Eat Your Soul Food First!

 “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." – John 6:27

There’s an activity that most people will participate in at least 20 times this week. Chances are, you did it this morning, and you’ll probably do it a few more times today. You can perform this activity alone, but if you’re like most people, you prefer to share it with others. This activity is a part of every party, most dates and even major holidays. Of course, I’m talking about … eating. Food is an important part of our lives, isn’t it?

So, chew on this for a moment: No matter how poor you think you are, you enjoy a luxury that several billion people on earth don’t have. You don’t have to worry about where your next meal is coming from. But in First Century Israel, many people did. So, in the early verses of John chapter 6, when Jesus performed a miracle and fed 5,000 men an all-you-can-eat fish and biscuit dinner, it was a HUGE deal. That may have been the first time in a long time that some of those people went to bed with full bellies. That’s why, in the middle of the chapter, it’s not surprising that many people in the crowd who were fed by Jesus yesterday, want him to feed them again today.

When the crowd tracked Jesus down in Capernaum, He called them on it: “You are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill” (v. 26). As William Barclay puts it, “It is as if Jesus said: ‘You cannot think about your souls for thinking of your stomachs.’” Sadly, what was true of so many people in Jesus’ day is equally true of many people in our day. Jesus told them, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (v. 27). He’s telling the crowd to stop chasing after STOMACH food that is only edible for a short time. Instead, Jesus tells them to chase after SOUL food—food that never spoils, and which nourishes for all eternity.

Verse 27 actually sounds like a paradox. Jesus is telling them to WORK for “food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will GIVE you.” When we work for something, it’s not a gift. Right? But the people are fixated on the “work” and are overlooking the “gift” as they ask Jesus: “What must we do to do the works God requires?” (v. 28). The crowd wanted to know what every one us has wanted to know at some point: “What do I need to DO to get on God’s good side? What do I need to DO to make it to heaven some day?” When we ask these questions, we’re asking for some sort of to-do list. “Read your Bible and pray every day. Go to church every Sunday. Help 100 old ladies across the street.” That type of list makes sense to us.

But in verse 29, Jesus responds with some of the simplest yet most profound theology in the entire book of John: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.”

Here are three Life Lessons we can take away from these passages:

Life Lesson #1: Your old nature craves PHYSICAL food to the exclusion of SPIRITUAL food. So, keep your priorities straight. Feed your spirit before you feed your face. Jesus urged the crowd in Capernaum to stop working for food that perishes, but instead to work for food that endures. In John 6, the people who came to Jesus were physically hungry. But this second time, Jesus refused to give in to their physical cravings. Instead, He fed their spirit. That’s a good model to follow. Before you feed your face, make sure you feed your spirit. The health of your eternal spirit is infinitely more important than the health of your temporary body.  

Life Lesson #2: Grace and truth both come through Jesus Christ, and you need them both. Why did Jesus feed the 5,000 on the other side of the Sea of Galilee? Well, He did it because He had compassion on the crowds. He also did it to teach his 12 disciples some important lessons. But He also did it to show the crowd God’s grace so that they would be more open to receiving God’s truth. His grace included physical bread. But the truth was: What they most needed was the eternal Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. Over the years, you’ve accepted many gracious gifts from Jesus—your health, your family, your job. However, have you rejected the truth of Jesus … that unless you place your faith in Jesus Christ, none of your good works will matter on Judgment Day? You can’t go to church enough times, or give away enough money, or walk enough old ladies across the street to escape God’s judgment.

Life Lesson #3: If you want to be right with God and make it to heaven one day, there’s only one good work that God finds acceptable: Believe in Jesus and keep believing in Jesus. In Hebrews 11:6, we read that “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Pleasing God begins with believing in Jesus as your Savior and Lord. And once you are saved, you can only continue pleasing God by continuing to believe in Jesus.

Far too many Christians believe in Jesus for salvation and then spend the rest of their lives believing in themselves. That’s stupid! If you trust that Jesus can snatch your rotten soul out of Satan’s grubby hand, why on earth don’t you trust that Jesus can help you with every other problem you’ve got? Walk by faith. Talk by faith. Pray, read your Bible and make your decisions by faith. Your belief in Jesus Christ should permeate EVERYTHING in your life.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church. Join us for worship on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. or 10 a.m. at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley, or livestream us on Facebook or YouTube. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

The Best Bridge Builder, Hands Down

But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. – Luke 8:54-55

Years ago, a young girl was traveling by train through the country. And since she had never traveled so far by train before, she got pretty scared every time the train approached a river. Whenever she looked through the window and saw a river up ahead, she would start to panic. She couldn’t understand how the train could possibly cross the river without crashing. But each time the train approached a river, a bridge appeared that provided a way over. After this happened several times, the girl leaned back in her chair, breathed a sigh of relief, and in faith-filled confidence said, “Somebody put bridges for us all the way to where we’re going!”

