Bread of Heaven: Words of Strength, Encouragement and Inspiration

By Athena M. Hodges

Bread of Heaven
Words of Strength, Encouragement and Inspiration

Scripture: John 6:51 Jesus said, I am the Living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world (NIV)

Bread of Heaven will encourage, motive and give you hope. This book strengthens the weak, encourages the heavy hearted, lifts up those who have been beaten down, and draws you closer to God.

Come Feast at the Table of the Lord
Psalms 23:5

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 15, 2009
• ISBN: 9781477160084

Athena M. Hodges

Athena Maria Hodges writes inspirational poetry that deals with many of today’s pressing issues and gives answers that are biblically based. Athena enjoys interacting with people and tries to always have a life changing impact when the opportunity presents itself. She believes that God is the strength of her life and that it is important to see people through Gods eyes. Her faith in God has given her the ability to stand in the face of adversity, trials and tribulations. She believes that applying biblical truths to one’s life can alter a person’s perception and change the course on their life. Each day she sees life as a new opportunity to serve God in a greater capacity. Athena started writing poetry as a child and has been writing down her spiritually inspired poems for over 25 years. After losing her childhood writings Athena began to write again after some years. She felt lead by the Lord to put the poems in a form that could be shared with the world and this gave birth to this book “Bread of Heaven.”

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Copyright © 2009 by Athena M. Hodges.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4415-1625-1

                eBook          978-1-4771-6008-4

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Contents

Change

Bread Of Heaven

God Is Not Through With Me Yet

Dispair

Adolescence Cry

Don’t Be Moved By What You See

Escape

Hopeless

I’m Still Alone

It’s Hard To Let Go

There Is Hope

To Whom Do We Turn

Encouragement

Press Forward

Victory Through The Storm

Your Blessing Will Come

Faith

Have Faith

Forgiveness

Another Chance

Friendship

A Clear Path

He Walks With Me

My Friend

Guidance

Daddy Seems To Know

Guilding Light

Mom

Righteous Children

Show Us

Through Christ

Why Can’t You See

Help

All The Way

Ears Always Open

How Long Lord

Prayer Of Faith:

I Cry Out

Listen To My Voice

Lord I Need You Now

Opened Eyes

Lord, Guard My Tongue

Judging

Don’t Judge Me

Love

God Gratifies

His Love

Love Where Are You

Marriage Is A Wonderful Thing

Were Married

Loss

Missing Daddy

On The Other Side

Your Loss

Lust

That Honey Sho’ Looks Good

Peace

Leave It With Him

To Know

My Savior

Peer Pressure

It’s Rough Being 16

Praise

God Creator Of

Great Is Our God

Magnificent You Are

We Wonder Why

Salvation

But For The Blood

Cleansed In Christ

Die To Self

Perfect Sacrifice

Sacrificial Lamb

Spirit Of God

Sin

Destruction By The Flesh

He Waits

I’m Redeemed

I’m Sorry Lord

Living In Sin

Never Goes Away

Rebellious Generation

Stop, Dragging Your Feet

Stop Sinning

Turn Not Away

What Will It Take

Strength

Help Me Father

Our Prayer:

Stay Stong

Through You

Thankful

I Desire

Lord Thank You

One Day At A Time

Victory

The War Will Be Won

Victory Through The Storm

CHANGE

To become or make different; to alter

Opposite: Same

God has so many great things in store for the believer’s life. All you have to do is tap into it by opening your heart to God. You cannot imagine all the wonderful things you will receive from God. His truths can and will transform your life if you let it. Bread of heaven will feed your spirit and encourage your heart. It is the spiritually edible bread (the Bible) that feeds the spirit and conditions the soul. Reading Bread of Heaven will encourage you spiritually and help you think more deeply about your walk with God. It is meant to edify, encourage and give you some insight to a successful life with Christ. Understanding what God expects will better equip you to living the Christian life. If you have not received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior then reading Bread of Heaven will help you deal with some of the complex issues that cause stress in life and be a guide to understanding salvation and your place in the kingdom of God. Once you have completed this book you will want to read it again and again and share it with others that are dealing with problems in their life.

