Crumbs on the Table

Have you ever been really hungry and then walked past a really good bakery and the smell of the freshly baked bread nearly drives you insane?

When the first century Jews heard Jesus refer to Himself as the "Bread of Life" they likely thought of the basic staple, the life-sustaining constant in theirs and our daily diet.

In John 6:35 Jesus indeed declared "I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." Amazing words with astounding consequences.

The main point is that Jesus is indeed necessary for life. BUT how many of us actually feed from the "Bread of Life" or just manage to scrape a few crumbs off the table cloth?

Where does Jesus stand in your life? Is He your number one thought in the morning and your last thought at night? Does He have any standing at all through your busy day? Do you depend on Him in the day to day decisions and in the big moments in your life?

Or has life just got too busy for Jesus?

I have been so convicted lately as to just with what I am filling my eyes, ears, mind and time. For example, how long do I sit at the computer, or the TV, or reading some secular novel or magazine, gullibly swallowing every bit of unbelievable junk I hear or see.

Now, please don't take me wrong - these things are OK and worth enjoying BUT when they take over from God then they become such a sin - God wants so much more from us and He wants so desperately to give us so much more.

Truthfully, how long has it been since you said "I am going to wait on the Lord" in His presence - just He and you alone quiet, forgetting everything and everyone else.

Without the Spirit of God fully working in our lives, we are empty and virtually hungry so do we fill this void with other 'things'? - getting so busy that our minds and hearts really have no room for Jesus and what He is so freely prepared to give us.

God is not going to pour out His Spirit where He doesn't find hunger. How long has it been since we have been so hungry for God that all else fades into insignificance? I feel our problem is that we have never been really hungry. We have allowed 'things' to satisfy our lives and satiate our hunger.

I am so afraid that it is the same for many of our churches - we get so consumed with following agendas and Orders of Service we don't really expect to be in the very presence of God. We can get carried away with the music or busy ourselves with what needs to be done that we rarely expect the unexpected - God's Spirit moving in remarkable and extraordinary ways in His people.

God is the bread of life - He said "Feast on me" instead we are so content with the crumbs off the table. He said FEAST not NIBBLE.

Our churches are filled with worship and songs etc, but is God's Spirit really there? Do we really even catch a glimpse of God when we go to church?

I heard recently on a "Christian radio station" an advertisement that went something like this "Sundays are so busy! Got no time for church? then come to our church we are open on Saturday nights" WHOA!! - There we go - "So busy" - Too busy for God it seems.

We often hear preachers pray for revival - I feel there won't be a revival unless we repent before God - place Him in His rightful place in our lives - expect to really meet Him, either alone or in our church services, when we come in true repentance and prayer.

I pray for revival in me in our churches and in our lands. Instead of filling our lives with God, we fill them up with anything and everything including our worries. No wonder God's Spirit isn't really working in the lives of so many of us.

Jesus said in Matthew 5: 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled"

If you, like me are truly serious about being really 'hungry" for God, then please join me in this prayer:-

Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit will grip our hearts, that you will turn us into Warriors of worship and obedience to you. Lord, we need you, our cities and nations need you. We are so tired of scraping just crumbs off the table, please send us a feast of your bread from Heaven. Amen.

My prayer for you is to be overwhelmed by God, to be totally consumed with His grace, love and forgiveness. That His Spirit will floor you with a revival in your life that will so change the way you think, live and act. May God bless you as you draw near to Him.

Moving Mountains

The story is told of a little boy who wandered into the deep dark woods only to find a giant lurking there.

"What are doing here" boomed the giant "These are my woods and you must stay here forever". The little boy stammered "I only came in here to dig for worms 'cause I am going fishing".

"Hmmm" the giant said - "I'll tell you what!  I will give you three chances to think of something I CANNOT do. If you win, you may go - but if you lose, you must stay in my woods forever."

The little boy thought for a long time. Finally he had an idea! "Bet you can't pick up that boulder?" - The giant threw his head back and laughed - "Simple" he said and picking up the huge rock threw it clear over the trees and out of the woods.

The little boy sighed "Two more tries" said the giant. "Bet you can't bend that big old oak tree so that it touches the ground?" said the boy. "Simple" said the giant and grabbing the tree bent it back so far that the big tree snapped in two.

"Phew" said the boy and sat down and thought. "That's two said the giant with a wicked grin - one more to go". The little boy didn't want to live in the woods forever he had to think of something!

"I know something I can do that you can't" he said to the giant - "I can move that hill and put it right here next to path". The giant laughed and laughed. Finally he stopped laughing and said 'watch this' - he put his arms around the hill and pulled - he yanked this way and that way - he tugged at that hill until he was breathless.

He couldn't move that hill no matter how hard he tried. Finally he gave up. "Okay" said the giant at last "if you can move this hill you may leave the woods".

The little lad picked up his shovel that he had brought to dig worms and dug a shovelful of dirt then he dumped it beside the path - he walked back to the hill and brought another shovelful and so it continued until the hill was completely moved.

How are you at moving mountains?

In Matthew 17:20 Jesus said "Because you have so little faith! Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain. 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

So.... how come I don't see mountains moving??

Jesus was speaking figuratively obviously. Moving mountains was exactly THE type of miracle that the Pharisees and 'religious' teachers of the day were expecting of Jesus. Jesus never used miracles to prove a point or to exhort Himself among others to win their approval and make them awestruck.

Jesus' miracles were helping and assisting people of which he performed so many - we must have only a fraction recorded for us in the New Testament. But moving mountains and casting them into the sea WOULD have satisfied the Scribes and Pharisees of the day - a miracle of humongous proportions clearly equalling the fire consuming sacrifice of Elijah and also the sun standing still episode of Joshua.

Jesus was clearly teaching His disciples here that there is unimaginable power available to them through their FAITH in Him. He said in John 14 "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in My name, I will do it".

So what is the key here - our FAITH of LACK of it? I truly believe that the key to this question is when Jesus said "IN MY NAME". I believe the requirement for receiving is to ask (in Jesus name) according to His purpose and will.

In James 4, James warns us never to ask anything of God with the wrong motives. We need to have faith in God alone not faith in our plans, or aspirations. The only way to receive anything of God is to ask according to His plans and His motives.

So to have mountain moving type faith is to aim for and work towards unselfish,  non-doubting and absolute confidence in God and Him alone. It's believing and having faith in His truth and absolute power while striving to do His will. And why do we live like this? So that God's name may be glorified.

The other part of 'mountain moving' type faith is to believe that God is working in your life to remove your personal 'mountains' that have grown in your life.

I know I personally have a 'mountain range' in my life that is being slowly whittled away as I move closer to God. Like the little lad in our story your mountain may not disappear straight away but with God's help and reliance on Him every mountain will be laid low.

So let's not despair about our 'mountains' but hand them over to our Heavenly Dad and have faith that according to His time and purpose these mountains will eventually be removed for ever.

And let's have faith that His will and purpose for our lives is in His hands. let's pray that our faith and His will collide and that whatever we ask of God, that it will be done according to His plans and His pure motives.