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Fresh Bread

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   In the past decade, Krispy Kreme, Inc., became an American success story because of the company’s commitment to bake fresh doughnuts early every morning. Rather than selling any stale product, they dispose of it.

 

   Fresh bread is also crucial for Christian’s development. Morning is the best time for getting to know God. This principle was deeply impressed on the children of Israel through God’s gift of manna. It rained down from heaven early in the morning, six days a week. If they waited too long, the manna would evaporate. “So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.” (Exodus 16:21). 

 

   Likewise, if we wait too long to have our devotions, the cares and pressures of the day will grab our attention before we turn it to the Lord. So, do not let the manna melt! And remember, the busier we are and the more we have to do, the greater our need to take the time to study God’s Book and pray.

 

   Jesus, our perfect example, followed the practice of having morning devotions. He considered it as essential to life as is physical food-and in some senses, even more important. “’I have treasure the words of His mouth more than my necessary food’” (Job 23:12). If you are late for work and must choose between your raisin bran or personal devotions, I say while fiber is important, it will not keep you from sin. “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16). 

 

   The Lord’s Prayer contains the line, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We should consider that line as applying more to the spiritual bread than the baked variety. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness after a forty-day fast, He told the devil, “’It is written, “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”’” (Luke 4:4).

 

   I cannot explain it, but it seems that spiritual food gave Jesus not just spiritual strength, but also physical strength. John 4:31, 32, records, “His disciples urged Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’ But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat of which you do not know.’”

 

   Elijah also received supernatural strength from eating heavenly bread that an angel prepared. “The angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, ‘Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.’ So he rose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:7,8). You might also find that if you wake up a little earlier for more devotional time with God, you will have increased energy throughout the day. 

 

   Although we covered some of this in the last section, it bears repeating: If we want to defeat the enemy who is always ready to assail us, we need the same secret weapon Jesus used. It is described aptly in Ephesians 6:17: “Take … the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

 

   We all desperately need and want to have Jesus abiding in our hearts. How do we get Him there? Another name for Jesus is “the Word.” When we are reading the Word, we are directly inviting Jesus into our hearts and minds. “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (psalm 119:11).

 

   Since Jesus is the Word, He is also the secret weapon! Again, the principle is that as we spend more time with Jesus through prayer and Bible study, we will know Him better and therefore love Him more. And just as our natural reaction is to talk about those we love, both enemy and friend, about our Lord. Then, as we share our faith with others, our faith will become stronger-just as a muscle is strengthened by activity.

 

   More love, more witnessing, better surrender, more energy, even less depression-all this and much more comes in a direct chain reaction that begins when we use the secret weapon of personal devotions. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12, KJV).

 

“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” –John 14:14

 

Jesus Answers Prayer

 

   A man asked Alexander the Great to give him a dowry in exchange for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The ruler consented and told him to request of his treasurer whatever he wanted. So he went and asked for an enormous amount.

 

   The treasurer was startled and said he could not give him that much without a direct order. Going to Alexander, the treasurer argued that even a small fraction of the money requested would more than serve the purpose. “No,” replied Alexander, “Let him have it all. I like that fellow. He does me honor. He treats me like a king and proves by what he asks that he believe me to be rich, powerful, and generous.”

 

   Jesus answered the demoniac’s unspoken plea for deliverance. He answered the prayers of the Gadara townsfolk when they asked Him to leave. He even answered the “prayers” of the devils when they requested to go into the pigs. It makes me wonder: Why do we pray so little? “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).

 

   One of the best observations about prayer comes from the book Steps to Christ:  

 

   The darkness of the evil one encloses those who neglect to pray. The whispered temptations of the enemy entice them to sin; and it is all because they do not make use of the privileges that God has given them in the divine appointment of prayer. Why should the sons and daughters of God be reluctant to pray, when prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse, where are treasured the boundless resources of Omnipotence? Without unceasing prayer and diligent watching, we are in danger of growing careless and of deviating from the right path. The adversary seeks continually to obstruct the way to the mercy seat, that we may not by earnest supplication and faith obtain grace and power to resist temptation. *

 

   A fellow who had grown up in the city bought a farm and a milk cow. While in the feed store one day, he complained that his cow had gone dry. “Are you feeding her right?” asked the storeowner.

 

   “I am feeding her exactly what you have been selling me,” said the man.

 

   “Are you milking her at regular times every day?”

 

   “Not exactly. If I need six or eight ounces of milk for breakfast, I go out and get that and just let her save it up.”

 

   Of course, it does not work that way. When you are milking cows, you take all that is there or eventually you have nothing. That is true of God’s presence too.

 

   We must pray God’s Spirit will fill our hearts until they are “overflowing with a good theme” (psalm 45:1).

 

_________ 

 

   *Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald, 1908), 94.  

 

“They… found the man from whom the demons had departed… clothed and in his right mind.” –Luke 8:35

 




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