Week 19  
I am the Bread of Life
John 6:32-35, 47, 49-51, 58 NIV 
Exodus 16:4 NIV 
Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.”

You may recall in Exodus 16 the story about God’s supernatural provision of manna in the wilderness as Israel fled Egypt and went after God’s promise. Jesus refers to this in John 6. He then goes on to explain that He himself is the Bread of Life. He Is God’s daily supernatural provision to sustain us as we leave the captivity of the world and go after the promise called eternal life. 
I work in historic Old Salem, where I teach children about 18th century life. We have a couple of bake ovens in the district. One is fired up to bake 90 loaves of bread daily and the other once a week. 18th century adults consumed around one pound of bread per person, per day. That’s a LOT of bread! But the amount of physical labor needed to survive in a remote community required more calories than someone could hunt down. 

If I’m going to live a powerful spiritual life I’m going to need my daily bread, Jesus, the bread of life. It won’t be enough for me to eat the stale bread of yesterday.