Bread of Heaven

Break Thou the Bread of Life,
Dear Lord, to me,
As Thou didst break the loaves
Beside the sea;
Beyond the sacred page
I seek Thee, Lord;
My spirit pants for Thee,
O Living Word.

– Mary Artemesia Lathbury

But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4

In this passage, Jesus quotes from the book of Deuteronomy where Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. God sought to train his people that manna from heaven is far more satisfying than the sweet bread of earth. What a generation failed in for 40 years, Jesus fulfilled in a 40 day fast. A 40 day fast can feed you with bread from heaven to shorten the span of testing in your life and break the cycle of temptation and failure. Oh! You want bread from heaven!

My flesh has had a love affair with donuts for years. It seems that whenever I start to fast, donuts appear in their pretty little pink box that morning. I immediately find myself thinking, “I will start my fast at noon.” You may have already been tempted on this fast, or even failed, but according to the Psalmist, one word from God is sweeter than the honey and the honeycomb.

I will never forget when Jesus revealed in His word to my spirit concerning who I was in Christ. For weeks I feasted on the book of Ephesians. I found that Jesus is truly living bread. During this fast, I’d encourage you to pray for a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God (Eph 1:17). Instead of cooking and eating, you now have all that time to read and ingest the word of God. Fasting is not only abstaining from food, it is feasting on God and His word!


Prayer

“Guide me, O Thou great Redeemer,

Pilgrim through this barren land;

I am weak, but Thou art mighty;

Hold me with Thy powerful hand:

Bread of heaven, bread of heaven

Feed me till I want no more.

Feed me till I want no more.” 

-William Williams