In this piece, we want to consider what has been titled: Rediscovering the Purpose and Power of Food. Before we continue on this discussion, I will like to ask you, are you hungry? Whatever your answer may be, a hungry man or woman requires just one thing if his physical state must change. And that is food. We want to understand as the Lord will be helping us, The Purpose and the Power of Food; the lack of which makes us to be hungry. Do we understand?
Now, let us go to the Book of Genesis, I am sure we still remember that we spent a good time on Genesis chapter one last week, so, this week, we will go to Genesis chapter 2. By now, I believe many of us are aware that we cannot avoid the book of Genesis. Genesis 2 verse 7 and from here we will read other verses. See what the Bible says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Man became a creature that began to do what the Creator has ordained or intended. Man began to function. Man became a spirit that began to move, that began to talk, and rule. Now look at it. Just immediately after that, the Bible says in verse 8 of the same chapter. It says: “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.”
So, the man that became a living being is the man that was formed. However, when a man is formed, but is devoid of food, the man will not function effectively. When a man is formed, and the man is not having access to enough food, the man will not be able to function effectively. Look at it, the man is formed, right? That is settled, you can tick that as already done. However, there is something that God formed a man for. God formed man not for fun, not withstanding, you can’t even have fun without food. However, that is not the primary intention. The primary intention is so that man functions according to the purpose of his creation. If man will function even though he has been formed something is important: Food.
Let’s continue to verse 9 because this is where we must learn something. Shortly after Bible says God planted a garden eastward of Eden and He put the man, the man that He has formed, So, there was an emphasis on “he had formed”, then immediately, the Bible says: “And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.”
Being pleasant to the sight is not enough, that is just for appealing. The primary purpose of food is not to catch your attention, but that you should eat it. The man has been formed, and the Lord knew, even though the formed man is already in the garden, he needed to eat. So, God decided to make provision for it. The Bible says, “God caused the trees to grow that is meant for his feeding.”
Now, let us continue that verse 9. It says: “The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden.” Now, if the Bible mention that God caused every tree to grow, and those trees are meant for food not just for sight; we should understand that those trees are expected to bear fruits. You wouldn’t be feeding on the leaves all your days. You will also be feeding on their fruits. The Bible has already made us to understand that it was God who caused all the trees to grow, and in the same garden, there is the tree of life, and you ought to also understand that the tree of life, also bears the fruit of life. And the Bible also add, “and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” So, there was a tree too, of which the fruit it produces gives knowledge of good and evil. So, there were trees, and all of them were meant for feeding. But we will soon discover more. I know we are familiar with subsequent verses, but let’s move to verse 15, see what the Bible says: “Then the Lord God took [d]the man and put him in the garden.”
If we were to stop the reading of this verse at this point, what would you see as a difference between verse 15 and verse 8? But see the difference as we read further: “to tend and keep it.” So, responsibility was given to the man, that is the difference. He was not just formed; he was strategically placed in the territory of his responsibility. They say: “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” Let’s look at this, all work and no food make man a dead man. And we must write this down in our hearts as much as possible. Working without feeding will lead to death. It looks literally basic, right? But that is the truth. It carries much more inside it. So, since God does not want man to die, see what God did in verse 16, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.”
So, we can see that eating is not the consequence of the fall of Adam. Eating is not a punishment, because sometimes, I am tempted to think that eating is a punishment; I wished my wife could be relieved of the responsibility of cooking for me every day. As she brings the food again and again, you are like saying, “Again!” “Weldon, my wife.” But eating is not a product of the fall. Eating was an original plan of God. God said, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.” You need it; if you don’t eat you will die. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” You will also notice that the Bible didn’t mention of the tree of life in the verse 16 and 17, there are many trees in the garden, and also the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Lord God said, “Eat of every tree.” If there are 1000 trees, eat of all of them, but out of them, make sure you don’t eat of this particular tree: “Of the knowledge of good and evil.” Imagine out of 1000, God said don’t eat from only one tree. Eat from 999, but don’t eat from just only one. This look like one portion of the Bible in the Book of Jeremaih where the Lord God said, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.” Imagine, God is intending to find where your rest will be in and you are like saying, “I would not walk on that path.” It then means, in your refusal, you don’t want to indict God in your falling should you fall, why? You have disobeyed a direct instruction.
