“Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4 

We all have needs. Some are related to money and others are emotional. And, we all have desires.

God has been speaking to me about this subject for a long time. Many nights I am awake for hours listening to God.

Last night God healed a woman living in the Midwest with a kidney failure.

God has the ability to meet your every need and bless the deepest desires of your heart.

Jesus tells us to seek Him first and He will meet all of our needs.

Unfortunately, we all know from experience this doesn’t happen with consistency and it seems like an up and down cycle with God. 

This is because we have a misconceived idea of how God fulfills His promises.

Walking with God is a journey and it takes many years to fit into the symmetry of His plans.

If you ask Jesus today to cover you with His blood you can then pray with confidence for strength, wisdom, joy and protection. These attributes of God will be given to you immediately. 

However, when it comes to praying for your materialistic needs it is a completely different situation. 

There are different seasons of life with God. They all planned to mold you into the character of Christ. There will be times of abundance and times of lack. 

God wants you to live by faith trusting in His promises but He has a much deeper goal in mind. 

God wants all of you! He wants your total commitment to Him and your obedience to His voice. 

God also wants you to reach out to Him for your every need without complaining about your present circumstances. 

We tend to forget who God is the midst of the troubles of life. 

We become fixated on our troubles and lose sight of the character of God. 

The attributes of God are power, greatness, glory, victory, and majesty. He has power and dominion over the heavens and earth. And, God exalts Himself as the head over all.

God knows you better than you know yourself. He is also omniscient and sees every detail of your future. 

God knows exactly how you will respond when He answers your prayers or delivers you from adversities.

God has two purposes in mind regarding your prayers. He wants to bless you while bringing glory to His name.

The workmanship of Christ is designed to create spiritual maturity and unyielding faith in believers so that nothing in life can effect your relationship with God. 

Without faith it is impossible to please God!

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” John 6:26-27

This is a complicated subject because Jesus wants you to seek Him out with all your heart and He promises to provide for all your needs. 

The challenge is to examine your priorities in walking with Jesus.

The setting for this story begins the previous day.

Jesus preached to the crowd and then fed five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. 

The next day the apostles took a boat and crossed to the other side of the lake. The people were confused because there was only one boat and Jesus did not depart with the apostles.

Later that day Jesus walked on the water toward the boat and was picked up by His disciples.

Many of the people who witnessed the miracle of Jesus the previous day took boats across the lake looking for Jesus. They eventually found Jesus and asked him how He got to the other side of the lake? 

This provoked the response from Jesus in the text above. Jesus confronted the people over their motives. Jesus said you saw the miracle that I performed feeding five thousand people and your primary concern is looking for Me to give you food and the necessities of life.

Then the people asked Jesus “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus responded you must believe in the One God has sent to you. He has the seal of approval from God!

Jesus went on to say “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.”

This entire narrative deals with your priorities in a relationship with Jesus. The gift of God is eternal life. This comes to those who believe in Jesus.

The priority for a Christ follower is to seek out the will of God for your life above all else. The necessities of life will follow your decision to live for Jesus. This priority will never change. 

As a Christ follower you walk with Jesus by faith believing in His promises. Your goal is to know the Living Christ. This happens through prayer, meditating on the Word, listening for the voice of God, and yielding to the Holy Spirit.

The Living Water is the life of Jesus. He lives in you!

“Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.” Romans 4:4-5

The concept of bargaining is the idea you can do something for God and then He is obligated to bless you. Nothing can be further from the truth.

This concept died with Jesus on the Cross. 

The Old Testament was built on a series of laws given to Moses by God. This was a method of living prescribed by God. The Israelites were required to keep these laws in order to be blessed by God. 

Unfortunately, no could keep these laws. 

The laws were perfect but the Israelites were born with a corrupted inner nature (like you and me) and could never match up this standard of living.

The Israelites were God’s chosen people but they failed Him time and again. 

God was aware of this dilemma from the very beginning. He knew that no one could please Him through works or laws. 

God had a perfect plan to overcome this disfunction between Him and all humanity.

