© 11 Colin Melbourne
The Food of Heaven
Father has laid out a divine feast, and invites us to have our fill of the Bread of Heaven.
To grow strong faith in Christ you simply eat His word, and use it. Mtt. 4:4 KJV
It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Invited and Chosen
You were drawn to the Banquet by the Holy Spirit, and having received Christ as Saviour, you have tasted that the Lord is good.
That was a foretaste of the riches of our inheritance in the Living Word.
A helping of First-fruit, with many more sumptuous courses to follow, each building the character of Jesus into you.
First there’s milk for babes, after weaning comes bread, soon the growing child is ready for meat.
In Christ’s Secret Food, we discovered what nourished God on Earth. He shared the secret in Jn. 4:34 KJV;
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Then he put believers on this special diet in Jn. 6:57 KJV;
As the Living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
By “eateth me“, He of course meant rely on His Spirit in your heart, and eat God’s word.
Take and Eat
“How do you eat God’s word?” You ask.
Just as you eat food.
You can sit at a dinner table looking at a meal all night long, but it’ll do you no good until you consume it.
You put it in your mouth, chew it over, swallow, then digest, and absorb it.
The meal becomes part of your body, it rebuilds, refreshes, and empowers you to work, walk, and play.
Spirit and Soul Food
Likewise, reading the Bible is of no benefit unless you ingest it spiritually.
Receiving the word into your heart imparts eternal life to you.
You embrace it in your heart, then renew your mind, so the word brings divine life to your spirit, soul, and body.
It is the life of Christ. Jn. 6:63b KJV;
…the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.
You are now able to walk with Jesus, and do the works He has prepared for you. Eph. 2:10.
The Lord’s Supper is given as a reminder of what real food and drink are, and how we have eternal life. The reality of the bread and wine emblems is the Living Christ in you now, your hope of glory. Col. 1:27b.
Perfected and Finished by Christ
The writer of Hebrews 12:2 KJV encourages us to partake:
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;
You understand that these are the eyes of our spirit, not our physical eyes.
We are not to gaze at idols of Christ, icons, crosses, shrines, charms and medallions. No, God hates idolatry because idols keep you from God. When you have the reality, you have no use for symbols, statues, candles, altars, and the clutter of religion.
He’s asking us to fix our spiritual eyes on our Captain, Leader, Author, and Saviour; The LORD Jesus Christ.
You do this by meditating on, embracing, and doing His word.
You comprehend His word, both from the Holy Bible, and from His Spirit in your heart. As you attend to them, something wonderful happens.
Almighty God gently perfects faith in you.
Use It and You Won’t Lose It
He starts each new born believer off with enough faith to understand the basic Gospel, and receive Christ as Lord. Rom. 12:3.
Then He nourishes His baby, and causes their faith to grow in leaps and bounds.
Next to the Bible, here is my most precious book. It does what is says on the cover. We are to have Ever Increasing Faith and Love, bringing ever increasing glory to the Lord of Heaven on Earth. Increase and abundance is the eternal plan of God.
Parents teach their toddlers to put one foot in front of the other. Soon the baby learns to walk, and then run.
It’s the same in the faith-walk.
As we put our faith to work and exercise it, we comprehend what real Bible faith is. We see Bible results, and our faith gets stronger. Heb. 12:2 KJV;
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;
The Greek word used for “finisher” of our faith is teleiotes.
Finisher implies one who guides the processes of growth to perfection.
Christ is the Creator and Author of our faith, He implants it by His word. Rom. 10:17 KJV;
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
He nourishes our faith in His word, and guides us to develop perfect faith, complete in Him.
All we have to do is co-operate; by eating His word, assimilating His word, and exercising our faith in His word.
© 11 Colin Melbourne
