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The Blue Letter Bible

Richard Bennett :: Forward and Preface

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Food for Faith

By Richard A. Bennett

A Biblical Manual
Guidelines for a consistent and a living fellowship with God

Published by
Cross Currents International Ministries
P.O. Box 1058
Lyndon, Washington 98264.




Copyright (c) 1994, 1998 by Cross Currents International Ministries. First USA Edition 1994. Second Edition 1998.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, without prior written permission of Cross Currents International Ministries, P.O. Box 28444, Bellingham, Washington 98228-0444.

Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 98-67798
ISBN: 1-57736-113-X

Scripture quotations are from The New King James Version—1979,1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from The Holy Bible, New International Version—1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are from The Amplified New Testament—The Lockman Foundation 1954, 1958. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked KJ are from The King James Version.

Published by
Providence House Publishers
238 Seaboard Lane
Franklin, TN 37067




In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, this book is affectionately dedicated to every co-laborer who has so faithfully labored with my wife and me in the ministry of the Gospel through Cross Currents International Ministry.



Foreword


It is a privilege to comment Dr. Richard A. Bennett’s new title, Food for Faith. It is a worthy sequel to his earlier book Your Quest for God. Man cannot come to God without faith (Hebrews 11:6) and he cannot live for God without faith (Romans 1:17). For this to be possible faith must be fed both initially (Romans 10:17) and continually (1 Peter 2:1-3; Hebrews 5:12-14). The Lord Jesus finalized the matter when He declared, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). Earlier Jeremiah confirmed this principle when he wrote, Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts (Jeremiah 15:16).

For maximum benefit, spiritual food must be appreciated, appropriated and then assimilated. Dr. Bennet shows us how this process takes place in our times of ‘togetherness’ with God. Chapter 8, in particular, is most helpful in this regard.

In a day of secular humanism, when the average Christian has been brainwashed to think that he can live for God without total faith-dependence on the indwelling Christ (Galatians 2:20), a book like Food for Faith is a message from Heaven to all of us. May God Bless the ministry of this book as it goes forth on its mission.

Dr. Stephen F. Olford
Founder and President
Institute for Biblical Preaching
Memphis, Tennessee



Preface


FOOD FOR FAITH is really the sequel to Your Quest for God, a book I wrote when my wife and I approached our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. At that time, we wanted to express our thanksgiving to God by writing, printing and publishing this earlier presentation of the Gospel message.

The first printing of Your Quest for God was twenty-five thousand copies. Since then, God has seen fit to bless our simple love offering to Him in a most remarkable way.

Today, over two million copies have been distributed around the world in over thirty languages, and the demand for this book continues to grow dramatically. Among our greatest joys has been to hear accounts of people who have been born again in many parts of the world as the result of reading this book.

Later we were about to celebrate our thirty-fifth wedding anniversary! During the intervening years, doors opened to the gospel and therefore to the distribution of Your Quest for God in ways that we could never have conceived of ten years before. Consequently, we could think of no better way to express our growing love and gratitude to our Heavenly Father than by printing and publishing Food for Faith. Even as God has blessed Your Quest for God, may He also use this second book to help the many people who are finding new life in Christ, both here and in countries around the world.

However, Food for Faith is not just a sequel to Your Quest for God. Dorothy and I believe that it will, in and of itself, become a vital help to every believer who desires a more intimate relationship with the Lord. It was written with the sincere prayer that each person who reads it will find special help and encouragement in his or her Christian life.

Food for Faith is not really intended to be read in a casual way. Neither is it meant to be read and then laid aside. After it has been read carefully, it should be kept handy as a reference manual. As the principles in this book are faithfully applied to our lives, we will learn how to develop a more consistent and intimate walk with God.

Many of us consider it wise to have an occasional medical ‘check-up’. To do this we invest money and a little time. The correct diagnosis of any physical problem, and its subsequent treatment, will greatly depend on the initial questions the doctor asks. It is also wise for Christians to have an occasional spiritual ‘check-up’. And all that this requires is transparent honesty and the investment of time as we draw aside to be alone with God! At the end of each chapter, a few helpful questions are suggested as the basis of your own personal ‘Spiritual Check-up'. Some of these questions might make you feel uncomfortable. Please remember that in a physical examination the place where it is too painful to probe is generally the place where the problem lies!

In writing this book I have been reminded of an incident which was told to me by my friend, the late Dr. J. Edwin Orr. He said that a well-known speaker had been invited to join with him and other selected Christian leaders in an important national gathering which had been convened exclusively for the purpose of intercessory prayer. However, the unnamed speaker to whom Edwin referred, graciously declined the invitation and explained that he was too busy to attend the protracted prayer meetings. At the same time, he added an appendage to his letter of refusal in which he stated that he had a very good message about prayer and would be pleased to come and preach it at any such subsequent gathering! My heart is only too well aware how much easier it is to write or preach about prayer than it is to really pray. So I write not as a specialist, but as one hungry person telling other hungry people where they can find bread.

My wife Dorothy has not only been a great encourager in my writing Food for Faith, but even more importantly she has consistently sought to guard and encourage my time alone with God. How clearly I remember having read one of C. T. Studd’s prayers, which, before I med Dorothy, I also prayed. It went something like this: “Lord, if you have a wife for me, let here be a red hot poker spurring me on when I am tempted to let up!” What a privilege it has been to have been married to such a wife. Praise God!

It is now over fifty years since my father-in-Christ, Dr. Stephen Olford, led me to the Savior. I am so thankful that at that time Stephen also shared the supreme importance of a regular time of Bible reading and prayer.

Many of the thoughts expressed in this book spring from my personal reflection on God’s Word. Other truths have been gleaned from the biblical insights of many choice servants of God whom the Lord has graciously brought across my path. Although these faithful men and women are too numerous to identify in the context of a small and practical publication such as this, for each and every one I praise the Lord.

Now, through the publishing of Food for Faith, I can, in turn, obey the injunction that Paul gave his son in the faith, Timothy: And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2).

Though this book was written to help believers enjoy a consistent fellowship with the Lord Jesus, there will be those reading these pages who have not as yet come to know the joy of sins forgiven and the marvelous assurance of eternal life. If you are such a person, I urge you to turn in your Bible to the gospel of John. There you will read why this gospel can be of special help to you: But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31).

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