He sent Jesus, the son of God, to the earth to be a sacrifice for sin and to restore believers to God.

God knew this plan would work perfectly for all those who make a decision to live for Jesus by faith. 

The gift of salvation is based on faith and cannot be achieved by good works or keeping laws.

There is no obligation on the part of God to bless you because of anything you do for Him. 

Bargaining with God is a waste of time. You must submit to God and live under His authority through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus responds to all those who walk with Him by faith. And, He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him out.

“Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.” Proverbs 16:3

Today you and I are going to vacillate between yielding to God and self. 

You were born with a selfish nature and this condition will never leave you. 

If you develop a habit of yielding to self to satisfy a specific pleasure it will eventually become a bondage and Satan will have a stronghold over your life. 

How can you control the lusts of the flesh and the desire to satisfy yourself?

The solution is the Holy Spirit. He lives in you and knows you better than you know yourself. His ways are perfect!

The Holy Spirit wants to satisfy your desires while operating under the will of God. He will prevent you from crossing over the line into a life of darkness. 

This delicate balance comes through prayer, listening to the voice of God, and a sincerity in your heart to please God. 

God wants to give you more than you ask or think but you must learn to be patient and wait upon Him.

Make the Holy Spirit your best friend. He speaks for God!

God determines how much He will allow you to see of Him. There are times He is very close and times He is very distant.

There are some things you can do that will motivate Jesus to share His presence with you.

Open up your heart with a commitment to live for Jesus above all else. This is not about doing things; it is a willingness to submit to His authority. God is not looking for perfection just a sincere desire to seek His will in your life.

I hear many leaders in the Body of Christ speaking about the importance of abandonment to God. Abandonment is not a static condition with God. This is impossible for anyone to achieve. 

Abandonment is an ebb and flow relationship with God that will vary depending on your emotions and the conditions in your life. Abandonment is not about sacrifice; it is about a steadfast devotion to God. 

Walk with Jesus by faith reaching out to Him for your every need. This is a lifestyle of believing in the promises of God regardless of the circumstances in your life.

The cornerstone to a relationship with God is built on faith. Your faith will determine your outcomes with Jesus. 

Develop a strong prayer life with Jesus and listen for His voice.

Meditate on the Word of God. It is life changing. 

Invite the Holy Spirit to have authority over your life. He is the life of Christ and wants to teach you the values of Christ and improve the quality of your life 

God wants your obedience above all else. When Jesus instructs you to do something comply even though it might make no sense to you.

Ask Jesus to cover you with His blood and be open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Commit your works each day to God and ask for His thoughts to guide your pathway.

Praise God at all times! When your life is in turmoil and God seems silent respond with praise and thanksgiving. This is a strong indicator of your faith and greatly pleases the heart of God.

He lives so you can live!

“Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.” Romans 5:18

The word from God today is unabashed. 

The definition of unabashed is not embarrassed, disconcerted, or ashamed.

Adam fouled up life for all humanity and Jesus corrected this transgression on the Cross.

God is holy. You and I stand condemned before God. We are unclean and God wants nothing to do with us.

This gap between you and God can only be reconciled by Christ Jesus. 

The blood of Jesus allows you to be justified with God and offers you the gift of salvation.

The Cross enables you to stand in the presence of God shameless of anything in your past.

Walk with Jesus by faith abiding in the work of the Cross. The upside of the Cross is the Holy Spirit. He lives in all believers and is the resurrected power of Christ Jesus.

The life of Jesus comes to all those who submit to the authority of the Holy Spirit. And, this life gives you freedom from sin, the efficacy of God and the ability to be a powerful witness for Jesus! 

The word from God today is “pretentious”. 

This is a behavior of attempting to impress others by making excessive claims of your importance or standing in life. 

This is usually a person with low self esteem.

The world is attracted to those with a pretentious personality. They envy the rich and famous.

If you are a Christ follower your sufficiency for life comes from God. There is no need to boast or attempt to impress others through your lifestyle or talents.

Humility comes when you see yourself as God sees you! This revelation is life changing. You see your impoverished inner condition and realize you have no hope for life without God. 

