CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 887

“Not by Bread Alone”

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna … that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

Jesus was hungry after fasting for 40 days and nights. (Matthew 4:2-4) That is when Satan tempted Him to ‘take matters into His own hands’ and satisfy His hunger. Jesus responded by quoting our reference Scripture from Deuteronomy. God will let you and me hunger also. He will allow us to experience hunger for anything that we have come to rely upon in place of Him so that we may know that we live not by the things of this world but rather by every Word of the Lord.

We all have survivalist tendencies to some degree. In the extreme, there are those among us that could literally be placed in the middle of a wilderness area equipped only with their wits and intellect and they would manage to survive off the land. They know how to recognize real food that will nourish them from the counterfeit food that would poison them.

The Word of God is our spiritual food. It nourishes our soul and empowers us to live by the Spirit rather than by our physical desires. The Word of God is real food and we need to learn to recognize it from the many false, nice sounding doctrines that abound today.

Far too many of those who profess to be Christians simply do not take an interest in studying God’s Word. They are content to be spoon fed small morsels during Sunday services, trusting that what they are being served is real food. They will believe virtually any doctrine stated by anyone who prefaces their statement with ‘God’s Word says…’ This is especially true if the statement is appealing to their worldly desires.

Bank tellers are trained to identify counterfeit money by repetitiously handling real money. Similarly, the more time we spend reading and studying God’s Word, the better able we become in recognizing the counterfeit.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

…but test everything; hold fast what is good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

What are you hungry for that the Lord has allowed you to be denied for a season? This time of fasting from what you desire and hunger for is a time to go deeper in your relationship with God. It is a time to satiate your hunger and thirst with the real food and living water of the Word of God. This is the season of preparation and the Lord will see you through it and bring you into a ‘good land…in which you will lack nothing’. (Deuteronomy 8:7-10)

May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)