with you and the world as I have never been one to be so transparent about my life, so I pray that God would use this to reach someone out there that must need to hear it, to be encouraged from it.

When you were a teenager did you make this statement to one of your girlfriends, “I found the man of my dreams, my soulmate”  I did that when I met my man.  I wanted so much to graduate high school and get married and have someone else meet my needs that I didn’t feel were being met at home.     When I met my guy at high school,  I thought right then OK there is no one else for me, he is “the one” for me.  I never dated anyone but him.  At that time I was not a Christian so I didn’t know anything about seeking “the man” God wanted for my life, I was strictly going with “my feelings, my wants, and my desires.”   A strong desire to “get married” and get out of my home.    My parents were having marital problems and I just wanted to get out of all that was going on, so I kept putting myself into this dating relationship more and more so I kept my mind off of what was going on in my home.

We dated for four years and the day he asked me to marry him was “wonderful”.  I thought YAY, now my needs will finally be met.  I will get something that I want.  I did not truly know at that time what my “deepest need” really was nor did I know that he was not the one who would meet it.

I thought I was Cinderella and all my dreams I had ever had were gonna finally come to fruition…..but ladies this was only the beginning of what would be coming to pass in my life.

Wedding plans were being made…

A new job was provided for us both…

A home was found for us to move into…

We both were attending church at the time…

my dream life, my needs were coming together…..or so I thought

I thought this man was going to be my knight in shining armor, the one that would give me “everything” I had always wanted and needed. I talked myself into believing that, into believing in him to solely take charge of that area, “to provide me with “every need” (and wants by the way)…..he had a good job making money like I had never experienced in our home before.  Ladies I had NEEDS and I just knew he was the one to “provide”.

I had need for:

  • Acceptance – knowing that I was loved and needed by him
  • Identity – knowing that I was significant to someone
  • Security – knowing that there was someone to protect and provide for me
  • Purpose – knowing that I have a reason for living

I was spending my life trying to get my needs met by many sources and at this time in my life I was totally focused on my boyfriend to do that for me, by marrying me.

In the year before we were married I began going to church more and learning more about God and I was beginning to understand that there was someone else who could meet “my true need”.

THE NEED OF SALVATION

 

I finally realized that no human being could meet “my deepest need”, that only God could.   I was placing a lot of expectations on my boyfriend soon to be husband to take on that role and he could not do it.

Only God could meet my needs I had (acceptance, identity, security and purpose).   In John 6:35 Jesus says to me “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Ladies, Jesus had the ability to give me the spiritual food and drink that I needed to “satisfy” my longings, my needs.  He invited me to come to him for my need to be met.

On April 17, 1979 I accepted His invitation to do just that and oh how my life changed.    I “finally” had someone who could and wanted to meet “my every need”, not just the wants I was experiencing before this day.    I still did not understand that I needed to seek God for the man I was to spend my life with, I mean I had been dating for 4 years and my wedding was planned and the wedding day was approaching, was I really suppose to put all that on hold until I had time to “seek Him” for answers, well since I didn’t truly know all that, I kept going with all the plans as they were and we were married on June 23, 1979.

We continued to attend church together and God was meeting my needs.   I was growing but “we” were not growing in Him.  I was still expecting my husband to meet needs that I wanted met.  I was placing expectations on my husband that he could not uphold—you see my “deepest need” would then and always only be met by God, so I need to keep these areas separate and allow God to meet the needs He will meet and my husband to meet the needs he can meet as they are not the same ladies.

I needed to release my husband from the job that was God’s. God can heal us, love us in the way we need.

Man’s love is natural.

God’s love is supernatural.

Our husbands can’t possibly take on a role that was not his to begin with and if we try to “make” him do it he will begin to feel like a failure and resentment will begin to creep in and threaten our relationship.

 Pg. 70-71; When our expectations are rightly placed in the One who created those needs in the first place we will discover freedoms in our marriage that allows us to be the woman God created each of us to be and the wife He needs us to be so that He can work through us to reach our husband. The burden is taken off our man, as is the label of failure. We can then respect our husband as he is and love him unconditionally.

I am happy to say I have been married 33 years, but sad to say I have just recently realized in the past year that I can’t force my husband to join me at church and in “my relationship” with God because he has to find those things on his own, but what I can do is pray for him and pray for us and:

“look only to God to meet our needs”

My man is my man and I want him as much today as I did back in high school and I have hope, joy, peace, trust and respect in Him and I need him every day, but to need him,    I NEED GOD FIRST because it is God who will indeed meet the deepest places in “our marriage”.

 

Let’s Pray:  God I thank you for meeting my every “need” since that day I met you and I pray for each lady who reads part of my short testimony today that if they have that same “need” to meet you as their provider that they too will say yes and release their “guy” from trying to be the one to meet it, but allow You to be their true provider in their life, in your name I pray Amen!

Your assignment:  Who is meeting your deepest need? On a daily basis, on whom do you rely the most and to whom do you go to first to get your deepest need met?   Tell us about it….

 

 

For the “Winning Him Without Words” Bible Study, you will need the book, your Bible, pen or pencil, a highlighter and a quiet place. You can order the book right through our website by clicking the “sign-up here” button at the top of our webpage; which is also where you can sign up to participate in this awesome bible study!

Please email Christi@girlfriendscoffeehour.com if you have any questions, or if you have a private comment that you would like to forward to one of our bloggers in regards to their post that day.

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