Devotionals

Our Daily Bread (Part 3)

Give us day by day our daily bread.

We can see daily bread from two angles. One is the angle of physical bread. God is our provider and in Matthew 6 Jesus teaches how we should trust that God will take care of us and give us what we need. This is us praying for God to continue to supply our needs, looks after us etc but we can also see it from a spiritual perspective.

Jesus expressed once when the disciples tried to convince Him to eat that His food is to do the Father's will (John 4:31-42) . The new testament often uses what we consume to refer to the word of God.

1 Peter 2:2
ESV
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

Our daily bread is the word of God, revelation, wisdom, discernment etc given by God that we need.

I had a chat with someone before and we spoke about spiritual maturity. To be spiritually mature you need to grow, to grow you need to grow in knowledge of the word of God.

An example she gave is that you grow in spiritual maturity the more you grow in the word.

Spiritual malnutrition can happen when we neglect nourishing ourselves with the word of God. We need the word of God to grow and develop.

Similar to how we need water and food to grow. It wouldn't be healthy if you only ate 4 times a month or only drank once every week. That's why Jesus said our daily bread, we need to constantly feed ourselves with God's word.

If we only ate once a week or drank only once a month, we'll be able to easily tell from afar that person won't look healthy. They'll appear sick, weak and tired.

1) The word of God gives you strength and builds you

You need to feed yourself the word of God so you can have strength. The word to God is what builds our faith, and what helps us grow in our understanding of truth.

Everything is in obedience to the word and we have promises

The word of God is a law. Everything is in obedience to God's word.

In Genesis, when God created everything, He used His word. Numbers 19:23 speaks about how God isn't a man and that He should lie.

God's word is certain, true and reliable because God's word is Himself. We can trust the power of the word of God because it's the power of God and is God. God cannot go against His word. He won't say something and contradict Himself.

When God says that no weapon formed against us shall prosper, by the power of faith in God's word we no weapon is allowed to proposer in our lives.

The kingdom of darkness has to obey the word of the Lord. They cannot ignore the authority of God's word, when God's word is released, power is released with that word and the power is that God can do what  He says HE will do.

2) Gives us faith

Romans 10:17
ESV
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

We are called to have faith because without it we won't please God. We need faith to be able to walk in our daily Christian life.

The foundation of faith is rooted in the word of God. We hear, we receive the word of God and the fruit should be faith. It should be belief and conviction. We grow in our confidence, dependency and reliance on God when we grow in the word of God.

3) Effective in prayer because of revelation

Our prayers need revelation. Our prayers become powerful when we have the understanding and revelation going into them. We can pray for God to help us but if we are in ignorance of the promise God have to guide and instruct us (Pslam 32:8).  We will act as if we have no guide. For example, God has promised us wisdom, if I'm ignorant of that promise I would easily seek other methods for wisdom or wouldn't know it's something I can simply ask for.

4) Overcoming attacks from the enemy

Jesus used the word of God to overcome the temptations of the enemy. He resisted the devil but also submitted to God. He kept God's word as His weapon and strength. He would speak about how it is written to overcome the attacks of the enemy.

We need the sword which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). The sword is what you use to fight, what you use to destroy and conquer. It's what you use to break, reject and cut.

We need the word of God to overcome the daily attacks of the kingdom of darkness. We need to declare it is written. We need to apply God's word. We need to hold thoughts captive, pull down strongholds, break chains and constantly reject the chains the enemy seeks to put us in by the power of the word of God. When we trust and use the word of God as a sword, the kingdom of darkness becomes powerless because it had to obey its creator's commands.

5) Stable identity

The word of God grows our relationship with God, our understanding of who He is, and what He wills and desires. The word of God also reveals our identities as children of God. It reveals that we are brought with a price (1 Corinthians 7:23), royal priesthood ( 1 Peter 2:9), and ambassordors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20).

If we don't know our identity in Christ we will easily can take any identity from anywhere. We won't be on solid ground as God's word should be our foundation.

If we don't know Christ, who we are in Christ, our purpose on this earth, our mission and God's will all revealed through the word of God, we will be walking powerless. To mature spiritually we need the word of God, to mature God in our character, walk in Christ, service etc we need to grow in the word of God.

There are plenty more reasons to read the word of God but I want to leave challenging you to make it a priority to get into God's word every day even when you might not feel like it.

If you struggle reading the word daily, I want you to pray right now and every day, every morning "Lord, give me a hunger for more of your word, increase my desire for more of your word"

Repeat that prayer constantly before God. Make reading the word prayer, a discipline and a lifestyle. Make it your priority to seek to know, understand and want God's word.

Pray before you read scripture, ask the Holy Spirit to speak and help you understand the word and apply it to your life.

-etty