Tagged: daily bread

“I am the Good Shepherd; the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” –John 10:11 “I am the Good Shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me.” –John 10:14 Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and we are His sheep. To be called a sheep is not a compliment. Sheep are sheepish, that is, backward and timid. Sheep can’t even eat grass without destroying the field where the grass grows. That’s one of the reasons they need shepherds to move them elsewhere. When Jesus called us “sheep,” He implied that we weren’t just weak but helpless. Without...

“Bow humbly under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may lift you high.” –1 Peter 5:6 John Mark, later known to the world as St. Mark, learned about the power of communal prayer when he saw Peter miraculously freed from prison through the prayers of those gathered at his mother’s house (Acts 12:12ff). John Mark learned about serving the poor and building unity between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians when he accompanied Barnabas and Paul on a relief mission (Acts 12:25). John Mark learned about spiritual warfare and his own weaknesses when he quit the first missionary...

“This man is the instrument I have chosen.” –Acts 9:15 The Lord often decides to work through people, especially members of His body, the Church. After the Lord knocked Saul to the ground and confronted him, He did not continue His work in Saul’s life as a solo. He called for Ananias to be instrumental in converting Saul (Acts 9:10ff). Saul then became instrumental in converting both Jews and Gentiles. The Lord also wants you to be His instrument. You are one of the Lord’s instruments in His plans to protect children in the womb from being aborted. You are...

“I Myself am the living Bread come down from heaven.” –John 6:51 Jesus said: “The bread I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). At the Last Supper, Jesus took the bread and the cup of wine and said: “This is My body,” and “This is My blood” (Mt 26:26, 28). When many of Jesus’ disciples broke away from Him because of such statements (see Jn 6:66), Jesus didn’t change His words or explain them away as figurative statements. The early Church realized this; therefore, they took Jesus’ words literally, as He clearly meant...

“The members of the church who had been dispersed went about preaching the word.” –Acts 8:4 The Jewish people loved God’s Word. God called them to meditate on it day and night (Jos 1:8; Ps 1:2). They considered it more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces (Ps 119:72). However, Christians were even more devoted to God’s Word than the Jews. After Jesus spent the day of His resurrection teaching the Bible for about seven miles in the afternoon (Lk 24:27) and for several hours in the evening (Lk 24:45), the early Christians got the message that God’s Word...