SOUL SUSTENANCE
BREAD
16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty. Jeremiah 15:16 (NIV)
11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you… 20 My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times… 103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalms 119:11, 20, 103 (NIV)
28 My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word… 43 Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws… 81 My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word… Psalms 119:28, 43, 81 (NIV)
165 Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. Psalm 119:165 (NIV)
18 When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O LORD, supported me. 19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. Psalm 94:18-19 (NIV)
5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. Psalm 62:5-6 (NIV)
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Psalm 23:1-3 (NIV)
2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. Isaiah 55:2-3 (NIV)
1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD. Isaiah 31:1 (NIV)
3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3 (NIV)
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 (NIV)
20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Truth must enter into the soul, penetrate and saturate it, or else it is of no value. Doctrines held as a matter of creed are like bread in the hand, which ministers no nourishment to the frame, but doctrine accepted by the heart, is as food digested, which, by assimilation, sustains and builds up the body.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“The words of God which you receive by your ear, hold fast in your heart; for the Word of God is the food of the soul.” Gregory I
“Ecstasy and delight are essential to the believer’s soul and they promote sanctification. We were not meant to live without spiritual exhilaration, and the Christian who goes for a long time without the experience of heart-warming will soon find himself tempted to have his emotions satisfied from earthly things and not, as he ought, from the Spirit of God. The soul is so constituted that it craves fulfillment from things outside itself and will embrace earthly joys for satisfaction when it cannot reach spiritual ones… The believer is in spiritual danger if he allows himself to go for any length of time without tasting the love of Christ and savoring the felt comforts of a Savior’s presence. When Christ ceases to fill the heart with satisfaction, our souls will go in silent search of other lovers… By the enjoyment of the love of Christ in the heart of a believer, we mean an experience of the “love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us” (Rom. 5:5)… because the Lord has made himself accessible to us in the means of grace, it is our duty and privilege to seek this experience from Him in these means till we are made the joyful partakers of it.” John Flavel (1630-1691)
“A little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but a lot of faith will bring heaven to your soul.” D. L. Moody
“There are such difficulties in the way of our salvation as could never be overcome but by that grace of God which is almighty. ‘What is impossible with men is possible with God.’ His grace can work on the soul, so as to alter the bent and bias of it, and give it a contrary leaning.” Matthew Henry
“We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by ‘looking unto Jesus’. Keep thine eye simply on Him; let His death, His sufferings, His merits, His glories, His intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to Him; when thou liest down at night look to Him. Oh! Let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after Him, and He will never fail thee.” C. H. Spurgeon
“Only two things have ever changed the human soul: the fall and grace, the power of Satan and the power of God. And God is infinitely more powerful. Nothing is stronger than grace. Satan doesn’t have any. God is defined by it.” Larry Crabb
“Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side.” Katharina von Schlegel
“Behold, this river of God is full for thy supply; what canst thou desire beside? Go forth, my soul, in this thy might. The Eternal God is thine helper!” C. H. Spurgeon
“The itch for perfection, the lust for something else is a virus draining our souls of contentment.” Chuck Swindoll
“O Lord, I plead thy precious promises; and thou canst not deny thy word. Thou hast laid thyself under obligation to help a feeble, praying soul. Then let thy Holy Spirit abide with me, to quicken my soul when fainting, and to rule my heart in all things, that no sin may have dominion over me.” K. H. Von Bogatzky
“The world appears very little to a soul that contemplates the greatness of God.” Brother Lawrence
“When a believer has fallen into a low, sad state of feeling, he often tries to lift himself out of it by chastening himself with dark and doleful fears. Such is not the way to rise from the dust, but to continue in it. It is not the law, but the gospel which saves the seeking soul at first; and it is not a legal bondage, but gospel liberty which can restore the fainting believer afterwards. Slavish fear brings not back the backslider to God, but the sweet wooings of love allure him to Jesus’ bosom…Whatever good quality there is in divine grace, you shall enjoy it to the full. All the riches of divine grace you shall receive in plenty; you shall be as it were drenched with it: and as sometimes the meadows become flooded by the bursting rivers, and the fields are turned into pools, so shall you be–the thirsty land shall be springs of water.” Charles Spurgeon
“The soul, like the body, lives by what it feeds on.” Josiah Gilbert Holland
“O God, give me grace today to recognize the stirrings of Thy Spirit within my soul and to listen most attentively to all that Thou has to say to me. Let not the noises of the world ever so confuse me that I cannot hear Thee speak.” John Baillie
“This is a world on information overload and our souls are obese with data that doesn’t matter, but who slowly savours Living Bread? This is the nation and the generation that is gluttonous for Google, starved for social streams on screens, but who is hungry for God?……Why be fat with the world and anemic for Christ who took nails so you’d have the iron to stand?” Ann Voskamp
“The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows, but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean.” Jonathan Edwards
“Jesus! What a friend for sinners! Jesus lover of my soul! Friends may fail me, foes assail me; He, my Savior, makes me whole. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Hallelujah! What a Friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end. Jesus! What a strength in weakness! Let me hide myself in Him; Tempted tried and sometimes failing, He, my strength my victory wins. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Hallelujah! What a Friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end. Jesus! What a help in sorrow! While the billows o’er me roll, Even when my heart is breaking, He, my Comfort helps my soul. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Hallelujah! What a Friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end. J. Wilbur Chapman
HEART SAVOR
• God’s Word is food for my soul – sweet to my taste and honey to my mouth.
• It is God and God alone Who is able to keep a soul in perfect peace.
• His consolation brings joy to my soul.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 