Proper 19 B - John 6:44 - My Utmost for His Highest

The Drawing of the Father
"No man can come to Me, except the Father which
hath sent Me draw him."
John 6:44

When God draws me, the issue of my will comes in at once - will I react on the revelation which God gives - will I come to Him? Discussion on spiritual matters is an impertinence ... Belief is not an intellectual act; belief is a moral act whereby I deliberately commit myself. Will I dump myself down absolutely on God and transact on what He says? If I will, I shall find I am based on Reality that is as sure as God's throne.

In preaching the Gospel, always push the issue of will. Belief must be the will to believe. There must be a surrender of the will ... a deliberate launching forth on God and on what He says until I am no longer confident in what I have done, I am confident only in God. The hinderance is that I will not trust God, but only my mental understanding ...

Every man is made to reach out beyond his grasp. It is God who draws me, and my relationship to Him in the first place is a personal one, not an intellectual one. I am introduced into the relationship by the miracle of God and my own will to believe, then I begin to get an intelligent appreciation and understanding of the wonder of the transaction.

~Oswald Chambers

Proper 19 B - John 6:35 - Ravi Zacharias

John 6:35
And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.
He who comes to Me shall never hunger,
and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

What oxygen is to the body, the Bread of Life is to the soul. Without that bread, all other hungers will be improperly perceived ... Life is meant to be lived with the fulfillment of the one need that defines all other means of fulfillment and the one love that defines all other loves ...
The people ought to have grasped more than they did. You see, to the Middle Eastern mind-set, bread is not just a source of nourishment. It is the bearer of so much more. Food is the means of fellowship. Jesus says, in Revelation 3:20, that He stands at the door and knocks; if anyone opens that door, He will come in and eat with him. What a beautiful expression that is of friendship. Food is the means of celebration. The return of the prodigal was celebrated by the killing of the fatted calf, which signaled that the feast had begun. Food is also a medium of pleasure. Solomon's palace thrived on such offerings. To this day, food is a big thing in eastern culture. As well as providing nourishment, it is the means of friendship, celebration, and pleasure.

Proper 19 B - Eph. 4:26-27 - When God Whispers Your Name, Max Lucado

Anger. It's easy to define: the noiseof the soul.
Anger. The unseen irritant of the heart.
Anger. The relentless invader of silence...
The louder it gets the more desperate we become...
Some of you are thinking ... you don't have any idea how hard life has been. And you're right, I don't. But I have a very clear idea how miserable your future will be unless you deal with your anger.
X-ray the world of the vengeful and behold the tumor of bitterness: black, menacing, malignant. Carcinoma of the spirit. Its fatal fibers creep around the edge of the heart and ravage it. Yesterday you can't alter, but your reaction to yesterday you can. The past you cannot change, but your response to your past can.

Father, at one time or another we have all looked at the circumstances of our life and wondered why these things happen. We have the courage to wonder, when we read page after page in the Bible sharing the agony of those who sought you. And we find great encouragement from those who found you.

Max Lucado, God's Inspirational Promise Book; Word Publishing, Dallas, Texas; 1996; Pg 70.