That is why preachers that preach on tithe often use this example, “God has given you 100, and He is asking you for just 10%, yet, it is the little 10% of God that you are still struggling to eat.” “You have taken 90, and the whole God who is bigger than you is taking the share of 10, yet you want to drag the 10% with Him.” You know that is our attitude. Do we understand? God gave all the trees, but He said don’t eat this one; eat from all trees but don’t eat from this one. We have already said, working without eating will lead to death, but see the other side to it: “For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” So, death comes from not eating, yet death comes from eating the wrong food. Why food is meant for a man to live, a wrong a food will make a man to die. It looks like a simple English, but that is the truth. By the same means we live, by same means we die. We live by eating and drinking, yet we could also die by eating and drinking; it depends on what you are eating, it depends on what you are drinking.
So, the moment God finished forming man, He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, “Man became a living being.” Man begins to live, and if the life will be sustained, God said, “Eat!” However, if you eat from where you are not supposed to eat, you will die. Now, man was made a ruler, man was made a king, but as mighty as the crown of royalty was upon the life of Adam, he didn’t fall by great things. He fell by the same instruction, the small thing that we could call feeding. That is why we are Rediscovering the Purpose and Power of Food. Food is a necessity, and yet powerful. Let’s go to Genesis chapter 3 and we will begin to read from verse 1. See what the Bible says: “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
From your knowledge of English, does that sound or look reasonable? How could God who want them to eat also say, “They should not eat from every tree?” Like, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat out of the 1000 tree of the garden’?” While in reality, God has said, “Freely eat from the 999 trees, but don’t eat from one.” But see how the devil started — confusion! Creating obvious confusion. “And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” So, the woman added additional information; something else, another layer. There is so much mystery in eating: “Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.” God said when they eat of it, they will “Surely die.” But the serpent said, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
From all the errors and the deception of Satan, one thing is obvious, there is power in eating. You know the devil deceived them, but in all his lies, there is something he couldn’t hide from them: “Eating is powerful.” “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So, eating can transform you; you could become a different person by just eating. It only depends on what you eat. The food you eat could change your attitude, your disposition to life. You can eat and want to give up in life, yet you can eat and want to hope in life — it depends on the food. Let’s continue on verse 6, the Bible says:
So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings
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The serpent said, “Their eyes will be opened,” and their eyes were opened. So, in the many lies of Satan, there are some things he can’t hide. But he does not emphasis on those things, he only emphasizes on his own, things that brings you down. It is true that, even if one has the intention of twisting the truth, he has to first say the truth that he wants to twist. But something is important that I want us to notice. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes; let’s leave the two cases for now, there is something else I want to show you. It says: “And a tree desirable to make one wise.” What kind of a tree can make a man wise? And what part of man is the place or part of wisdom? Please, can you take a look at ourselves, your activity of eating before now, since you have been eaten apple, or any kind of fruit, have you become suddenly wise or wiser? Better still, since you have been eaten rice, was there a day you finished eating rice, and you noticed you were wiser after eating?
Don’t forget, our focus is on food, and I want you to know that this particular food is not the kind that settles in your belly. It is a food for you, but this one is not for the belly, because it carries the ability to make one wise. Wisdom is in the realm of the spirit and the soul. This is not about a food for belly. Don’t just restrict it to something that you swallow; it is not meant for the belly that settles, and you just go ahead to drink water. It is food you received into yourself, that changes you from within. It makes you to have new perspective to life, it makes you think differently, and to behave differently. Don’t forget, when Jesus came up on the scene, His first message was, “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand [change your thinking]”. Change your thinking; when man fell, man changed his thinking. Man disobeyed God, did what God have not asked him to do, and his thought was changed.
Do you still remember the story of king Nebuchadnezzar? The moment his mind was altered, he began to live lesser than who he was originally or previously. So, when Adam ate, his thinking was altered. He began to perceive life differently. The Bible says, “And his eyes were opened.” And the things he didn’t see before, he began to see them. He began to see life in different light, different from what God told him. He began to read meaning to every Word of God. “God said this, maybe, the reason God said this, it is because He didn’t want me to have this or that.” That was the pattern that the serpent introduced to them. Look at it again, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” “God does not want you to be like Him, that was why he told you not to eat.” Giving a new meaning to what God speaks.
