John 6:41-71
Tuesday, 06 June 2023
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”” -John 6:63-64
In John Chapter 6, Jesus presents Himself as the Bread of life (v.35). He presented this in the most striking manner by first feeding them (five thousand-men alone) with bread and then connecting them to the Bread of heaven- manna – (v. 32) which was vivid in their minds due to their Jewish roots!
However, many of them missed to understand the message that Jesus was trying to convey. Jesus stated: “I am the Living Bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread [believes in Me, accepts Me as Savior], he will live forever. And the Bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh (body).” (V.51 AMP). Jesus was speaking to them that He needs to enter in them, to be a part of their being, in order to fully reign in their lives.
John 6:63 in the Message version (MSG) reads: “The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don’t make anything happen. Every word I’ve spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-giving.” Every word that the Lord speaks is life giving. The full definition of life–giving means giving or having power to give life. In Genesis 1:12 we read : “And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind…” The seed has the potential to produce its own kind!
We who are in Christ have been “… born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever…” (1Peter 1:23). When we deposit His life-giving Word in us, it renews our spirit and transforms us more and more into His image. Jesus said in John 15:7: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” We understand His will through His Word and when we ask accordingly, it will be done for us.
Words carry power and more so when it comes from a child of God. Words spoken by men and women of God have the power to activate and bring life when they become mouthpieces of God bringing forth His words. We see that very much active through the words spoken through prophets! Brethren, knowing this principle, can we give serious thought to this aspect?
Are we imparting life by speaking the right life giving words?
Or
Are we imparting death through wrong words?
It’s our choice to speak good words or bad words having the right or wrong effects.
God Himself has warned us through His word why we have to be careful with our hearts and mouths: Matthew 12:36 “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”
Many a time we are prone to birth a sense of despondency and futility by our words—both, in us as well as in those around us. Let us eat of the Bread of Life so that we will declare life-giving words that bring grace to the hearer. Ephesians 4:29 “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to use in edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
To Act on: “ ……be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,” (Ephesians 5:18-19)