Do you have a desire for God to meet a need in your life right now? Maybe you need healing in some way, or you’re craving a change in your marriage. Perhaps you desire spiritual growth. Whatever the need is, Jesus is more than able to provide, and He is willing. I know this because He’s done this for me.
When I was in my twenties, I was working at a car dealership as the front desk receptionist. Having financial insecurities, I wasn’t sure what I was going to eat day to day. I was twenty years old, and the past two years had been full of hardships. I was living in survival mode, just trying to make ends meet. I had been kicked out of my home at eighteen years old, and without a car or a college degree, I found it difficult to hold onto a job. I went from job to job and stayed at each one for as long as they would keep me, or for as long as I could stand to stay.
Sitting at the dealership that day, I silently told Jesus I was hungry. I was not sure how He would answer, or if He even cared about me because the hardships I had endured had skewed my perspective of His goodness. Despite my feelings, I prayed because I had nowhere else to turn, and I needed Him to intervene. About two hours later, a man I did not know walked up to my desk, set an Egg-McMuffin in front of me, and said, “I got you a sandwich.” Then he walked away.
That gentleman did not know my situation, but Jesus did, and through the man’s kindness, my need was met. I learned from this experience, and others similar to it, that Jesus not only cares about us, He loves to feed His people. All we need to do is ask Him to fill our desire.
Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude because they have now been with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
And He took seven loaves and the [two] fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave them to the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides woman and children.
~Matthew 15:32, 36-38 NKJV
In the Bible, Matthew chapter 15, we read a story of Jesus multiplying a loaf of bread and a few fish in order to feed five thousand people. This is the only miracle that is recorded in all four Gospels, which tells me this is an important message that Jesus wants us to understand and absorb.
In the story, Jesus spends time throughout the day, teaching a crowd of people about many things. He feeds their hungry souls with His words, their hungry spirits with His presence, their hungry minds with His perspective, and their hungry bodies with food. This story paints an incredible picture of who He is for us today. Jesus is the Bread of Life. He is the Provider, the Miracle Worker, the Supplier of all our needs, and the Multiplier for the desires we need whether it be emotionally, spiritually, mentally, or physically.
“I am the bread of life. … I am the living bread which came down from heaven.”
~John 6:48, 51a NKJV
“The Bread of Life” has two different meanings. “Logos” is the first primary Greek word for bread and means “The inspired Scripture of God, the Bible, Jesus, the Living Word.” The second word for bread is “Rhema,” which means “an utterance.” Rhema is a portion of scripture or a verse from the Bible that the Holy Spirit brings to our attention that applies to a current need for guidance or help in a particular situation. It can also be a word or an utterance spoken to us through the Holy Spirit. What we learn from this, is that Jesus, the Living Word, desires to meet our specific needs.
Jesus not only cares about us, but He also loves to feed His people. All we need to do is ask Him to fill our desire.
Friend, I ask you today, what do you need? Do you desire emotional healing from a traumatic event? Is it encouragement from His Word that you need? Are you seeking to grow spiritually? Do you need Jesus to heal your mind? Are you in need of Jesus to heal your physical body? Whatever your need is, rest assured that Jesus loves to feed His people, and He is more than able to meet your specific need. As He was a prayer away for me, He is a prayer away for you as well, and He deeply loves you.
What do you need? Are you willing to pray about it? Lord Jesus, Your word says You are the Bread of Life. Please feed my hungry soul today with Your words, my hungry spirit with Your presence, my hungry body with the nutrients it needs to thrive, and most of all my hungry mind and spirit with the knowledge of who You are and the sacrifice on Calvary’s cross You made to save me. Amen.
Featured Image by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
Comments are closed.