“I am the bread of life” John 6:48 NKJV
RELATIONSHIP:
Do you already have a relationship with a powerful God who cares about your every need because He loves you? Did you know my God can communicate with you and protect you – He has a plan for you to prosper if you just submit to His will and let His plan play out in your life!!! God wants a relationship with you and has already made a plan for your life. He loves you so much He sent His son to this world, to die as a sacrifice for your sins and rise from death with victory over sin and the ability to have a personal relationship with you.
Do you want to know truth? Be able to discern lies? Know how to figure it all out in these confusing times and have peace? The Bible says Jesus is the truth. I have experienced it and it has changed my life. I was once a hot mess of sin, promiscuity, drug and alcohol use and so much more. But I was lost and when I could not find my way, or find a truth, I numbed it with bad choses. When I found Jesus, and truth – I found peace and deliverance from those things.
If you want a relationship with God without truth you will get the counterfeit, hypocritical Christianity that has kept some of you away for too long. You need truth and relationship. You need to be honest with yourself and God (including honest repentance) and God will reveal truth to you. It becomes the two way, interaction that your relationship with God is built on. This is why Jesus is called the truth, because he is our only way to the Father.
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Here is a prayer for you to pray:
Jesus, I believe you are the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. I believe you are the son of God, you came to Earth and lived. That you died on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins, and rose again so that I may be saved from my sins and be able to get to know you. I declare: Jesus, you are Lord!
Therefore, I confess that I am a sinner and I ask that you forgive me of my sins and come into my life. Help me to turn away from my sins and transform me into what you have lovingly created me to be. Help me through a real personal relationship grow and accept your will for my life – that I may live in your blessings. Please walk with me, and talk with me – I accept a relationship with you and with our Father God, through you. In the name of Jesus I pray ~ Amen
BIBLE READING:
Dear Heavenly Father – Please give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of who you are, who Jesus is, and who the Holy Spirit is. Open the eyes of our understanding, please, so we may know the hope of our calling and the vast sovereignty and power of the grace of the cross. Please do not let us miss out on what you want and need from us today. Lord, I pray that your word prepares us and not scares us! We forbid the works and influences of fear over your word and our sound mind. And please keep us and bless us and shine your face upon us and pour out grace over us and give us peace! And we pray for the peace of Jerusalem! Thank you! – In Jesus name we pray, Amen
Today’s reading we will pick back up in the Gospel of John, chapter 6 verse 41 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).
Rejected by His Own
41 The Jews then [g]complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, [h]“Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who [i]has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes [j]in Me has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is [k]food indeed, and My blood is [l]drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.Many Disciples Turn Away
60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a [m]hard saying; who can understand it?”
John 6:41-71 NKJV
61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples [n]complained about this, He said to them, “Does this [o]offend you? 62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
66 From that time many of His disciples went [p]back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”
68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the [q]Christ, the Son of the living God.”
70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” 71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.
MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
BIBLE DISCUSSION:
Rejection. It is a hard thing.
Many will not speak out about Christ and share their testimony because they fear rejection (and that is actually rejection of Christ and not rejection of you). Jesus called you and knew if you had what is takes to follow Him – it is not an easy road and rejection is one of the smallest hardships of the course. If you are reading this – I know God knows that you have what it takes. I prayed that only those who had what it takes would read this.
So how do we react to rejection? What can we learn from Jesus’s rejection? And what is really going on at the end of this chapter? Let us dive in.
“41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Jesus was NOT accepted by the very people who raised Him – His community. We see this often in older churches with generations. There eventually comes a generation that was raised in the church from childhood – and once they reach adult hood, they find it hard to be taken seriously or treated like an adult.
Jesus’s rejection was similar. They saw Him as a normal child and now it is hard enough to see Him as an adult, let alone the messiah. How can this be the son of God? If He is He came down from heaven 30 years ago, give or take, and then they had to face the fact that they treated Him and His family as normal people and rewind their conversation wondering if they could have offended God?
