Fresh

Bread

Volume 33   Number 18 May 3, 2009

        There is a song I heard about a year ago that keeps coming to my attention. The song speaks of what we have been hearing the past months in messages from 1 John 3:2: Beloved, now we are sons of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be... (indicating more to come), and 2 Timothy 1:9: ...who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. What God saw you doing before time began is expressed in the song, "You Raise Me Up."
        You raise me up so I can stand on mountains.
        You raise me up so I can walk in stormy seas.
        I am strong when I am on your shoulders.
        You raise me up to more than I can be.
        Our prayer should be: "Lord, make me more than I am." With that in mind, lets look at the prophetic word given in the Gospel of John.
        John 6:39-44, 48-51, 53-54: (Jesus said) "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." The word raise is "to set or place up again, to arise or be lifted up." (Read Acts 3:19-21.) "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." This can also embrace those who have died being raised from the dead.
        The Jews then murmured against Him because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will RAISE HIM UP at the last day." It is the Spirit of God who draws a person and calls him/her to be a person of the Spirit of God.
        "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."
        Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will RAISE HIM UP at the last day."
        We need to recognize that we are talking about more than just knowing about Jesus, but that Jesus Himself has become our life. Colossians 3:4 states: When Christ WHO IS OUR LIFE... This is a key to understanding the scripture about those who eat of the flesh of Christ and drink His blood. It is not a literal eating and drinking, but a realization of the body and blood of Jesus (Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-30). From the body and blood is a covenant people. This is a corporate raising.
        "For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. Again this speaks of Christ "who is our life."
        Ephesians 3:20-21 AMP: Now to Him who is able to (carry out His purpose and) do super abundantly, far over and above all that we (dare) ask or think (infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams) according to the power that works in us. To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
        Ephesians 2:6-10: (God has) raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boat.
        For we are His workmanship (His handiwork), created in Christ Jesus for good works (for greater works spoken of in John 14:12), which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. God wants us to understand that He saw us being and doing more than what we could ever think before time began.
        In Philippians 3:14, the Apostle Paul stated: I press toward the mark... Remember the mark on the wall you made growing up to measure your height? God has a mark on the wall with your name on it that is far above what you have thought of; this is the goal....for the prize of the high calling (or upward call) of God in Christ Jesus. The upward call is indeed what He called you to before time began.
        Our prayer should be: "Lord, You raise me up so I can stand on mountains. Lord, You raise me up so I can walk on stormy seas. I am strong when I am on Your shoulders. Lord, You raise me up to more than I can be." Amen.