Whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. (John 6:35 ESV)

“I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:14). “I am the true vine” (John 15:1). “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Here is the great I AM saying what He is. And then you notice how frequently He links with that a ‘shall’. The ‘shalls’ of the ‘I am's’ in John’s Gospel are tremendously impressive – not always using the exact word, but in the context you will find the same conclusion. But here are some of the ‘shalls’. “I am the bread of life... he that eats this bread shall live for ever” (John 6:58). “I am the light of the world; he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness” (John 8:12). The link between what He is and ourselves is this, “he that believeth on Me.” What I AM shall become true of him. “He that b elieveth on Me shall never die” (John 11:26), “...shall not hunger” (John 6:35), shall never wander like sheep without a shepherd, he shall have a governing, controlling reality like a shepherd in his life. “Shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” What I AM shall become true. “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever lives and believes on Me shall never die.” What I AM is made good when you believe.

Now it is not what we are. I am dead; He is alive. I can never be other than dead, but He as the Life can become Life in me in my death, if only I believe. I am hungry, spiritually starved; He is Bread, and I need never hunger; although I shall always hunger in myself, yet He will become the Bread to supply me. Think of it! I need never hunger, I am down there in the country, isolated, getting no fellowship, no food; I am away in some place where there is no spiritual bread, and He says, “He that eats Me shall never hunger.” Is that dependent upon where I am, what my situation and circumstances are as to available spiritual meat? No, it is Himself, not a place; it is Himself, not circumstances. But how can it be? – “He that believes.”

/I do believe, but help me overcome
my unbelief! (Mark 9:24 NLT)/
Here is something that you and I must
dwell upon. Personally, I am
constantly brought to this: I have not
yet learnt thoroughly to
believe what I believe in! I believe in
the finished work of Christ,
yet sometimes I am just as miserable
about myself as any man could be.
I am often almost at the point of
giving up because of what a wretched
kind of thing I am. If there is anything
in this world that would
cause me to give up the Christian
ministry, it is myself. Do you
understand what I mean? Oh, how we
are discouraged by what we find in
ourselves! And so, we don't believe
what we believe in. We believe in
the finished work of Christ, and that
God puts all that finished work
to our account. God does not see us
in ourselves - He sees us in
Christ. He does not see us, He sees
Christ in us. We don't believe
that! If we really did we would be
delivered from ourselves and would
indeed be triumphant Christians.
Of course, that does not mean that we
can just behave anyhow. We may
speak and act wrongly, but for every
Christian there is a refuge - a
mercy seat. It has not to be made; it is
there with the precious
Blood. That has not to be shed; it is
shed. There is a High Priest
making intercession for us. There is
everything that we need. The work
is finished, completed. Oh, we
Christians must believe our beliefs! We
must take hold, with both hands, of
the things which are of our
Christian faith.