“43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.”
These are powerful words. They are the kind of “It is Written” that makes demons shake. But it is also crystal clear water of life! It is hard to confuse what He is saying here.
Then Jesus begins to speak in symbols and parables. Let us remember that parables were a well-known style of telling a story in symbols to make a point. Most Rabbi’s told three together to make one point from three different angles. So, these men in the synagogue should all have familiar with symbols and metaphors.
“48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
It appears that a few took him literal. They knew Jesus, and they were there most of His life, and suddenly they think this sweet boy has turned into a cannibal? That is so far out of character they should have known better. BUT! But! If they took it as the symbolism that is was, they would have to believe Jesus was the Christ. And how could they think this child grew up to be the savior of the world.
“53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
I love how John doesn’t tell us anymore details, like how did Jesus make it out of the synagogue alive?! They had grounds to stone Him for blasphemy. Except it wasn’t. Or had Jesus suddenly started promoting cannibalism?
The accepting, all-inclusive Jesus who loves everyone and never offends is NOT the Jesus of the Bible. Both those who did not believed in Jesus and those who believe were highly offended by these graphic and vulgar description of God’s grace.
“60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”
61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
Jesus had many disciples, not just the 12. So many times I forget that and have to visualize a larger crowd around Him. We love to think if we come to Jesus everything will be all better, but things do not necessarily become all better. His promises still remain, but they may not come as you imagined.
I was recently asked to share my testimony about my business. I was happy to. It was supposed to be recorded and shared with a larger group of people (about 900). But he told me they could not use my testimony it was no good. I was confused. The man then told me his testimony: He surrendered all to Jesus and everything came together and he was abundantly blessed. The man whose testimony went in my place was that he too surrendered all and everything fell into place and he now has abundance. And then this week there was another testimony about giving into God and everything working out.
My testimony is that I surrendered all and Jesus took it. HE has met every need while my business grows at an excruciatingly slow pace. God provides the extra money. God provides the extra food – which I cannot afford on my own. AND it is not like I spend money on crazy things. No. I have cut back and cut off all extras. I eat expired food from a food pantry, I do not have new clothes, and my business barely pays for itself – that was all this man could see. I must have done something wrong. I must be out of favor with God. Because the god he believes in would never have you walk through hard things and learn to trust and rely on Him completely. His god would not put you in a situation to force you to have a shift in your mindset to not just trust him but to bless Him in it. Not just say I am blessed and not just say thanks and sing a song. But to bless Him!
Well the Jesus in the Bible is offensive. He warns us of hard times. He promises provisions and when my business did not provide, God provided! He is the provider! He is faithful.
“66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.”
More rejection. If our leader was so rejected, and we know many will reject him when we tell them about Him. we too should also assume we will face some rejection.
“67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”
68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” 71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.”
Judas, himself, did not know his heart was going to harden. Jesus knew. Jesus loves him the same – there is a human there. He may have been the weak link and easily used by the enemy, but still a soul that Jesus NOT only counted among His inner circle of 12 – but Jesus made Judas. Jesus knew him before he was born and placed him here for such a time as this.
Please join us tomorrow as we continue to study and meditate on the Book of John.
***
I also wanted to remind and inform all of you, that instead of writing a book on fasting (since it is the topic I get asked the most about) I have created a Facebook group that is designed to be interactive and give you all the Bible verses on fasting, all the types of fast, and how to fast. In the group are specialist to help us along the way, like the creator of The Fasting Protocol (fasting for health and weight loss; which is part of fasting and important to know about – He can also speak to fasting in a healthy manner). The group is new and other experts are invited, I am hopeful they will join. So let’s join the group and see what we will learn about prayer and fasting. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/509149707741862
Thank you for reading in 2023 – a Year of Grace and Provision
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace. Walk in wisdom.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!
If Not For Grace 