Monday | 08 December 2025
By applying ourselves to know and understand the proceeding word of God, we are eating the bread which comes down from heaven. Joh 6:51. This word will initially be sweet in our mouth, but then bitter in our belly as we walk in the light of the word and are processed by the word. Psa 105:19. We demonstrate that we are a believer and are fulfilling the works of God when we live in this way! Joh 6:29. Wonderfully, through this process, we are being established in the fellowship of the presbytery, and the word is becoming the expression of our life. This is what it means to be a firstfruits household. 1Co 16:15. We are able to express this word as a testimony to others. Notably, ‘firstfruits’ is a fundamental qualification for eldership. 1Ti 3:2‑7.
It is notable that the Lord equipped His prophets for their ministry by giving to them His word to eat. For example, the apostle John testified, ‘Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.” So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth”.’ Rev 10:8‑9.
It is important to recognise that our appreciation of the word, and even our agreement with the word, is not eating the bread of heaven. Highlighting the distinction between one’s appreciation of the word, and their application of the word through obedience, the Lord said to the prophet Ezekiel, ‘They come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain.’ Eze 33:31.
Further Study:
Genesis 22
References:
Joh 6:51
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.
Psa 105:19
Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.
Joh 6:29
Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.’
1Co 16:15
I urge you, brethren—you know the household of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints.
1Ti 3:2-7
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behaviour, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Rev 10:8-9
Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, ‘Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.’ So I went to the angel and said to him, ‘Give me the little book.’ And he said to me, ‘Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.’
Eze 33:31
So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain.