I want to share with you a secret the next few weeks that will liberate you and give you access to everything you ever wanted in life as a believer. You must desire Jesus more than the solution to your problems or what He can give you.
John 6:30-37, “Therefore they said to Him, What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? [31] Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ˜He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” [32] Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. [33] For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. [34] Then they said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always. [35] And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. [36] But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. [37] All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
We want the bread to be the bread and not some kind of metaphor for God. When I am in debt, I want money. If I’m facing a hard circumstance, I want a solution. If I’m in a hard battle, I want victory. If I’m hungry, I want bread. I want God to provide all these things. All the while God simply wills to provide himself. Jesus is the answer. And the answer might not involve a windfall of money to get out of debt or a solution to the problem or a victory in the battle. That’s a problem. Most people don’t want Jesus as much as they want His help.
Jesus knows that, He said, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill” (v. 26).
We mostly want the provision, not the Provider.
We want Jesus to HELP us more than we want Jesus to HAVE us.
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
The irony is that those who have Jesus have everything. Therefore, seek the Son. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1John 5:12. It didn’t say He that has miracles, signs and wonders, but he that has the Son.
The Psalmist, one of the sons of Korah, captured what our pursuit should be. Psalm 42:1, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.” We should chase God rather than goods.
King David realized the problem we all have. He discovered that the reason for his unfulfilling life and sinful tendencies were the focus of his pursuit. He knew he had to change. So, he prayed this famous prayer in Psalm 51:10-11, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. [11] Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy spirit from me.” Now, he wanted God, he wanted the Holy Spirit, he wanted the presence of God more than anything else. His focus had changed from things, pleasure, etc., to the pursuit of God. This is the purest desire anyone could have, and it is the highest demonstration of maturity.
Notice that the only thing that pained Jesus most on the Cross was when the Father turned His holy face away from Him because of the sins of the world He was carrying. Mark 15:34, “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He treasured the fellowship of the Father more than anything else. He did not mind the pain, but He was crushed by the temporary separation from the Father.
Our pursuit must change from the physical bread to The Bread Of Life, Jesus. Our focus must shift from provision to the Provider, from goods to God! From gold to God!
Someone called me recently to ask for prayers. She has serious spiritual attacks that manifest in weird ways. Demon spirits were appearing to her and assaulting her physically. She told me she has gone to so many churches but no help. I asked her if she has given her life to Christ, she told me she belongs to other religions and would want to stay that way but that all she wanted was for Jesus to heal and deliver her. I’ve met people who want the miracles of Jesus but not Jesus Himself. They want the miracles, but they don’t want to be saved. They don’t want any relationship with Christ. And those who are saved are not interested in any serious intimate relationship with Him.
Jesus can solve our problems, and many times He will, but this is not His primary concern. Jesus most cares about becoming our life, our hope, our love, our desire, our joy, our all-in-all.
True maturity does not come from pleading for answers to our prayers, but from desperately seeking the One who answers.
Let’s say you are building and you go to Dangote to help you with a few bags of cement and he says, ‘show me your site and I will come and build your house for you’, will you insist on having the few bags of cement or will you gladly accept him to come? Many people are choosing a few bags of cement rather than the manufacturer and builder.
What Are The Benefits Of Choosing Jesus?
We are going to look at a few examples.
Abraham:
Abraham chose God rather than his ancestral gods and home. He chose God rather than holding on to the son he waited for 25 years to have. Everything good chose him! He became the father of the faith movement. Faith is a movement, a system that guarantees amazing results.
I discovered that faith is not so much about trusting God, it is about choosing Him!
(To be continued next Sunday…)
Bishop Dr. Charles Olowojoba is the General Overseer of Dayspring Bible Church Worldwide with HQ in Abuja, Nigeria & President, Dayspring Christian Ministries Int’l.
