Spiritual Manna for Man

UV 1780/10000 Spiritual Manna for Man
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Deuteronomy 8 v 3

Unless we hunger for Jesus, He is not the Bread of our life. Unless we hunger for the Word, it is not our Bread. Unless we hunger for Jesus every day of our lives, He is not our Bread. Unless we hunger for the Word every single day as we would for necessary food, it is not our Bread. The Word is our daily bread to be eaten often every day and not cake that we eat only on special occasions. Jesus is the Manna for man from heaven. His grace is sufficient to meet all our need every day and in every situation of our lives. We are humbled and broken through our earthly suffering and only when we are broken like bread do we realize that it is not the physical bread or food and drink that is most vital for our well being but the Word that God feeds us with. Every word that God speaks into our lives has power to heal, to deliver, to bless, to satisfy, to multiply, to preserve, protect and promote us. Our every spiritual as well as mundane need is met in His manna. To use the Word that we already know and have applied is bread but to receive a new word every day is fresh manna. We need to receive it before our active day or schedule begins so that the sunlight or the heat and pressures of the day does not spoil the manna.

The Israelites fed on manna from heaven for the entire forty years they wandered through the wilderness till they reached the promised land. They did not have to store it up for the next day indicating that we should not be insecure that our future needs will not be met. The Word will direct our steps from within so that our paths are in sync with the Lord’s plan and will for our lives. The promised land for us is not the physical land where we stay, work and move but it is the presence of the Lord. It is our personal and intimate bonding or covenant relationship with the Lord. When the divine grain or manna is internalised or understood and applied or obeyed, it sinks roots into the subconscious and begins a deep and transformative work in our lives that will make us spiritually fruitful. The first chapter of the Bible speaks of formation while the rest deals with transformation.

The use of the words, “ does not live on bread only” is an admission that we do have physical needs, we do have financial needs. But the more valuable bread is our spiritual bread. It is more valuable than our necessary food. So much so, we may go without food but we should not forego our daily manna. It is not bread meant only for our maintenance or prosperity or peace but for our transformation. It alters our destination as well as the road we take. It transforms our character and makes our spirit God-like. It is food as well as the best medicine for our souls. It is our direction finder, compass or GPS. It is our map. It is our plumb line. It is our spiritual sword. This very uni-verse is quoted by Jesus when He was tempted by the enemy to turn stones into bread to satisfy his hunger at the end of a forty day fast. Ironically, it will turn our stones or obstacles, barriers, impediments into implements, solutions, blessings. The Word is the precious eternal oil that burns in human hearts as we await the return of the Lord to claim His own. The activism, the dynamism, the reality, the true-to-life yet promising a fairy tale ending, the versatility of the Word makes it superior to the manna that the Israelites consumed for forty years for that manna only sustained their bodies but did not prevent them from rebelling, from disbelieving the promise of God and the words of His servant Moses and Aaron. But we should not end up obtaining intuition from God and taking tuition from the enemy. We need to depend on the Holy Spirit to ingest and digest every grain or every syllable of the Word. Last weekend I was glad to receive confirmation from the Lord that the Word that I send out daily in a pre-digested uni-verse capsule brings satisfaction, relief and comfort to many who are in the pangs of spiritual hunger, in panic and pain in many nations. It heals them like a panacea, the Balm of Gilead of many ills.

Prateep V Philip