The Christ follower has the Holy Spirit sealed inside him. This is the life of Christ and He is more valuable than anything in the world. And, He creates your self worth. 

Walk with Jesus by faith yielding to the Holy Spirit and you become a humble and powerful light for God!

The word from God today is denigrating the nature of Christ. 

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.” Psalm 22:1-2

The definition of denigrate is to criticize unfairly or to disparage. It is a sense of casting dispersions on the character of God.

Why does God suddenly decide to disappear in the life of a believer? 

Christianity teaches you about the unconditional love of God and how He blesses the lives of His people. 

They create a fantasy about the reality of God and how He works in the life of a believer.

When the rude awakening of God comes into the life of a “born again” believer he is dumbfounded and disillusioned about God. Just like the words of David in the scripture above; you cry out “Where are you God”?

Facing the reality of God is unlike anything taught in our churches.

Jesus defies human logic and is unpredictable in His ways.

The challenge is to recognize God is like a wrecking ball. He destroys all things that get in the way of His plans. 

What you might think is holy in the eyes of God is probably of no value to Him.

Jesus wants your obedience to Him above all else. And, He will shake up your life to get your attention.

The maelstrom of God taking place in our world today will not abate. It will become worse.

Your security blanket is in the words of Jesus. Accept Jesus without compromise.

There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is destruction. Do not accept religious cliques or watered down versions of scripture. 

Walk with God by faith anchored to the Holy Spirit. 

Listen to the voice of God! Worship Jesus in Spirt and Truth. 

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life! His ways are perfect. 

This is about finding symmetry with God and how to integrate Jesus into your life.

This is a difficult topic because you are dealing with a God who does not think or act like you and operates in unpredictable ways.

Jesus lives in heaven and sees everything about you. You cannot touch Him or change His plans.

The only way you can live closely with Jesus is through His Spirit that is sealed inside all believers. The Spirit speaks to you and is the source of all the attributes of Jesus.

Jesus is impervious; He never changes. So if you want a relationship with Jesus you have to be willing to change.

Jesus is omniscient and knows every detail of your future. This is why you need the wisdom and protection of God.

Jesus wants you to walk by faith believing in His promises. He wants you to reach out to Him for your every need.

The difficulty in walking with God comes when troubles arrive in your life. 

The troubles will come whether you are a believer or not. 

However, believers seem to think they are immune from troubles or God will solve their issues quickly.

Actually, God brings the troubles into your life to test your faith in His promises. It is easy to love God when all is well but not so when your life is in turmoil.

At times, we feel like God has forgotten about our needs and does not really desire to respond to our prayers. Nothing can be further from the truth. Jesus died to give you an abundant life. 

Faith is believing your help comes from the Lord who created the heavens and earth. Faith never gives up!

There are different seasons in walking with God. And, there will be very difficult challenges at times. 

Never judge Jesus by your circumstances. Judge Him by His promises!

You cannot put a timeline on God. Jesus will respond in His perfect timing to deliver those who live by faith and are obedient to Him.

The Word of God for today is “compunction”.

This is a feeling of guilt or anxiety that happens when you do something wrong. It can also be a warning or quickening from the Holy Spirit to avoid amoral behavior. 

Compunction deals with your moral scruples. If you are a non believer the laws of God are non existent in your heart and you are more likely to bend the rules of morality.

As a Christ follower, the Holy Spirit lives in you and He is the judge between right and wrong. 

The Holy Spirit does not condemn a believer; He convicts you of sin. 

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus will set you free from the law of sin and death. This is why it is so important to be anchored to Jesus through the Holy Spirit. 

The Christ follower is dedicated to the work of the Cross. He prays for the blood of Jesus to cover his sins and asks the Holy Spirit to convict him of any wrong doing. 

We all have a range of feelings. The challenge is to submit your feelings to God and pray your feelings will not lead you astray from the will of God.

It is impossible to stay morally on track with God unless you are walking in oneness with Jesus anchored to the Holy Spirit.

Jesus lives so you can live!