Isn’t that just like what God does for us? We go through life worried about the obstacles we face. At times, the difficulties that lie ahead of us seem insurmountable! In Luke 8:40-56, a man turned to Jesus for help—and at first it looked as if that help came too late. 

Jesus had just arrived in town when one of the local synagogue rulers came to Jesus, fell at his feet and pleaded with him to come to his house and heal his 12-year-old daughter, who was on her deathbed. So, Jesus began following this man, Jairus, to his home. But along the way, Jesus was interrupted when a woman touched the hem of his robe and was healed after 12 years of internal bleeding.

When Jesus took the time to talk to the woman who had been healed, we’re not told what Jairus was saying or doing. But I imagine he was standing there impatiently saying under his breath, “Jesus, could you please hurry up! My daughter doesn’t have much more time. This woman is healed already. Let’s leave it at that and get to my house before it’s too late.”

Well, according to verse 49, while Jesus was still speaking to the woman, someone came from Jairus’s house and told him, “Your daughter is dead. Don’t bother the teacher any more.” Without a doubt, Jairus’s heart dropped. He was devastated. But Jesus said to him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed” (v. 50). Jesus accompanied Jairus to his house and told the professional mourners weeping outside, “Stop wailing. She is not dead but asleep” (v. 52). The mourners laughed at him—after all, they recognized a dead body when they saw one.

Jesus went into the girl’s room with her parents and three of his disciples, Peter, James and John. Jesus took the dead girl by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” The Bible tells us: “Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat” (v. 55). Oh, wouldn’t it have been awesome to see the look on the mourners’ faces when that little girl walked out of the house munching on a chicken leg!

From a seemingly hopeless situation, Jesus built a bridge that brought a dead girl back to her parents. And from this point forward, Jesus’ followers would no longer view death as death, but only as sleep. It became clearer to them than ever before that the only thing that makes a body alive is the spirit inside that body. This girl’s spirit had never died. Jesus simply put it back into her body until God the Father was ready to call her spirit home to heaven.

This remarkable episode in Jesus’ ministry teaches us three things:

1. Each of us is at a different place in our faith journey, and Jesus is patient with each of us. Jairus, the bleeding woman, the messenger from Jairus’ house and the mourners were all at different places in their faith journey. But he didn’t scold or rebuke any of them. Likewise, each of is at a different place spiritually—and as we follow Jesus, we need to follow his example and be patient with each other.

2. Jesus wasn’t ever in a hurry. He allowed himself time to be interrupted, and it was during these interruptions that he did some of his best ministry. If your schedule is always full, and you’re always rushing from place to place, you will miss out on some wonderful ministry opportunities. If you wonder why God hasn’t called on you lately to do His work, it could be you’ve been too busy to notice your chances when they come along. God’s interruptions are always golden. We need to make time for them.

3. Our faith opens the door for Jesus to build bridges of healing and salvation. In verses 48 and 50, Luke uses the Greek word “sozo” for “healing.” That word literally means “to be saved.” When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, that faith paves the way for both His healing and His salvation.

God calls us as followers of Jesus to walk by faith and not by sight. Our eyes see certain disaster, but our faith sees that God will make a way. Jesus builds great bridges as we put our faith in Him. So, as we face obstacles that seem insurmountable, let’s trust Him. He is an expert at building bridges over and around and even through every obstacle we face.  

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 a.m.

Spiritual U-Turns in Prayer

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” – Isaiah 55:8-9

David thought he’d really had it this time. He was running for his life from his own son, Absalom, who was leading a coup to overthrow David. So what did he do? He turned to God–but not, at first, in the way we might expect.

In the first two verses of Psalm 3, David writes, “Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him.’” David sounds overwhelmed and scared. He feels surrounded by his enemies, he hears his critics saying, “God will not deliver him”—and David seems to be thinking that maybe they’re right. Maybe God won’t save him this time.

Sounds like a strange prayer from a man after God’s own heart, doesn’t it? So tell me: Is David sinning in these first two verses? Is it a sin for him to be afraid, to wonder if the pessimists around him are right? I don’t think so. But his perspective needs to turn. His faith in God needs to be strengthened. You could even say David needs to repent.

That may seem like an odd choice of words. But you see, most of us have a very narrow understanding of repentance. We may tend to toss up a prayer that sounds something like this: “Lord, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Forgive me! Forgive me! Forgive me! In Jesus’ name, amen!” Well, nice try … but that’s not repentance.

The word “repent” means to change your mind, and it always leads to a change in your behavior. So, whenever you think of the word “repent,” immediately think, “change.” True repentance involves a change in your thinking. A change in your priorities. A change in your decision-making. And that adds up to a change in your behavior. To say it another way, repentance is a turning. When we repent, our thoughts turn from something old to something new. As a result, our behavior turns from one course of action to another. That’s why I like to describe repentance as a spiritual U-turn. Repentance is a 180 – a spiritual U-turn that always includes a turning FROM and a turning TO.

