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One of hubby’s and my very favorite restaurants is Romano’s Macaroni Grill. When we are able to treat ourselves to dinner out, nine times out of ten, we will choose to go there.

We order our most favorite item on the menu, Chicken Scaloppine with artichokes, mushrooms, prosciutto, lemon butter, and capellini, or our second favorite, about to push into the #1 spot, Parmesan-crusted Sole, which is served with lemon butter, capers, and sun-dried tomato orzo. These two items are so delicious.

While we wait for our meal to arrive, we delight in a loaf of freshly baked rosemary bread, dipped in olive oil, and a shared Caesar salad.

With the first bite of our entree, we look at each other, roll our eyes, and go, “Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!” Any meal at an expensive restaurant could barely compare!

If we split the meal, and still have room for dessert, we share a wonderful tiramisu. We savor every single bite of our meal and we go home with bellies full and satisfied!

There are two others who savor their food: our two youngest granddaughters. They will eat anything. They love to eat! On the occasion that they come to our house after pre-school, they are starved and the first thing they ask for is “pink” or “purple,” meaning the pink (strawberry) or purple (blueberry) yogurt.

The older one would eat three containers (or more) of it if we’d let her. She usually scarfs down two. Both of these little ones (2 ½ and 3 ½ ) will lick their bowls clean. They savor every single bite. And with the other food we give them, they bellies are satisfied.

The word savor also means to delight, enjoy, or relish.

Our hearts should take delight in God and His Word as Paul’s did, “My inner being delights in the law of God.” (Romans 7:22 GNT) The Greek definition of delight means to delight with oneself inwardly in a thing, to rejoice in with oneself, feel satisfaction concerning something.

*We savor steak, chocolate, and homemade bread.
*We delight in vacations, pay raises, and ball games.
*We enjoy concerts, movies, and books.
*We relish being patted on the back, winning a game, and beating out the other guy for that big promotion.

Why is it that we tingle with delight for our taste buds to savor that delectable, warm-out-of-the-oven piece of bread or piece of chocolate, but we cannot tingle with delight to savor God’s delectable Word, that Bread of Life?

As the Bread of Life, Jesus said, “There is far more to your inner life than the food you put in your stomach” (Luke 12:23a Msg), and there is more to your inner life than the things you do.

We are to savor the Life within us, filling ourselves with that Bread so our spiritual bellies feel full and satisfied.

My prayer is as David’s, “Blessed Lord, teach me Your rules. I have recited Your laws and rejoiced in them more than in riches. I will meditate upon them and give them my full respect. I will delight in them and not forget them.” (Ps. 119:12-16 TLB) Is it your prayer as well?http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Mmmm...I’ve chosen to savor His Word and His presence. Have you? Is your belly full and satisfied?

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!"(Ps. 34:8a NKJV)



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“Give us this day our daily bread.”Matt. 6:11 NKJV

(This is the fifth segment of The Model Prayer series.)

Daily. Interesting word. The word source for daily in this verse has been debated by scholars. The Greek word seems to be a compound word (epiousios), which has perplexed commentators because it occurs nowhere else in either classical or sacred Greek.

In one old manuscript, only Matthew uses the word epiousios. Luke’s account in Luke 11:3 uses the word epiousa for daily. It means following, next, or the ensuing day or night. Some experts say that the same word epiousios is used in both verses in other manuscripts.

According to the separate elements of the word used by Matthew, epi is a primary preposition, which means of time, place, order, over, upon, at, on, towards, upon, etc. Ousia means substance, property (possessions), or goods. Even this, say the experts, is questionable.

The Greek word for bread used in both verses means not just bread but food of any kind, that which is needful and sufficient for our nourishment. In other words, grant us this day our necessary nourishment.

In ancient times, bread held a great deal of significance in the lives of the Israelites and in their worship, being offered at feasts with other sacrifices. Bread was the confirmation of God’s presence. Being called showbread, meaning bread of presence or bread of face, it was placed in the Holy Place of the tabernacle and the temple.

God told Moses to “put the Bread of the Presence on the table before Me continually” (Ex. 25:30 Masoretic Text), as a perpetual symbol of His presence and provision.

Life depended upon the harvests of the grains, which depended upon the rain. As the sustenance of life, bread was, in a sense, also considered sacred, as a gift of God through His benevolence to allow the rain and the harvests. It remained a daily reminder of man’s unbroken dependence upon God for His provision.