The Word of God is no more direct to you, it is no longer plain, you begin to give the Word of God, the figure of speech that suit your deceptions. You begin to relate with the Word of God carelessly. When God says, “You will surely die”. You would say, “Maybe God is speaking the opposite.” A man that went to have sex with a prostitute that is saying, “Maybe it will not be HIV”. They say, “Smokers are liable to die young.” But you are saying, “Maybe it is not dying young, it is dying old”. You begin to twist every instruction you receive upside-down. That means your eyes are opened. If you are reading this piece right now and you have had the experience of smoking, you would remember that the moment you are done smoking and drinking, you will begin to see people, things, and matters of life differently. Your eyes were opened. It is also commonly said in Nigeria that, “Man needs shine his eyes”. And if one would shine his or her eyes, definitely, he needs to shine it with something. In yourself, you cannot shine your eyes except a substance comes in. It is either the particular substance comes in as a liquid substance, or gas substance, or spiritual substance. But that is food; whatever comes in, is food. It is either is food for your belly, or food for your soul, or food for your spirit. A food is food; whether it is belly food, mind food, or heart food, but without it, death would be the result. Yet, wrong food to the belly will cause death, wrong food for the mind will cause death, and wrong food for the heart will also cause death.
Look at it, the same serpent that came to Eve came to Jesus. I don’t know how many times the serpent has come to you. If the serpent didn’t change up to the time of Jesus, I don’t think the serpent will ever change. As the serpent came to Eve, it came to Jesus, I am sure it has come to many of us in the past. The serpent said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God [if you are a believer], this stone that you carry up and down, see them around you, see opportunities everywhere, turn it to your marital survival, turn it to your family survival. All the guys around you; can’t you take one as your husband?” But see what Jesus said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone [jobs, husband, wife, or money alone], but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’”.
God feeds man, and He must be my food. When the Word comes from God, it will not land on my belly, it will land on my soul, it will land in my spirit. Yet, His Word is food indeed. Let your mind digest this very thing. After man fell, God came, and He began to communicate with Adam directly. Let’s go back to Genesis chapter 3 verse 17, see what the Bible says”
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
When the ground was cursed because of man, man was not forbidden from eating. As necessary as eating was before the fall, eating will equally be necessary after the fall. God only said, “In toil you shall eat” but definitely, you shall eat. See the sequence, when God wanted to curse the ground, God cursed the ground, yet God said man must eat. Whatever the earth is able to produce for you, you must eat. You must eat the herbs, and you must eat bread. Even in the punishment of man, man was destined to eating. We can’t avoid it, we need it. But we will defer on the kind of things that we set our eyes upon to eat. Have you noticed apart from some people that have big stature that are different, no matter what some people eat, they wouldn’t get fatter, except that they would be fresh? Some people even if they only drink Garri (casava product), they will still increase in weight and stature.
But on like few instances, most people have stature based on what they eat. When a politician enters a banking hall and you were there, things that are noticed easily are the wears, the fat belly, and the fact neck. It is rare to see a politician who has been long in the act to be thin, except the person is just starting out. In a nutshell, what is our difference? It is eating, and what we eat, what we drink. Physically, we are different, because when a politician entered a banking hall, you wouldn’t see his spirit. What you will see is his body, that is why I started with it. When some politicians are eating ‘swallow’, you know how many pieces of meat that will be before them, I wonder how they chew all those things, but they put them there. Yet some of us are fine with 1or 2 pieces of meat. Do we understand? But whatever they are able to eat, they go into their bellies, and their bodies process them, and they are reflected in their physical look. Now, let’s skip their bodies, and move to their souls.
When a politician entered a banking hall, you would see his soul by his attitude. His words, and the way he looks at people, and the way he responses to treatment, and the way he treats others. Is he or she moody and facing himself/herself alone? All of that could be determined by the soul. Yet, what would determine the state of his soul, is what he had fed the soul with over time. So, when you enter into the same banking hall, the food you have eaten over time that has got into your soul, will make a difference between you and that politician. I was at a banking hall in one of the towns in Abuja, after a while I had been there, stressed-up from standing, I just turned and saw a spokesperson of Mr. President there. He was initially quiet, and I was already clapping hand for him in my heart, before I knew it, as others who were on the queue were kind of making some sounds of complain, the spokesman was also enjoying it. He starting telling the people not to worry, they would soon be attended to. Then he now came to our line, he saw a line, an adult, he then asked a question, which was almost like a foolish question that he shouldn’t have asked. He wanted us to allow him to go to the front, yet he was telling us to be fine. But he asked a question that, “If we really want to be nice to him, we should let him go first?” yet he still wanted to stay at the back. This thing has nothing to do with the belly, it is about his soul; his will, emotion, and mind. Do you understand? If the way he behaved was not good enough, it was the result of the kind of food that had got into his soul overtime.
