Eating Yourself Out Of The "I-Know-Who-You-Are-But-I-Don't-Really-Know-You" Relationship

I was reading in John 6 yesterday. I stumbled upon the verse where the disciples ask Jesus to give them the bread of God that Jesus describes as "he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

Who is the bread of God?

JESUS. He declares this in verse 35: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

Well obviously, you must be thinking. This is no surprise.

But when I read this verse once again, for the fifty-seventh time I'm sure, something struck me. I was reminded of the Lord's Prayer. Here's the excerpt from it that hit me:
"Give us today our daily bread (Matthew 6:11)."

I immediately connected this 'daily bread' with Jesus' declaration of Himself being the bread of life. Simply put: The Lord is the bread and we NEED the bread daily in order to remain spiritually nourished.

It's just like maintaining a healthy diet by utilizing the food pyramid - we need grains, fruit, vegetables, proteins, dairy, and a teeny tiny portion of fat. If we cut off intake of any one of these food groups, we will lack important vitamins and minerals we need to stay healthy.
When we don't get our daily dosage of "spiritual" bread, AKA Jesus, then our relationship with God will stagger. Look at it this way: If you look like the perfect Christian on the outside - you lead worship every Sunday morning, you volunteer at youth group, and you go to Bible study on Wednesday nights with your friends - but you do not spend any extra one-on-one time with the Lord, then your relationship with Him is weak. Your roots are thin and withered.

You may be connecting with God other times, but the Lord desires to be sought after. He wants you to actually set aside time for Him out of your crazy busy schedule just to soak in His presence. He is a jealous God!

I'm not trying to convict you of anything. This is something I've been struggling with ever since I gave my heart to the Lord. When the Lord delivered me of a past relationship and started to heal me emotionally, I finally started pursuing the Lord in my own time. Before that my Christian life consisted of Sunday morning services and youth group every once in awhile (and only because my mom made me attend). My "relationship" with the Lord wasn't even a real relationship. It was an "I-know-who-you-are-but-I-don't-really-know-you" acquaintance. Super awkward, right? Like a familiarity with that person in your Psychology class who sits beside you and you hold "small talk" every class period, but every time you see them elsewhere it's just plain awkward because you don't know them that well. That's exactly how it is with the Lord when you aren't scheduling time out of your own day for Him!

This school year has been incredibly transforming for me. The Lord pulled me up out of the muddy pit I was treading in, washed me, and now I feel like I can begin to climb the mountain towards the dream God has called me to. It's not easy. The devil likes to deter my journey by thrusting obstacles in my way; and I learned that it will take a lifetime to reach the top of the mountain. But learning how to spend time with the Lord daily - maybe only a simple 5-minute prayer or quick read-through of one of the Psalms - that dramatically impacts my day. I can wake up cranky and tired from getting only five hours of sleep and go to class with a negative attitude, or I can jump out of bed and dig into the Word. One little verse can bring a flood of encouragement to spark my day off on the right note. It's too cool how God speaks even in the mere seconds we give Him.

Bread is becoming a vital component of my spiritual food. I love worshiping and fellowshiping with other believers, but if I'm not devoting a portion of my day to just talk with God in my own time, then how can I grow? Relationships aren't built unless both sides take time investing in one another.

I want to become intimate with the Lord. I want to desire him constantly. I know that He abides inside of me and is my Friend, but I want to dedicate extra time just to get to know Him more. And not only times that fit into my schedule well. ALL THE TIME. A constant connection. I will "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8) by "eating" the bread that never goes out of stock.

What's Your Junk?

I read a verse this morning.
Or, a passage more specifically. Luke 11:37-53 — It’s about the six woes that Jesus pronounces on the Pharisees.
The verses that stuck out to me were vs. 39-41: “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.’”When reading this verse, it is first important to take in the historical context at the time. I can’t help but apply this passage to my own life, though. Our lives are just like a cup. Jesus set up the perfect analogy for us. Although we may clean the outside and make it look like we have everything together with our job, our family, our friends, our money, and our relationship with Jesus Christ, many times we are still broken and hiding things on the inside.
The inside is disgusting, but no one sees it from the walls we create to shelter them from the truth. We don’t want them to see our secret side; our lies and weaknesses that pull us further away from the Lord.
For me, I’m definitely not clean on the inside. And I don’t think anyone is. As Romans 3:23 says, “…for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…” We all have goop inside that hinders us from becoming one with Christ.
But hey, guess what? God is a God of grace. He LOVES us, and pours down his mercies upon us even when we walk in darkness! He doesn’t care how far we’ve fallen from him. Though we walk in the valley of death, the Lord is always there to pick us up and let us start fresh again in our relationship with Him! :-)
Isaiah 1:18 says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be washed as white as snow…” Hey, that’s something to rejoice about! The Lord is our Redeemer and Savior.
Reflecting on what I just said, I look at my own life. I look at the things I’m hiding inside from everyone else. I look at my prayer life. Although others have commented on how strong of a prayer life I have with the Lord, honestly, it’s hardly there. Prayer is one of my weaknesses. I confess that.
But the Lord has definitely been working on that this year with me. During Encounter (an evangelistic outreach ministry at my college), God laid on my heart to stay back for prayer. I was like, “What God? Are you serious?” But, out of a listening heart, I stayed back. And whoa, did God totally blow my mind! He set a flame in my heart for prayer!Ever since them, I’ve been working little by little to keep feeding that flame. I’m on Ninedays Prayer Team at my school, and God has also presented me with awesome opportunities to pray. Guess what those are? My 40-minute drives to work. Everyone thinks I’m crazy for driving that far out to work, but honestly, I don’t care! I get a chunk of time to praise the Lord and be steadfast in prayer. A time of silence where I have no other distractions. It’s AWESOME. :-)
So that’s one of my confessions. I don’t have it all together. But even though I’m still a broken and wretched human being, I still belong to the Lord and I want to glorify Him in everything I do. I think it’s the passion and drive that matters. The Lord loves a heart that is on fire for Him!
Now I challenge you to look at your cup. The inside of the cup. What are you keeping there that no one else sees? What do you need to surrender to the Lord and let him take control of in your life? Don’t be afraid. The Lord is a God of mercy and compassion, and He will always, ALWAYS accept you and love you as His child.