Now, let’s get back to David. As he prays in Psalm 3, notice the change that happens in verses 3 and 4: “But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain.”

Do you see how prayer changes David? He goes to God with his finite thoughts and his finite ways, then takes hold of God’s higher thoughts and God’s higher ways, and it’s absolutely transformational. In the words given to us through the prophet Isaiah: “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” 

You see, true repentance arises from a deep-seated conviction that God’s thoughts are always higher than our thoughts, and His ways are always higher than our ways. So, from a broader perspective, repentance is not just for the times when we sin and turn to God for forgiveness. As we go to God in prayer, whether or not there is unconfessed sin in our lives, repentance is a re-aligning of our priorities with God’s priorities, a re-aligning of our ways with God’s ways. And isn’t this, in a very real sense, the heart of prayer?

There are certain things God will not do unless we pray for Him to do them. So our prayers do move God, and prayers do change God’s actions. But even more so, prayer changes US. We go into prayer thinking one way, and we should leave prayer thinking another. Effective prayer changes our thoughts. We go into prayer behaving a certain way, and we should leave prayer behaving differently. Effective prayer changes our behavior.

Prayer changed David. And it will change you, too, if you are absolutely convinced the God’s thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and His ways are higher than yours. So, go to Him humbly in prayer. Confess your sins to him. Grieve over your sin, and turn. If you are ready for God to change you, He will change you … for the better. That’s a promise.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.

The Power of Praise

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

These verses from 1 Thessalonians are three of the shortest in the New Testament. But they hold an important key to unlocking the door of life-changing prayer. Whether our circumstances are good, bad or ugly, God calls us to give thanks. And as we work to strengthen our prayer lives in this new year, I’d like to share three reasons praise is so powerful.

#1: Praise helps us fulfill our destiny. Did you know that God created you to praise Him? It’s true. To quote the wise philosopher Darth Vader, “It is … your destiny.” Praise is one of the main purposes for which you were created. The Bible tells us that creation itself praises God: “The wild animals honor Me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:20a). If even wild animals can honor God in their own wordless way, we have so much more reason to do so! “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).

Why did God choose us to be saved, bring us into His holy nation and into His eternal family? There were several reasons, but don’t miss this one: God saved us so that we can truly praise Him in a way that we could never praise Him before we were saved. And so, when we who are followers of Christ withhold our praises from God, we are forsaking one of the main reasons He saved us. Let’s don’t squander this privilege.

#2: Praise is a weapon to break spiritual strongholds outside us. Maybe you’ve never thought of praise as a weapon. But it can be a very powerful one. Look at what happened in Acts 16, when Paul and Silas were praising God in the Philippian jail after being stripped, beaten and fastened into stocks. As they were praying and singing hymns to God, “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose” (Acts 16:26).

There is power in praise. Spiritual strongholds outside us can be broken through praise and thanks. When everyone in your family is down in the dumps, there is power in praising God. Your praise can transform their doom-and-gloom perspectives. When you have a close encounter with pessimists who can only see the negative in their circumstances, your praise can help them see the silver lining. And when you’re in church, you never know how many people around you may be uplifted, encouraged and even set free by your praise.

#3: Praise is a weapon to break spiritual strongholds inside us. Your praise can not only transform others – it can also transform you. In 2 Chronicles, King Jehoshaphat learned that three enemy nations had merged their armies and were marching toward Jerusalem. This combined army was massive, so when Jehoshaphat found out about it he was terrified. But instead of panicking, he started praising—and called his men to do the same. “After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise Him for the splendor of His holiness as they went out at the head of the army saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD, for His love endures forever’” (2 Chronicles 6:21). The result? God set ambushes that caused the three armies to turn on each other. When Jehoshaphat and his men arrived at the scene, they found nothing but dead bodies.

Isn’t that awesome? As God’s people sang and praised God their own fears were calmed, their own anxieties were quieted, and their faith was emboldened. As an added bonus, as the people praised God, God’s Spirit was catapulted onto the battlefield, and He won the victory without His own people having to raise a single sword. Without a doubt, praise is a powerful weapon to break strongholds outside us AND to break strongholds inside us. So, whether you’re dealing with internal strongholds of fear, anxiety, anger, lust, jealousy or unforgiveness—whatever it is—praising God for who He is and thanking Him for what He’s done can transform you from the inside out.

Maybe you’re facing some impossible circumstance. You’ve tried EVERYTHING to fix it, and nothing has worked. Well, could it be that the Lord is whispering in your ear: “You haven’t tried everything. You haven’t tried praise. You haven’t praised Me in the midst of your storm. You haven’t thanked Me for your lousy circumstances. You haven’t released your circumstances to Me and trusted Me to handle them. So, start praising Me! Start thanking Me! Start trusting Me! And just watch what I will do.”

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.