Living By Bread Alone

Matthew chapter 4:4

 “‘…I shall not LIVE by bread alone, but by EVERY WORD that proceeds out of the mouth of God..."

I used to wonder why Jesus gave this answer to the devil, but I am glad to say that I now understand the meaning of these words - live by your own means apart from God and you will find yourself snared by your own pride and weaknesses.

What we can do will never compare to God's grace and mercy. We want to be the hero in our fairy tale, we want to believe that we can do it all by ourselves, but most fairy tales show the hero receiving help from above to vanquish the evil villain.

We can make bread, we can buy the ingredients from the grocery store, we can mix those ingredients,  put it in a baking pan and bake it in the oven. But, what if the bread in the pan does not come out the way that we expected? Can we unmix the bread and start all over again? The Lord says, live by my word, allow me to guide you from the depths of your heart, and you will live a successful life…

You may hear that if you don't have everything that your heart desires, you will never be happy, but God is telling you right now, if you do not have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you actually do not have anything at all!

Money can be spent and it will never return to you, gold, diamonds and fancy cars can be stolen.  Love is the only thing that will never betray you, I mean the love that exists between Jesus Christ and His people in the Body of  Christ. He loves us so much that He died on a cross, a humiliating brutal death reserved only for the criminals of that time; those who died on a cross were thought as cursed, forever separated from the presence of God.

He took our sins upon Himself, because we could not save ourselves. Once you understand why He did what He did, you will realize that you need His help and His love to survive, that is true for every man, woman and child upon the face of the world - accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, for He is your only hope.

Prayer of Salvation:

Lord Jesus, come into my heart right now - I know that I cannot live this life anymore without you. I repent of my sins, please forgive me for denying your love for me and I accept you now as my Lord and Savior...AMEN

What Do The So-Called Righteous Believe?

 Matthew chapter 19:16-22

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony,  honor your father and mother,’[c] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”

 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth...

What do the so-called righteous believe?

A pretender talks about what he has done to be good, and a believer talks about what Jesus has done to set him free…




The so-called righteous believe that they can be saved because they are ‘good’. They believe that the key to entering heaven’s gates is that they live a ‘good’ life. What does God see when he looks at these people? He sees their deaths and their destruction.




Why doesn't God see anything good in self righteous people? He sees their fallen human nature, He sees their pride in living a ‘good’ life, how they love to soak up the compliments of the people around them, who see them as righteous, but if those same people could see their hearts, they would fall back away from them in horror.




Everyday, 'good' people lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery, become addicted to pornography, do drugs, and engage in criminal activity; they live their lives just like everybody else. They believe that their good deeds for the church will save them from the pit of hell, but what they don't realize is that they have already been assigned to the pit of hell because they will not allow Jesus to come into their lives and cleanse their hearts…




You know these people - they are conservative politicians, tv evangelists, well known pastors of huge churches, the elders in your church, ‘Mr Goodman’, the one in your church that everyone looks up to. These people live in your neighborhoods, they are involved in various community outreaches and programs. They will tell you that they tithe and give huge donations to christian charities.



Many people go to them for help or for advice - they are believed to be very spiritual, yet the Lord knows the real status of their hearts. They are filled with religious rules and traditions, but there is no room in their hearts for the one who created them…




They believe in Jesus Christ intellectually, but they do not believe it in their hearts. They became members of a church or joined some religious foundation without professing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.




What is worse are the people who have professed Jesus Christ publicly, yet the words that they professed have never really touched their hearts. That is why the Word of God states that we must observe a person’s character and actions to see if they truly believe what they profess.




You cannot truly understand completely what is in my heart, and I cannot fully understand what is in yours. Only Jesus truly knows who His children are, and there are some truly excellent pretenders in the christian world today. We have no right to judge a person’s final destination. Today they could be walking down the path to the pit of hell, and tomorrow you could find them in the church, confessing their sins and asking Jesus Christ to come into their hearts. We must be patient and allow the Lord to do the work that is needed to touch everyone’s lives and then to give His love that goes straight into their hearts.



This is one way that you can tell if someone is a pretender or a believer - ask them about their lives in Jesus Christ. The pretenders will give great speeches about how good Jesus Christ is, and they will tell you how good they have been. They will boast about their good deeds or their wealth, but they will never say anything about how Jesus Christ has changed their hearts or their minds.




A true believer will never talk about money or good deeds, they will tell you a simple story about what Jesus Christ means to them. They will speak from the abundance of their hearts, they will tell you love stories about Jesus, because they are in love with Jesus Christ. They know that Jesus loves them with all of His heart. They may not have a lot of money, in fact they could be poor, but they will be filled with satisfaction and joy, because they know that the God of heaven knows them. When you are loved by the God of heaven, you will never feel insecure or inferior compared to what other people may have or what they do.




The key is love - does the person love Jesus or is their focus upon what Jesus can do for them? That is the world’s focus, and so many people in the world are destroyed and sent to the pit of hell because they believed all of the devil’s lies; their focus was always upon getting money, power and influence. Those things never satisfy for long, and you cannot bring anything that you achieve in this life into the next one except for the love of Jesus Christ that resides in your heart.



What must you do to be truly saved?

Accept the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart right now, confess your sins and repent of your past ways, and ask Him to forgive you. He will enter your heart and change your whole life. What is more important, money or love? Your answer to that question will determine your eternal fate, so please consider your answer thoroughly before you give it…

Prayer of Salvation

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Jesus Name I Pray, Amen.

Our Gift From God

 “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground…”

— Isaiah 44:3 (TSB)

God responds to your needs and to your faith. Only those who are looking for God will find Him. Most people are seeking fame and wealth; the words of God sound good to them, but they are not interested in being transformed by them. If you are hungry for love, peace, and righteousness, then you are on the right path towards salvation.

If you are dry in your soul, you are probably sad, distressed, and disappointed in what life has to offer, but if you seek the Lord Jesus with all of your heart and desire to become a citizen of the Kingdom of God, you will find what you have been looking for. You will find peace, joy, and contentment in His presence. God will never turn away the poor, the broken hearted, or those who are looking for Him.

The proud people are not looking for God, they believe that their money and possessions are all that they need, but seriously, the elites of the world are the poorest people in the world. They have nothing of true value, they cannot bring their money or their possessions into heaven. The Egyptian royalty of the past tried to bring everything that they had into the afterlife, and what became of most of their possessions? Thieves stole them and most likely lived the ‘good’ life with the vast resources of these ancient kings.

No  one has anything that they can give to God to use as payment for their salvation except for their belief in God’s son, Jesus Christ. If you are not willing to believe in God’s love for you or in His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, then you are truly the poorest person in the world. How can you refuse to receive this free gift that comes directly from the heart of God?

You believe that you can live without God in your life. You have no use for the creator that made you, and yet even though you have everything that you could possibly want or need in this life, you are still not satisfied with what you have, you are constantly looking to get more. It is no wonder that you are not sure why you do the things that you do, because the path you walk on is filled with fear, grief, and confusion.

Maybe it is time to consider God’s gift of love to all of mankind. You have tried everything else, what do you have to lose? Ask God to forgive you for what you have done, and then accept Jesus Christ into your heart…

“Lord Jesus, I am so sorry for all of my sins. Please forgive me and come into my heart right now…”