You should not live by bread alone!

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you” Colossians 3:16 (a).

We fill the gas tank of our car. Most people eat three times a day- breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Also many take snacks in between. We want healthy food so that we can go to work, and take care of house duties and other responsibilities. What happens if a car does not have enough gas? It stops on the road. what happens if you go hungry with no food? You can’t go much far. You would faint and not be able to do your daily functions.

Our body needs physical food. Certainly, our soul needs spiritual food. Physical food nourishes your body. Spiritual food nourishes and makes your inner man strong and healthy. The spiritual food you need daily is the Word of God- the Bible verses.

Some of the benefits of spiritual food are given below.

The Word of God (the Bible verses) gives life, revives, and replaces discouragement with encouragement (Psalm 119:25. GNT, TLB)
The Word of God gives great peace- nothing will make them stumble (Psalms 119:165 (HCSB)
It gives strength to your weary bones (Psalm 119:28 NIV)
It gives you hope (Psalm 119:49 NASB)
It gives you more understanding than your teachers (Psalm 119:99 ESV)
It makes you wiser than your enemies (Psalm 119:98 NIV)
It comforts, strengthens, and refreshes you in the time of trouble (Psalm 119:50 NASB, TLB)
It is a lamp to your feet (Psalm 119:105 NASB)
It gives light on our path (Psalm 119:105 NASB).
As physical food gives you physical energy, strength, and health, spiritual food, the Bible verses, gives you mental and emotional energy, strength, health, understanding, and wisdom.

Beloved, you cannot just afford to have physical food and ignore spiritual food. Many people are dead inside although they have physical life in their nostrils, simply because they do lack good, balanced, healthy spiritual food. They are not comforted, their wounds are not cleaned with oil, and bam, no internal strength, no hope, no understanding, and the absence of simple wisdom- these all are because of the lack of healthy spiritual food.

Spiritual malnutrition is more alarmingly dangerous than physical malnutrition. The tragedy is many people are not aware of it. It has the potential to kill people slowly and steadily. Simply the awareness of spiritual poverty is a major step in the direct direction. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” If you are aware of spiritual poverty and realize the need for God, He is willing to place you in His kingdom.

You can get spiritual food by listening to the Bible messages like the one you listening to now. Make sure you are listening to only Bible teaching and preaching lessons. There are positive talks without an in-depth study of the  Bible verses. You need to listen to good Bible teachers who are gifted and trained to interpret the Bible verses in an excellent and God-honoring way so that you would flourish and grow spiritually. For this purpose, you need to be a member of a good Bible-teaching and Bible-preaching church in your area. Go and check it out. You will never regret taking this first step. You and your family – your spouse and children- need good Bible teaching so that your inner man will grow healthy and vibrant. Thereby you would have peace, hope, encouragement, and comfort. You would possess the understanding and Godly wisdom. You have the lamp for your feet to walk the right path. You have the light when you walk so that you would not fall. And more than all you will have abundant and life eternal.

Not only just listen to the messages of Christ and the Bible, but also read the Bible. As you read the Bible, underline the verses you like. Then meditate on it for a few seconds or minutes. The verses you liked write down on a card or paper. Reflect on it later. Try to memorize the verses. Reflect on those ideas you learned from the verses many times. Let it go down deep into your soul. Then start applying it to your daily life in small ways. Be consistent in applying. Without much time, you are on your way to a big spiritual growth spurt that impacts you and others around you. God gets the glory.

Our today’s insight says, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you.” Would you decide to let the word of Christ richly dwell in you? Of course, it all starts with making time daily to listen to the Bible messages, read the Bible, memorize, reflect and then start applying it in your personal life.

Got a moment for today’s prayer? “Father in heaven, I want the Word of God richly dwells in me so that my inner man would be comforted, strengthened, protected and guided by your Word. I know the Bible says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The eternal and everlasting Word became a person in Jesus Christ and He came into this world and died and rose again for my sins and shortcomings. Please forgive my sins. Lord come to my life, and save me and bless me today. Make me rich in your word. In Christ’s name, I pray, Amen.”