Bread of heaven fall down on me

Bread of heaven open my eyes to see

The plan that God has for me

And the spiritual food that will set me free

Bread of heaven fill me up

And pour your word into my spiritual cup

Scripture: John 6:51 Jesus said, "I am the Living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world (NIV)

1Corinthians 3:16-17 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man that defile the temple of God, he shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. (KJV)

GOD IS NOT THROUGH WITH ME YET

As I wake up its morning

I open my eyes

Stretch out my arms and began to rise

Standing up straight and tall

I exit the room and entered the hall

Pacing myself for the bathroom

To brush my teeth

After which I cloth myself

And put shoes on my feet

Then washing my face and combing my hair

I caught my reflection

So, I stop and stare

Remembering God has made this fragile Shell

In which His Spirit does dwell

And I must take care of it

Keeping His temple holy and fit

And no filth shall enter this body of mine

No cigarettes or drugs or even strong wine

Neither will any foul language flow from these lips

Because God is not through with me yet

God has a plan for my life

And I must carry it through

Heaven help me if I don’t obey

What He has given me to do

I hope as you stand in the mirror

And look at the reflection before you

To your body you will always remain true

1 Chronicles 28:9 . . . . Know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. (KJV)

God designed us, but he is the only righteous and holy one. Jesus alone is without sin or fault. Even though we were created to be like God we were born in sin and shaped in equity (Psalms 51:5). Only through the redeeming power of God by the blood of his son Jesus Christ are we able to be free from the bondage of sin. If we allow God to transform us from darkness into light we can live and reflect the character of Jesus Christ. Every day that we live we need to examine our hearts, check our attitudes and adjust our behavior to reflect a Christ like life. God desires that we live and act holy because he is holy. Our old way of handling things should be in our past. If we allow the Spirit of Christ to operate through us not only will we be changed and transformed so will others that come in contact with us. Yielding over and moving in the direction of the Holy Spirit is a key component to our living a saved life.

DISPAIR

A complete loss of hope

Opposite: Hope

Despair

Despair sits on you and suffocates the live out of you.

Hope carries you through.

God is able to give you hope. Once you realize that God is your hope

your possibilities for great things increase.

Hope ignites your belief.

Belief empowers you to take action.

Actions accomplish your goals.

Adolescence Cry is a story of despair turning into hope.

Lamentations 3:19-22 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (KJV)

ADOLESCENCE CRY

I thought I’d tell someone before I say good-bye

Someone should know for tonight I shall die

This of course is unexpected news

But I can do whatever I want And dying is what I chose

Yes, that’s right! I’m going to end my own life

But you’ll understand after you hear what happened tonight

Again I was dumped by my date

He wasn’t even on time the jerk had the nerve to be late

But that’s not all my life’s a complete mess

Just listen, wait until I tell you the rest

No one likes me at my new school

And I don’t have the faintest idea how to think or act cool

My body is proportioned all wrong

I can’t even sing in tune, I mess up every song

What’s wrong with me? This is not how I want to be!

Nothing on me is right, I wear glasses because of poor sight

In fact no one even cares if I live or die

No one wipes the tears from my eyes when I cry

No one wanted to be my best friend this year

No one made me feel safe when I was filled with fear

What? Who is this Jesus? What do you mean He died for me?

I’ve never heard of a savior who died on Calvary

His children you say He never leaves them alone

I can call on Him any time He won’t hang up the phone

Yes, I’d like to know him personally

Yes! I want Him in my life to cleanse me from my sins and set me free

Who would refuse such a savior?

That would forgive all your bad behavior

Jesus I receive you and except your free gift

Because of you Jesus the fullness of this life I will not miss

Psalm 34:15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry. (NIV)

Sometimes are actions does not express what is deep down inside of us. Some of us have been made to feel like, we are a failure. It is not always easy to express our deep hurts and pains, but God knows our heartache and our disappointment. Sometimes we feel that when we do not succeed at something that we will never accomplish the things we desire. I once heard it said that, disappointment is success dressed up like failure, We should never feel that one or two failures is the end of the story. Sometimes things do not work out right because God has something even greater waiting for us. If we would just trust Him, it shall come to pass. Lean not to your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him (God), and he shall direct your path (Proverbs 3:5-6). We also have to be careful that we do not allow the labels and stipulations that others put on us to affect the way we see ourselves. Most of the time people are not going to see the awesome abilities God has put in us. It is up to us to know they are there and that we are created in God’s likeness and in His image (Gen. 5:1). Do you realize what God is saying? We are like him, created in His image (His appearance), and also in His likeness (when we obey and walk after the things of God we have the ability to do, think, and act like Him). Do not believe people when they say bad things about you or put you down. You have to know that God created you for a purpose. You are destined to do something great on this earth. Be careful whom