daily Bread...

A new read... sees every day needs... routines... as metaphors for spiritual needs...

When it comes to eating for everyday nourishment... she says our daily spiritual nourishment is found in Christ through Communion and the Word...

Christ is our bread and gives us bread. He is the gift and the giver. God gives us every meal we eat, and every meal we eat is ultimately partial and inadequate, pointing to him who is our true food, our eternal nourishment.

---Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary 

Here she reminds... the everyday physical food Jesus provides is a temporary fix... but He is the Bread of life who satisfies us spiritually... eternally...

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life;

he who comes to Me will not hunger,

and he who believes in Me will never thirst."

John 6:35 NASB

Hunger... thirst... both have a meaning of strong desire...
an emptiness longing to be filled...

For me... communion with Him... via the Spirit... has become an every day way...
I eat His Word each day... seeking to let it fill me... define me...
and I find I hunger less... and less...
for the things of the world...
and more... and more... for Him...

What are you hungering for these days...?
a temporary filling...? or something more substantial...? eternal...?

Consider how you might include the Bread of life... in your every day way...
satisfy your hunger... satisfy your thirst...
with life... abundant...!

"...I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. ..." ---Jesus

John 10:10 NASB

selfish...

A gracious... beautiful... sister in Christ...
one coming to the study being birthed...
looked at me... tear-stained face... and said...
Thank you... for spending so much time in God's Word...
and your hours of study...

My answer came so quick... it even stunned me...
Don't thank me... it's pure selfishness...!

My time in God's Word is purely selfish...
I want Him... I want to know Him...
I want all of Him... poured right in me...

There have been moments at the end of a time in His Word...
when my flesh can sit no longer... my poor finite brain full...
but I still hunger... my spirit willing... my body weak...
and I take my open Bible... place it on my head... praying...
Lord... I want all of it... all Your word... pour it in me...

I know I can't live without Him...
I want to follow Him... be near Him...
walk His Way...

Yes... I'm so grateful... He's pushed me to share...
to see others gain healing... insight... from what I've gleaned...
wandering through the fields of His Word... selfishly...

Maybe I'm a bit like Ruth...
walking through His Word...
gleaning what's there...
a poor widow...
nothing to give...
only taking...

Yes... time in His Word...
selfish...
needed...
so I might live...

"Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word

that comes from the mouth of God."

Matthew 4:4 ESV

full... hungry...

This evening... after a day of intentional intercession... I find myself full and hungry... at the same time...

Full of the sense of His presence...
Hungry for more...

Glimpses of truth...
bring desire for more...
more to see it...
more to know it...
more to live it...

An odd feeling... full... hungry...

Satisfied... yet... insatiable...
feeling like I'm going to burst...
but panting for more...

For he satisfies the longing soul,

and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

Psalm 107:9 ESV

filling a hunger...

Jesus answered, "It is written:

'Man does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Matthew 4:4

There is only one way to live full and it is "by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

---Ann Voskamp, "Dark Grace", in One Thousand Gifts Devotional

And who doesn't want to live full...? Isn't that what we all long for...? satisfaction...? acceptance...? fullness...?

There is only... one... way... to fill the hunger...

"...I have come that they may have life,

and have it to the full. ..." --- Jesus

John 10:10

Living His Way... by His Word... His logic... a life is satisfied... filled...

When your words came, I ate them;

they were my joy and my heart's delight,

for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.

Jeremiah 15:16 NIV

hungry...

Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. ..."

John 21:17

hungry... adjective... 1 a: feeling hunger... 2 a: eager, avid... b: strongly motivated... 3 not rich or fertile: barren

---Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition)

Jesus's sheep... are hungry... for His Word...

Some may not even know... what they are hungry for... don't know what's lacking... what's needed to satisfy...

I see it... in those with whom I gather on Sunday... journeying... through His Word...

Eager... avid... strongly motivated... even through the book of Job...

Enriching lives... feeding His sheep... with His Word...

What a privilege... 

What a joy...

What a blessing...

This week's reading for The Journey...

Monday                   Exodus 1:1 - 2:10

Tuesday                   Exodus 2:11 - 3:22

Wednesday              Exodus 4

Thursday                  Exodus 5:1 - 6:13

Friday                      Exodus 6:14 - 7:25

a hungry harvest...

My reading through... brings me to John... and the word that comes to mind... hungry 

A gnawing emptiness...

The world is ripe for harvest... because it's hungry... for the Bread of Life...

Jesus said, "... The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. ... I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. ..."

John 6:33-36 NLT

The only Bread that fills the aching hunger of the soul... Jesus...

That's why He told His disciple... 

...feed My lambs...

...feed My sheep...

They're hungry... for...

peace...

love...

hope...

joy...

and the only Bread that fills... is Him...

The One we find set on the altar... a manger... 

the Bread of Presence...

the Manna from heaven...

Lord... teach me how to feast on You...

and how to feed those who are hungry...

[Related fare...

making Him manageable...?

a lesson from the manger...

back to the manger...  ]