The loaf of bread back then was thinner in shape and crisper than ours today, hence the term “breaking bread,” which signified sharing fellowship at a meal. The giving of bread symbolized hospitality, or as it was called, the bread of fellowship.

Breaking bread meant sharing the fellowship of a meal, which bound the participants in strong ties of friendship, as in covenant, and represented a pledge of reconciliation and peace. According to the law, one was expected to give a stranger or traveler water, food, shelter, and protection.

Bread was the best a poor man could give as his duty of hospitality to a guest. As a guest, to decline an offering of bread violated the sacred law of hospitality. In essence, it said to the host that his bread was unfit for use.

Eating with someone and then betraying them was one of the most despicable acts in the ancient world. As well as Obadiah (Ob. 7) and David (Ps. 41:9), think Judas.

And the writer of Hebrews reminds us from the time of Abraham, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” (Heb. 13:2 NKJV)

As the principal food, bread was called the “stay of bread,” or the support, protector, or sustenance of life. Or, as we would say, the staff of life.

As Jesus came from heaven to give life to the world, He said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35a NKJV)

We need not only our daily physical bread but also, and even more so, our daily spiritual Bread, our Staff of Life. Do we refuse the Bread that sustains life that Jesus offers? Do we then convey to Him that His Bread of Life is unfit for us?

The Bread of Life is the Word of Life. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4 NKJV)

“Lord, give us this bread always.” (John 6:34 NKJV)

Have you every thought about what man’s first home looked like?

God designed an opulent home for earth’s first inhabitants, which I’ll collectively call ‘man.’ God did not assign man to a cozy bungalow or a gold-inlayed palace, but rather He placed him in a gorgeous, prolific garden - all for man’s pleasure.

Starting with the roof, God made a never-ending, sapphire canopy, arrayed with a flaming chandelier of light to warm the man and illumine his path during the day.

Through the windows of heaven blew breezes for natural air conditioning. The tree of life spread out its limbs of shade for a cool respite in the afternoon.

For man’s bedroom, a luxurious carpet of green welcomed him as the first Serta Perfect Sleeper mattress, followed by a visitation of the counting sheep! Fields, overflowing with their harvests of grains and vegetables, all begging to be picked, contained the first outdoor kitchen.

The tree branches bowed to the ground under the ample supply of succulent, ripe fruit. For man’s drinking pleasure, crystalline water gushed forth from the center of the garden, meandering around its perimeter and forming four fluent tributaries, as a continual current of bubbly refreshment.

Saturated with the plentiful riches of the earth - gold, oil, spices, and precious stones - the garden provided man with abundant wealth.

While animals provided man with amusement, only man’s mate could provide him with the warmth of companionship, the arms of comfort, and the readiness to help.

All this provided not only man’s lodging and welfare but also his own personal art gallery. God colored in the canvas of creation with a palette of yellows, reds, greens, and blues, as if painting royal robes around creation’s shoulders.

At day’s end, when twilight hovered, God drew the curtain of darkness shut, poking holes in it for the stars to sparkle through like bazillions of twinkling lights sprinkled across a drape of black velvet. Choreographed like a dance of angels with flashlights and orchestrated by the man in the moon, these nightlights lit the path to the throne of the Creator. It must have been a breathtaking panorama!

God had lovingly clothed His Garden in an eye-popping ensemble of heaven’s finest garments, adorning it as a bride in her wedding finery. Created as a garden filled with joy and pleasure, Eden flourished as a little Patch of Heaven, a pure paradise, for its name means delicate, delight, or pleasure.


“So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed.” (Gen. 2:1 NLT) God’s creation completed. The seeds of His Word had transferred their power, done their job, producing all God had spoken.

Of all the garden’s lovingly created elements, no more precious element existed in the garden than God’s presence. In ancient times, when a Persian king wanted to present a special honor on one of his subjects, he granted the subject the title of “a companion of the garden,” which gave him the privilege of walking in the garden as a special friend and companion of the king.

And man did so unashamedly – for a while.

The garden of creation was God’s kingdom on earth, which contained health, wealth, welfare, safety, prosperity, peace, all God’s plan of salvation.

All that God created speaks of His forethought for benefiting all mankind, “The Father, Who is the Source of all things and for Whom we [have life],” (1 Cor. 8:6 Amp) created all things for the sustainment of life, so man should have The Light of the world, The Living Waters, and The Bread of Life. And “His divine power has given to us all things pertaining to life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3 RGT)

The Father filled the emptiness of earth with His kingdom, and only the kingdom can fulfill man’s emptiness.