Prayer To Find God's Heart and Voice In Difficult Times
Thursday July 16, 2020
EATING AND BEING NOURISHED
With the surge in new cases daily in the United States, some of the hardest hit areas are closing bars and restaurants once again. The gathering together for a meal out with friends or loved ones has been put on hold in the hopes of slowing down virus transmission.
Eating food together is something that gives most of us pleasure, especially during the summer months but at its heart, eating food is actually about consuming the nutrients our body needs to be nourished and cleansed so we can grow and change.
Jesus made a startling statement about food and eating when He said:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is
my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 6:43-51
He went on to explain:
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
John 6:63
Just as we don’t JUST LOOK at food and APPRECIATE it – even though it looks good and smells amazing and is laid out on a beautiful table – if we’re smart, we’ll actually eat it. All the appreciating in the world is empty unless the food is consumed and the body gains nutrition from it. It’s only when that food is taken into us – that we benefit from it and change takes place in our bodies.
WE ARE CHANGED BY EVERYTHING WE EAT.
We need to feed on the WORD OF GOD
Heavenly Father, we thank You today that You provide for our needs every day.
In these moments we’re thinking about and giving thanks for the spiritual food that You give us that gives us everything we need for a strong and fulfilling life.
You provide delicious food for me in the presence of my enemies. You have welcomed me as your guest; blessings overflow! Psalm 23:5
Even in difficult circumstances, like the challenges of this season of the pandemic, we are assured that if we will just come to You, You will provide good things for us.
You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God.
He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.”
Matthew 5:6
Thank you for your promise that if we would come to you hungry and thirsty that You would fill us up and satisfy us.
Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink—even if you have no money!
Come, take your choice of wine or milk—it’s all free!
Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?
Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me,
and you will eat what is good.
You will enjoy the finest food.
Isaiah 55:1-2
I know that when people are starving for a while they don’t feel the hunger pangs and I wonder if we sometimes live that way spiritually. Would you even increase our awareness of our need for You today. Thank you for your generous invitation to come and enjoy food that gives us strength and does us good.
We are so vulnerable to giving in to temptation in all sorts of areas of life unless we are strengthened by the food of Your Word that You give us. We just agree with You again today God that it’s only the spiritual nutrition You give us that keeps us strong in faith and able to recognize and be ready to meet the devil’s insidious twists on truth and outright lies.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man
of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Today we want to be changed by what we eat spiritually. We welcome the teaching, reproving, correcting, and training Your Word brings to our thoughts, words, and actions. We don’t want to just read and appreciate what You are saying but we want to be changed and actually live differently. Today we want our lives to be nourished, recalibrated, rebalanced, and refreshed.
We give ourselves to You, to Your Word, and to the voice of Your Holy Spirit with thanks and expectation of a wonderful meal enjoyed together with You and strengthened lives because of what You feed us. Amen
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