God's Holy Spirit Spiritual Food - A Must for the Growing Christian
Spiritual Food - A Must for the Growing Christian
We all know the story. Just after Jesus got baptized, he went into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. After this it is only natural that he would be hungry and a bit weak. The Devil now took advantage of this weakness to try and tempt Jesus.
“Then the Devil came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, change these stones into loaves of bread.’ But Jesus told him, ‘No!’ The Scriptures say, ‘People need more than bread for their life, they must feed on every word of God.’” Matthew 4:3-4
Jesus was not falling for that at all. Despite the fact that he was hungry, he refused to bow to the Devil’s wile. Satan tried other strategies to get Jesus to bow to him, but they did not work. Jesus’ every response contained the words “ the Scriptures say…”
This is what is meant by ‘feeding on every word of God’. Jesus was very familiar with the Scriptures and thus was able to beat the Devil at his own game. When we fill ourselves with spiritual food we can fight off any temptations or negative elements that may come our way.
So how do we go about feeding our spirit? Through prayer and bible study. Let’s take a brief look at each.
Prayer
Prayer is simply talking with God. It is not just asking for things, but keeping in constant contact with your Master. Even though God knows what is going on with you all the time, He still wants you to interact with Him.
Jesus always made the time to pray to His Father. Throughout the Gospels, you will notice that He would slip away to somewhere quiet for this. He even instructed His disciples to do the same.
“But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly.” (Matthew 6:6)
Spending quiet time with God is important in developing a quality relationship with Him.
Bible Study
Next we have bible study. As we saw earlier, Jesus was able to defend Himself against the Devil by quoting scripture. Having a good knowledge of the bible is the main course in our spiritual menu.
There are many bible reading plans that can help you read the entire bible in a year. This is good as trying to read the bible from beginning to end can be a bit intimidating.
Devotionals are another tool that can help you get familiar with the bible.
Some other methods to help you feed your spirit are:
- Reading religious books and magazines
- Listening to Gospel and other inspirational music
- Watching uplifting and family oriented movies
- Attending church regularly and spending time with quality people who can help encourage and guide you on the right path.
- Using the internet wisely. There are many social networking sites that cater for Christians. There are also forums, chat rooms and other web sites that are ideal for the Christian.
As Christians we need to be strong both physically and mentally. The Christian life is being threatened daily by those who are against the faith. We must be consistently nurturing our spiritual life to properly defend it. Also, as Christians, we are continuously growing. We need spiritual food in order for us to stay healthy spiritually.
