Give us this day our daily Bread

God created all things, both visible (the physical) and
invisible (spiritual).

In His grand plan, He allowed for parallels on both
plains of existence, both spiritual and physical.

Virtue, in man, as in the angels, is brought about by
faithfulness in accomplishing the tasks God has set.

Each day, one must start with a healthy meal to nourish
the body so that man can go about his daily physical duties, the same parallel
is true of the soul.

 

Unless a man be nourished in the spiritual sense, he
will most certainly fail to honor God, and this failure, in of itself, can be a
fatal illness.

Satan and His hordes will do all in their power to
hinder man’s growth in virtue, this is why man needs to pray in order to obtain
the grace needed to maintain a healthy soul.

 

The parallels are clear, to accomplish anything of true
value, one must be healthy, both spiritually and physically.

Health in the physical sense requires that man eat a
balanced meal several times a day, in the spiritual sense it means that he must
obtain grace, through prayer, several times on a daily basis also.

In a direct parallel, I repeat,  spiritual health requires the infilling of
the Holy Spirit’s grace each day, just as eating a meal promotes physical health.

Spiritual sustenance requires the daily bread called
grace that is furnished through prayer, just as physical health requires the
daily bread we call a meal.

 

Daily attention to the needs of the body requires that
we eat a vitamin enriched meal (our daily bread) each day to maintain physical
health.

Accordingly, through prayer and contemplation on the
Lord’s Word we feed the soul with the grace (our spiritual daily bread) it
needs to sustain it’s spiritual health.

Yeshua pointed out that man could not afford to
concentrate on the physical while neglecting the spiritual: “Man does not live
on bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matt 4:4

 

Our complete health, both physical and spiritual,
requires that we do what is needed to protect and retain our health.

Unfortunately for man, 
(and me in particular) we all too often skip meals, this  is true in both the physical and spiritual
sense.

Remembering to take time to take care of one’s health
quite often becomes a chore that we all too often ignore due to interest in the
things of the moment.

 

Deciding to take time out in order to eat a healthy meal
sometimes means we must stop what we are involved in when we don’t want to do
so, the same, unfortunately, is true of prayer.

Accepting responsibility for our physical and spiritual
health, demands that we do what is necessary to acquire our daily bread.

I believe that the
scientific adage: “For everything there is an equal and opposite reaction “,
holds true.

Life (both physical and spiritual) neglected, becomes
problematic for the neglected needs of the spirit like that of it’s physical
counterpart leads to illness.

Yeshua, in His ministry, did not neglect the physical
needs of the multitude as evidenced by His actions involving the loaves and the
fishes. Matt 14:32 – 39 & Mark 8:1 – 9

 

Believers must recognize that to ignore the parallels
between the physical and spiritual invites illness in both, for one can’t do
Gods Will properly when one is saddled with illness.

Remembering the spiritual parallel to the physical, we
must fill our spiritual plate with the health giving meal called grace, as we
would our physical meal plate.

Enter into study with one another, that you may receive
the blessings that God intended for your spiritual needs and growth.

Accept
the parallel lessons between the physical and spiritual and enhance your
spiritual health through prayer and contemplation on God’s Word.

Deliver to the physical, food for its needs, and to the
spiritual, through prayer, deliver the grace it needs, as Jesus noted in His
reference to Caesar’s due.  Matt 22:21.