Abide | Midyear Prayer and Fasting (English)Sample

The Word of God Is Like the Breath of Life

Read John 6:54–63

“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on 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 whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 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.”

Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 demonstrated God’s power to provide and the people’s continuing need for sustenance to live. Jesus showed them that though their perceived need was physical food, their greater need was spiritual nourishment, creating the opportunity for Jesus to reveal Himself as the bread of life.

Unfortunately, because of their lack of spiritual perception, the Jews misunderstood what Jesus meant when He further revealed this bread was His flesh and blood. This encounter caused many of them to no longer to follow Him. Our Lord, however, was making it clear that He was using the feeding on His flesh and the drinking of His blood figuratively for having a mutually abiding relationship with Him characterized by reliance on Him. Just as Jesus relied on the Father for life when He lived on earth, we too will also experience the life of God when we rely on and abide in Him.

Jesus explained that the flesh offers no help at all, implying that the limitations of the fleshly life, being caught up only by the temporal things of this life, will hinder us from understanding Jesus’ teaching. In contrast, Jesus’ words impart spiritual life, for as John 3:34 says about the Son, For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.

Similarly, in Jeremiah 15:16, the prophet responded to the Lord’s revelation, Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart . . . Jeremiah’s appraisal of God’s words was the same as Jesus’ appraisal of His own words, that to feed on Christ meant to feed on Christ’s words.

The Word of God includes His thoughts, feelings, and plans for us as revealed in the Scriptures.

This goes beyond the written word. When God’s word is spoken, it becomes life-giving. Romans 10:17 says, So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. The spiritual practices of confessing God’s word and praying the Scriptures, as well as the ministry of preaching and teaching, all help us in cultivating an abiding relationship with God.

Our response to God’s word, such as repentance, faith, worship, obedience, forgiveness, sacrifice, and giving, releases His Spirit to continually renew and transform us, making us fruitful for His kingdom.

• What is one hard teaching you have learned from God’s word? How did you respond to it?
• In what area do you need God’s Spirit to breathe life? Why is the flesh of no help at all?
• Do you speak, confess, and proclaim God’s word? How can you do this more beginning today?

“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.” John 6:63

Heavenly Father, thank You for speaking life to me through Your word. Thank You that through Your word, I can experience the fullness of Your love and joy. Help me to continue abiding in Your word as sustenance and nourishment for my soul. May I declare, confess, and speak Your word in every area of my life. In Jesus’ name, amen.