Let’s quickly look at this example in the Bible, once upon a time, Jesus and His disciples wanted to pass through the city of Samaria to Jerusalem. And the Samaritans didn’t receive them well, because Jesus had set his face to another place. Then John and James, the sons of Zebedee, took it upon themselves, and they said to Jesus, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven just like Elijah did?” Imagine, they just came for evangelism, and the people refused to become born again, and they said, “Sir, our Lord and Savior, the Son of God, do You want us to destroy them, just as Elijah destroyed those people?” Then the Bible said, “Jesus rebuked them and said to them, you don’t know the manner of Spirit that you are of.” This has nothing to do with whether they eat bread or butter. This was food for the spirit. Now, what produced the outpour was accumulation of teachings of old, I don’t want you to think that Jesus didn’t do His work well, no, He did. Jesus fed them well.
People often say, “If a fish is dried, it will be difficult to bend it, if u don’t want to break it, you leave it”. But thank God for the Holy Spirit, what the Holy Spirit did was to soften them. He made them come alive again, so they became bendable. They had received the Old Testament, and they already had this impression that they could burst out in anger at any time as long as it is for God. Jews in those days could kill anyone because they were doing God’s service. For anyone to be able to kill in the name of Jesus, it means such follower of Jesus is a strange one. But they could kill people because they don’t want to follow God. Do we understand now? It is all a matter of food for the soul, food for the spirit.
But see now, God concluded on the list in Genesis chapter 3, He started with the literal farming, then moved on: “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” Bread is not an agricultural food; it is a processed food. Let’s see more about processed food in the Book of John chapter 6 from verse 32, see what the Bible says, “Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Do we realize that we stopped with bread, now, we are starting with bread? In the Old Testament when man fell, God mentioned that man would eat bread.
Before we take it spiritually, let’s have it in mind that the purpose of eating bread, both the one that is processed and the one that came from heaven, is so that man lives and not die. Jesus was taken then from the known to the unknown, from something they were used to something they were not used to. So, when a man eat bread that is made from wheat, the man will not die, the man will live. But Jesus now wanted to introduce something else that they needed. As if they were doing well with the food for the belly, Jesus met them at the state where their bellies were daily serviced. Their bellies didn’t lack daily supply, but that was not true for all parts of them — their bellies were okey; everyday they ate. Yet they were not living as supposed to live.
So, to change the way they were living, Jesus needed to change the food they were eating, and the places they were eating to or from. And Jesus said unto them, “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” “Jesus, give us this bread always because we want to live always.” What is this bread? “And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life [I am the bread that will make living possible for you].” The bread that you get when you mix flower, yeast, sugar, water, egg, and the rest ingrediencies, makes you to live in the flesh; the man of the flesh. But what profit have you gotten by being a man of the flesh? There is a need for you to step up; awakening a part of you. We have established that if you don’t feed yourself, you will die, right? But what if you are feeding yourself, yet you are not feeding your soul and spirit? It will look as if the person is living, but he is a living dead man or woman.
Let’s read further in John chapter 6 verse 35 to 40, see what the Bible says:
“And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will [f]by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” “And this is the will of GOD, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life.”
The question is, how can this life be possible? Don’t forget, you wouldn’t have long life on the earth as human in your city, in your village, or in your community where you are living, if you don’t eat food every day. Even if you are fasting, there is a time, you will start needing water. So, if the perfect will of God, is that people; you and I, and everyone in the world, should have everlasting life, and they should have it by seeing the Son, and believing in Him; the question is how will that be? Already Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” So, the people must not just see Jesus Christ as any of those people they see, they must see Him as the Bread of life. They must see Him as the One whom God has raised up for their feeding and survival. So that anytime they want to live, they go to Him, and feed on Him to live. And if only they could do that, then they will have a life that will never end.
