"Prayer Power"
February 2007
I Am The Bread of Life
Num 16
Patricia’s life careened out of control at a young age. At 13, she rebelled and ran away from home. Drug addiction and an out of wedlock baby followed. She found drugs masked a deep hunger, a constant ache in the depths of her being. Maria’s despair only deepened when her boyfriend murdered her baby boy. Soon after that she landed in prison when she was caught stealing to support her drug habit.
Alone in her jail cell, helpless, hopeless, Maria cried to God. If You are real, if You can hear me, God, come and save me. Change me. I am sorry for my sin and rebellion. Come lift me out of this emptiness I feel. I need You.
God’s presence met Maria in that cell. He forgave her sins and delivered her from a lifestyle of rebellion. Someone gave her a Bible and hungry for life change, she began to feed on the Word. Jesus became the Bread of Life to her. As she allowed the Word to fill her emptiness the starving rebel found Jesus was the soul food she longed for. Maria became transformed by God’s infilling presence.
Prison term completed, Godly friends helped Maria get established in a Christian rehabilitation program. Today Maria has a college degree, serves the community with her gifts, and sings in our church choir. Last weekend at a musical she told thousands about Jesus, the Bread that sustains her life. What a change from hungry rebel and addict to joy filled believer!
Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry . . . . (John 6:35) Is Jesus talking about you?
Are you hungry? Has the delicious aroma of the Bread of Life brought you to God’s table to eat? Can you smell Jesus wonderful fragrance even as you read this column?
Natural bread sustains your physical body. Christ, manna from Heaven, sustains your spirit eternally. In the Bible’s Old Testament God rained manna down upon Moses and the Hebrews in the desert so they would not starve to death. In the New Testament Jesus is the bread sent down from Heaven to the spiritually hungry. As God, He is both Giver and Gift.
Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, 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 he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. (John 6:32,33)
In the Bible’s Old Testament God commanded priests to bring wheat flour as an offering to His altar for the sins of the people. This wheat offering was a picture of Christ’s offering in the New Testament. Christ, the Bread of Life, offered Himself on the altar of the cross for the sins of all men.
Bread grain is crushed fine to be usable. Beaten and crushed, Christ became the offering that purchased forgiveness and eternal life. His sufferings and death on the cross finished His work. Christ bread is now soul food. He became our sin offering, saving all who will believe.
This God manna is for all people everywhere. Whoever will receive Jesus, consuming Him as bread, will have eternal life, eternal substance.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (John 6:51)
Are you spiritually hungry? What keeps you from eating the Bread of Life? Unbelief? Rebellion? Carelessness?
Choose Christ. Eat. Live eternally.
Eternal Life bread
Christ bread
Heaven’s manna fallen down
Gathered by every tribe, nation, tongue
Only Sustenance
Bread corn
Beaten fine for all peoples
Altar on fiery cross
Finished sin offering
God manna
Crushed, broken
Take, eat
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Petey Prater is a Beaverton, OR writer and speaker. She can be reached at peteyprater@yahoo.com
She writes devotions, poetry, and articles and has contributed to 3 books.
Prayers for Troubled Times, Jeannie St John Taylor, AMG Publishers and
101 Stories of Answered Prayer, Jeannie St John Taylor, AMG Publishers
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Petey Prater is a Beaverton, OR writer and speaker who can be reached at donprater@juno.com. She writes
poetry, articles and devotions and contributed to two books available in Christian bookstores or on Amazon:
Prayers for Troubled Times compiled by Jeannie St John Taylor, AMG Publishers and
101 Stories of Answered Prayer compiled by Jeannie St John Taylor, AMG Publishers
Prayers for Troubled Times compiled by Jeannie St John Taylor, AMG Publishers and
101 Stories of Answered Prayer by Jeannie St John Taylor, AMG Publishers
Copyright © 2007 Petey Prater. All rights reserved.