Cross Way Publication's Newletter for July 2009
Cross Way Publications Monthly News
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Poem of the Month
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Eating the Word
BY: Catherine M. F. Camarda
I held on to the Bread of Life;
A Word consumed that commanded no strife.
I tasted the taste of fear and trembling,
which was to be done without murmuring.
It feed the depths of my soul;
it satiated my fears of death and getting old.
It fortified me, now secure-
I need not worry nor fear no more.
For to eat these Words is a Heavenly place,
worldly hungers were gone without a trace.
I'm now fit to run that good race.
For Jesus lives in my hunger's place.
He is my Bread, my Water and Brother,
all cares of this world are trivial and no bother.
For He renews my soul and my mind,
opens my eyes to where I was blind.
So, with reverence, service and gratitude
I ate the Words that gave my life fortitude.
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Scripture of the Month
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John 6:45-59 45 It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 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." 52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" 53 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. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever." 59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
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Quote of the Month
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Jesus came to provide the "true" bread. The word, alethinos, means "genuine" or "original." Material bread sustains physical life. But human beings are not merely animals. True bread must sustain the inner life that exists when biological life ends. And Jesus is the one and only source of this life.
Richards, L. (1990). The 365 day devotional commentary. Includes index. (774). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.
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Notes From Cross Way
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1. A special note of thanks to Gabriele Embry, Laurie Jenkins, Linda Reich, Chris DeMint, Clyde Watanabe and Bernetha Wise for their financial support of this ministry this month. I pray that the faithful investment you are making in this ministry will be multiplied a thousand times over in the eternal reward you will receive at our Lord's return.
2. I placed a little code on the site that will tell you the number of your poems that are in our database. Just go to your update page and click on "View My Poetry" and this information will be shown at the top of the view box on the right hand side of the page. Thank you Raymond for that suggestion.
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This Month's Devotional Thought
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The True Bread
When we read and study God's word the Holy Spirit becomes our tutor and we become students of God.
Notice verses 45-47 45 It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
What we are looking at in this passage is not so much the initial action of salvation when we are remade into new creatures in Christ through His indwelling but the continuing action of sanctification which causes that new life to grow in us. Being taught by God does not refer to a single occurrence it is an ongoing action in our lives and it produces rivers of living water that continue to cleanse and bring eternal life on a daily basis.
We also need understanding.
The following is a little something I wrote last week:
$get_poem_res = mysql_query($get_poem);
$numresults=mysql_query($get_poem);
$numpoems=mysql_num_rows($numresults);
echo "You have $numpoems poems currently in our database";
Some of you who are reading this newsletter will recognize the language of PHP. By placing this little snippet in the right spot in the code on site our poets will now be informed as to how many poems they have stored in Cross Way Publications database. In order for me to write this I must have a basic understanding of the computer language of PHP. Not only must I know the language I must also understand the workings of the language. I need to know where to place the command and what the command will do in order for it to accomplish the desired result.
The same thing is true concerning the scripture, unless we have the mind of Christ or the understanding of Christ we cannot understand the truth of the word of God and it will not result in wonderful and mighty act of sanctification in our daily lives. Eph 1:15-21 tells us 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
In order for me to understand the language of PHP I had to consume it and make it a part of my being. The same thing is true concerning our understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ. We must consume Christ and allow His Spirit to become a living part of us. This will result in eternal life that will flow through our bodies and we will know How real life operates because of it. This is not just a one- time consumption but a continual daily feast. If we do not continue to consume Christ and allow His power to flow through us daily we lose the ability to understand the work and will of God.
The understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ is so much more important than the understanding of anything else in the world. Christ tells the multitudes in verses 48-51 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 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."
God gave the children of Israel the manna in the wilderness but it only sustained them in this life and they died. Notice the parallel Christ draws between the manna and His flesh. Did the children of Israel just go out and gather the manna one time have it sustain them through forty years? No they had to go out each day and gather it. It kept them physically alive but each of them died. It only nourished their physical bodies and had no effect on their spiritual bodies.When we partake of the body of Christ, through prayer and Bible study, eternal life flows through our veins. We receive eternal benefits and nurishment for the spiritual part of our body. In order for Christ to help us and keep us spiritually strong however, we need to feed on this bread of life daily.
Look at verses 53-58 "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. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever."
Christ is referring to a continual action in this passage. When he says he who eateth me or he who feed on me He uses a word in the Greek which gives the connotation of something that occurs over time and with continual use.
When I began to understand the PHP language I was able to write little snippets of code and could make the neat little sayings come up on the screen as time went on and I began to understand more and more of the language I was able to many more things with the computer. And in the end my understanding gave me the capability of setting up an internet ministry with a site that is used by hundreds of people every day. This ability also comes with responsibility. I have to be involved in the understanding of PHP on a daily basis. There are those out there who are constantly trying to invade the site and use it for purposes that will dishonor the name of Christ so I must continually be writing code to stop their efforts.
The same thing is true in our consumption of Christ. If we stop feeding on His Word we will begin to lose faith in Christ and will start to accept the teachings of the world as truth and the enemy will invade our lives and use us for purposes that will dishonor our Lord and Savior. So salvation and our understanding of God through the Word of God comes with a responsibility. We must feed on the Word on a daily basis so that its power does not fade in our lives. If we fail to do so we will die spiritually and sin will reign in our lives.
The importance of feeding on Christ is so much more important than anything else we may wish to consume because it results in eternal life. When I die or become incapable of understanding the language of PHP Cross Way Publications will cease to exist unless the Lord raises someone else up to carry this ministry. My belief and understanding of Christ however will carry me through to eternity where the work that I have done on this earth will see its true reward.
Ask yourself this question. Which is more important, the sustaining of my physical life for 100 years or less on this earth or the sustaining of my spiritual life that will go beyond the 100 years and last for eternity in the presence of God. His flesh is available to us in His written Word?
Does the living bread sustain you?
Jerry
