Category: need

Special Guest Saturday: Jeanie Kelley


See, I have written your name on my hand.
(Isaiah 49:16a NLT)

Join me today, as special guest, Jeanie Kelley answers the question: “What makes God smile, when He thinks of you?”

Here’s her answer:

Isn’t it exciting to know that Jesus knows us by name? It is so comforting to know this and I love him for it. What makes God smile with me would be how much of an encourager I am. I love the idea of encouraging other women on their walks of life. This road can be long and hard, but we have people who encourage and give hope to them. I can see God smiling at me for this.

Click over to Jeanie’s blog to read more and to watch a creative music video of the hymn, I Need Thee Every Hour.

Posted on by kelrohlf 0

Need: A Condition Requiring Supply or Relief


The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. 
(Exodus 14:14)






In my journal, I wrote “need” in a circle and then wrote a cluster of words connected to that circle. Words like: plan, home, wholeness, food and God. Then from each of those word more words surfaced, but the repeating refrain were words like peace, rest, and quiet. 

I often complain that I don’t have enough time, but today that wasn’t on my list. Strangely I have plenty of time and we are headed out soon for our vacation with lots of hours to wile away. 

My more pressing need appears to be a plan. It is easy to think of vacation as a time of empty calendar squares to be filled with nothing or at least not the normal routine. We plan our vacation with details like where will we go, what will we see, what we need to bring, what clothes to wear, etc. Sometimes I resist planning because I think plans hinder fun and spontaneity.

But in reality, structure does allow us more flexibility. This flows over into my spiritual life. I must admit I have been winging it lately. Taking a meandering, nonchalant walk through Scripture. Dabbling in a devotion. Nibbling on Psalms. But no real meaty meditation or systematic study.

I need a plan. 

But I have another problem, namely too many choices. And let me tell you there are no shortage of plans for reading the Bible, praying to God, online Bible studies, community Bible studies, etc. But that is not the real problem. 

My real problem is acedia: spiritual boredom. It’s not a new phenomena, even the desert fathers struggled with it and prayed against it. 

I have read the Psalms before. I have participated in a variety of Bible studies. I have put on the armor of God. 

What am I lacking? Stillness. Just absorbing God. Letting Him fight for me, love me and release me. I need Him to forgive me for taking Him for granted. Eat my psalms, even if I am tired of them, like I tire of peas or broccoli. In the eating, I will begin to enjoy the nourishment again. Oh, to listen and hear Him speak to me, and not merely read the words on the page, that is pure joy!

I need God. 



What do you need today?


Posted on by kelrohlf 3

Need: A Lack of Something Requisite, Desirable or Useful

For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
(John 6:33 NIV)


When we get to this familiar request in the Lord’s prayer, we are halfway through the recitation. It is the most practical and basic of requests. Yet the surrounding thoughts feed through this request. 

We make our daily request based on the knowledge of God as our Father. We can depend on the promise of provision as it is His will to provide for us. And when He grants this request, we have everything we need to hallow His name and our lives. Once we have experienced His provision, we seek the deeper spiritual needs: asking for and offering forgiveness and requesting the way out of temptation.

The significance of this simple request becomes clearer, if you dig into the original language. When Jesus spoke, he used the local dialect–Aramaic. In Aramaic, this sentence translates roughly to this: “Give to us today, this very day, the bread of our need.”

Bread is a basic staple of most diets. To meditate on the bread of our need, takes me back to the Old Testament and then directly to Christ as the fulfillment of the promise. In Old Testament worship, they placed the Bread of Presence on the altar before God. During the wandering desert days of the Israelites, God sent down b read (manna) from heaven to meet their daily need for sustenance.

Jesus is our our daily bread. The bread of our ultimate need is salvation. Jesus satisfies this need completely. To know Jesus is to have everything requisite, desirable and useful, in order to relate with our Father in heaven.

During the sacrament of communion, we eat bread to recall Jesus’ broken body on the cross, broken on our behalf. A friend recently pointed out that the phrase, “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” takes on a richer meaning for her, whenever she partakes of communion. As I put together her insight and the daily “breadness” of Jesus, I rejoiced in the goodness of God. The rest of the verse (Psalm 34:8) states: “Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” I marveled at how these mixed metaphors of bread and refuge give me something more to chew on. 

To dwell within God’s presence is our daily benefit. So by all means, let’s ask “Give us this day our daily bread, our daily refuge, our daily need, our daily portion of goodness.” 


What comes to mind, when you pray, 
“Give us this day our daily bread”? 



Posted on by kelrohlf 2