The Bible says, in the days of the Garden of Eden, there was in the midst of the garden a tree of life, and if the tree produces the fruit of life, if man were to keep feeding of the fruit, would it not keep producing perpetual life? That was it. At that time in Eden, God ordained man to live forever, and the way to do it, it is by going to the tree of life and continue to feed on it. Since we cannot find the tree of life in our streets and neighborhood anymore, the Lord who does not want us to die, or to keep living the life of mediocrity, or as subjects to the elements of this world. Don’t forget, if you can eat bread and butter, you will have life physically, right? But that only makes you a prey in the hands of the mighty, a laborer in the hand of a slave master, a prisoner who only need to be fed to work, not fed to rule. Not fed to reign.
There is no prison in the world that the inmates are made to be hungry, it would be a burial ground. So, the prison authorities know this and they provide basic food for survival so that the prisoners will in turn be useful to the society. They will not eat to stupor or serious creativity; they will eat merely to live. So, God who is not content with us merely living, so we don’t become prey to our enemies, and captives to the mighty, He needed us to have a new life in us, a life that is above circumstances and that is truly a living life. So, he made provision for the sustenance of that life in the Bread of life. This one is not the bread of ‘Oyingbo’ or ‘Agege bread’ or Cambridge or Oxford bread, this is the bread of life that come down from heaven and it is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ.
So, every time you feed on Jesus, we are not talking about Moses now, every time you feed on Jesus, we are not talking about Karl Marx, Plato, Socrates, or Aristotle. Every time you feed on Jesus; you have His life in you that makes you to be above circumstances, not that you really want to be above, but the food makes you to be above. The Bible says, “Who is he that has the redness of eyes, is he not the one who tarries long at wine joint?” So, you drink wine to a point where you seat there, you stand up from there, your eyes changes, you become a man that can see differently. Why? You sat so long; you drank wine for too long. So, you sit at the feet of Jesus, you hear Jesus speak to you. You hear Jesus respond to your questions; you hear Jesus raising a song in your heart. You hear Jesus addressing personal issues, national issues, family issues, you hear Him daily. What happens is that He changes you, He turns you around, He changes your mindset. You no longer see life the way everybody is seeing life. Why? You are feeding on Jesus.
Something happened the day Jesus went to greet two sisters; Mary and Martha. Martha thought within herself that she needed to feed Jesus, and her only problem was that she wanted to feed Jesus. And all that Jesus came to do was to feed her. Instead of Martha sitting at the feet of Jesus feeding on Jesus, she was cooking; and hoping that by the time she had brought food for Jesus, she would be appreciated, whereas, the food she needed to live was Jesus. And she took it upon herself to make a demand from Jesus:
Don’t you care to send my sister out of that idleness, or waiting on you?” “Why wouldn’t her join me in the kitchen so we can do this cooking quickly?” “And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.
She has found the real thing. The real thing is a man or woman sitting down to learn or feed on Jesus. Why you could think that going about doing the work of ministry is the main thing, Jesus is showing us that feeding on Him is actually the main thing. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” Have you not realized that the will of God is that man should have everlasting life? Jesus said it in John chapter 10 verse 10: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” He is still pointing us to the fact that He came down from Heaven; He was sent by the Father, there is a reason.
When the children of Israel were on their way out from the land of Egypt, they would have died if God didn’t rain down manna from heaven. That kept them alive, but Jesus told them that as much as that was a great sight for them, that didn’t produce everlasting life in them. And by the way, the manna didn’t even come from Moses, it came from God. Now, God who sent the manna has a new plan now. And the plan is that, “You all may feed on the son, and live.” Is it not the same thing with what we have in John 3:16? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. There is always the place of believing. You can’t eat what you don’t believe in. When we say, “we are selective in food that we eat”, it is because we don’t have faith in all foods. We don’t want to die. I believe we also know the reason why our noses are above our mouths is so that we can smell before we eat. So, sometimes we smell certain food and we don’t want to eat them.
