Word Count: 860

Contact Jerry Ousley

Directions for Prayer - Part 2 - Bread, Stones, Fish and Serpents

by Jerry Ousley  
9/20/2013 / Christian Living

I dearly love eating at Red Lobster. No, this is not a commercial for the restaurant, but I do so enjoy their fish, seafood and those delightful cheese biscuits. They make my mouth water just thinking about them. Of course, I've got a weakness for good food and especially good seafood! I also love steak and I suppose I'm in dining paradise when I can afford seafood and steak! But that doesn't happen very often. My wife has a nephew that is, well, a millionaire. He invited us to dinner once at a very exquisite establishment. Deb and I could never afford that and I feel a bit guilty about even sharing this, but our dinner was $75.00 a plate! Of course he paid. But man, I never ate a steak as tender and the scallops well, I didn't know they got that big! It was very good and we were extremely grateful, but unless he asks us again it will most likely be the last time we pay that much for a meal (oh yeah, we didn't pay, he did).

I've also had some experiences with rocks and snakes. I've thrown rocks, been hit by rocks, climbed rocks and picked up rocks. I picked up a rock one time and out crawled a huge yard snake. I know that they aren't poisonous but, man; they can scare you to death! I have never hidden my dread of snakes. A friend told me one time that if we fear something we should face it head on. Well, in most cases that's good advice, but I'll just call my relationship with snakes a dread instead of a fear, and we'll handle it by just staying away from each other. The snake can go its way and I'll go mine.

In Matthew 7:9-10 Jesus spoke about these four things. In so many words He said, "If a man's son asks for a piece of bread will he give him a rock? Or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent?" He was speaking on the subject of receiving from God. When we ask God for something, we have sought for it by making certain it is in His will and not a request out of selfishness, greed, or pride, and we keep on asking, or knocking, then God will give us an answer. We've said that God wants to give us good things. The point Jesus was making was that if we ask the Lord for bread, or food, will He give us rocks instead? There was another time in the Bible when Jesus had been fasting. He fasted for forty days and afterward was hungry. That's when the devil showed up. He told Jesus that if He were really the Son of God that He could simply speak the word and the rocks would turn into bread. Jesus didn't yield to that temptation. The devil gave Him rocks instead of bread. And the devil will always give us rocks instead of bread. But our Lord, when we are in need of food, will not substitute rocks for bread. He will supply our needs according to His riches in glory and He's got a lot of them.

On another occasion Jesus had preached and been healing the multitudes in the wilderness. The day had grown late and the people were hungry. There were five thousand men there that day, besides women and children. One of the disciples produced a young boy who had brought a few fish and cakes of bread along with him. He gladly gave those to Jesus and after He had blessed the food He began to break it into pieces. Miraculously not only were all those people fed until they were full, but they took up several baskets full of leftovers! Jesus didn't give them a snake instead of a fish. He fed them.

The point in all of this is that God will not substitute what we need by giving us rocks and snakes. Rocks will break our teeth and snakes will certainly bite us back. Our Lord won't give us gifts that are going to harm us instead of helping us. That's why when we ask for foolish things, vain things, trinkets and so forth often He doesn't grant them to us because they will turn out to be rocks and snakes.

But He will give us bread and fish when we have asked for them rightly, by His authority, to minister to others and to benefit the Kingdom of God. Many today have purported that God will give us all the riches we want if we'll just give to Him first (and that generally means that you give to God by giving to them). God can work that way if He desires. But He seldom gives us wealth just because we'd like to be wealthy. When we ask for what Jesus would ask for, those things that will build up His Kingdom, putting Him first, often He will give us what we have desired in our hearts. After all, He wants to give us bread and fish, not rocks and snakes.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! Click here and TRUST JESUS NOW

Read more articles by Jerry Ousley

Like reading Christian Articles? Check out some more options. Read articles in Main Site Articles, Most Read Articles or our highly acclaimed Challenge Articles. Read Great New Release Christian Books for FREE in our Free Reads for Reviews Program. Or enter a keyword for a topic in the search box to search our articles.

Enter comments below. Due to spam, all hyperlinks posted in the comments are now immediately disabled by our system.

Please type the following word below:

Not readable? Change text.

The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

Hire a Christian Writer, Christian Writer Wanted, Christian Writer Needed, Christian Content Needed, Find a Christian Editor, Hire a Christian Editor, Christian Editor, Find a Christian Writer