(Jesus said,) "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. ..." John 6:51b

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

The salvation story of Jesus Christ reaches around the world. So that the readers of our Daily Devotion may see the power of the Savior on a global scale, we have asked the volunteers of our International Ministry Centers to write our Friday devotions. We pray that the Spirit may touch your day through their words.

In Christ, I remain, His servant and yours,
Kenneth R. Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour



Sanit was very thankful for this year of study in the United States.

He was enjoying his classes at the university. He loved meeting new people. He always looked forward to visiting famous places. Compared to the constant hot weather back home in Thailand, Sanit thought the cold winter temperatures in Chicago were refreshing.

But there was one problem. Sanit really missed eating rice. Sanit was staying with a family that never ate rice.

They loved eating bread. For many meals the main food was bread. Sanit could hardly believe that there were so many different kinds of bread: white, whole wheat, rye, oat, multi-grain, and many others he couldn't remember. At first Sanit didn't mind eating bread instead of rice, but after a few weeks, it really bothered him. If I don't eat rice, he thought, I don't feel like I've eaten a meal. It doesn't matter how much bread I eat, I never feel satisfied.

For Jesus and the Jewish people living in Israel at that time, bread was the essential food.

If they only had bread to eat, they could feel satisfied. They did not think of bread as just a "fun food," as most people in Thailand do. To the Jews, bread is the basic food of life.

Jesus described Himself as the living bread, which came down from heaven.

He was saying He is the basic spiritual food. Jesus is all that people need to be healthy and satisfied spiritually. By saying He came down from heaven, Jesus was telling the people He is God -- the source of both spiritual and physical life. So anyone who believes in Jesus will be healthy and satisfied spiritually and will live forever with Him in heaven.

THE PRAYER: Dear Jesus, You are the only food I need to be satisfied spiritually. Teach me how to be close to You, so I can live with You forever. This I ask in Your Name. Amen.

Biography of Author: Today's international devotion was written by Dennis Denow in Thailand. Denow was born in Racine, Wisconsin, and graduated from Concordia River Forest in 1970. He has been involved in Asia missions since 1980. In Thailand, Lutheran Hour Ministries operates locally as Journey Into Light (JIL), with its ministry center in Bangkok. It utilizes mass media technologies to proclaim the Gospel, while supporting local churches and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod missionaries. In addition to serving others through LHM's Bible Correspondence Courses (BCC) and Equipping the Saints (ETS) program, five 30-minute radio programs are broadcast daily to the citizens of this Southeast Asian country of nearly 70 million.


To learn more about our International Ministries, click here or visit www.lhmint.org.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: Psalms 39-41    John 12:27-50

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