The purpose of Jesus coming is so that you and I can live endlessly. We can live differently, we can live really and if this will happen, we must feed on Him. As physical foods inform the appearances of the people, as the food you eat can alter your physical appearance, the food you feed your mind with, the food you feed your spirit with can alter your destiny, it can alter your attitude, it can alter your vision. You can see better simply by feeding on the right word. Now, if we want to help ourselves, we can say: “Jesus is the bread of God that came down from heaven.” We can again say: “Jesus is the Word of God from heaven.” So, feeding on Jesus is feeding on the Word. Anytime you read or study your Bible with the attitude that you want to feed on Jesus, what are you doing? You are gaining life; the life of God is infused into your system. You will begin to have a different attitude.
What do you think made John the beloved who said, “Do you want us to call down fire from heaven?” to be transformed into the man of love, who was preaching love? For his faith, he was thrown into a boiling oil, yet he didn’t deny his Master. What changed him? Don’t forget, in those days, there were times they didn’t know how to pray. They said: “Master, teach us how to pray.” But let us not assume that they have received all the Word of Jesus at that time. There were many times that they didn’t believe in what Jesus was telling them, so it is not just about seeing Jesus, it is in believing in Him. We say it there, in John 6, that anyone who sees the Son and believe in Him may have everlasting life. That you tell yourself “I behold Jesus daily” does not change your life. That you say “you have been born again for long” does not make you a better person. Until you come to the place of believing every word of the Lord Jesus to you, you will not change.
Now, if you have been a believer, a man of God or a woman of God, and then when people offend you; you offend them back, you would say, “You do me I do you; you hit me, I hit you back.” Then you suddenly come to a point when Jesus is now telling you, “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” The person will just respond to Jesus, “Jesus, this does not work in our days again, people will just turn you to foolish person.” Please, when we are reading the Bible and hearing this kind of message, don’t ever think like “me, I can never say that”, go to some places like Warri or some parts of Nigeria that they don’t take nonsense. Are you saying I should allow everything to slide, don’t you think “People will just be taking advantage of me, making fool of me?” By so doing, we disobeyed, and we disbelieve.
The Bible says, “the Word that was speaking to a certain people, was also spoken to another group, but the Word didn’t profit one group as it profited the other group because the word did not mix with faith in their heart.” So, it is not enough to be in the church, is the Word mixed with faith in your heart? The things you hear, the things you see, do you believe them? “We cannot but speak about the things we have seen and heard and have handled of the Word of life.” So, has the Word of God come to a place in your life where you see the Word, hear the Word, and handle the Word? You feel the Word, if it comes to that, the Word will change you. “We all with an unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and we are changed into same image from glory to glory.”
But what happens? It says: “We behold with an unveiled face.” The preceding verse says “the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.” Liberty to have an unveiled face. The Spirit removing the veil from you. You don’t only see the Word; you believe the Word you see. What the veil does is that, it hinders your capacity to believe what you see. You are told that it is possible for you to live like this, and this, and you are like saying, “Hmn, all these things, they look like things that should just get us excited, but they are not really real ooooo.” But you believe it, and that is why your life is not like the life the person doubting the Word. Do you believe the Word of God? If you do that, you shall live, and you will experience the power of believing.
“Man shall not live by bread alone.” Man shall not possess his destiny, possess his possessions by bread alone, but by every Word that is spoken by the Lord to you.” So, God speaks to you, you believe in it and that settles it. That becomes your experience. The Word of God becomes flesh in your life, the Word becomes everything you need. The Word becomes joy, peace, grace, life, riches, glory, power and blessings in you for life and godliness, why? Because you have believed, you don’t only read the Word. You don’t only see the Son; you believe in Him. In believing, we have life, not in seeing Jesus alone. When the people said to Andrew and the rest, “that we may see Jessus”, that was the beginning, that is not enough. You see Him to the point that you believe in Him.
When we remember the Book of Romans, it gives us the process, the stages. Do we remember that place in Romans? How can the people believe? They will not believe until somebody preaches to them. how will somebody preach? Somebody will not preach until somebody is sent. Do we see the process? The most important thing is that people call on God. That is actually the number one, but they cannot call on God that they did not believe in, and they cannot believe in Him if they don’t know Him, and they cannot know God unless somebody talks to them about God, and they cannot tell anyone about God except they themselves have been sent by God. That is the layer.
The primary intention of God is that you may believe Him and that belief will produce everlasting life, eternal life - the living life; not the dying life, the living life, the unending life, the ruling life in you. That is the purpose of God. I want to see Jesus. Not alone, I believe in Him.
Amen!
