The Prayer That Missed the Miracle

As we step into 2026, the PRESS Movement Podcast turns our focus to a prayer that reveals how easy it is to miss God—even when He is standing right in front of us.

In John chapter 6, the people prayed, “Lord, evermore give us this bread.” What they didn’t realize was that the Bread of Life was already there. They chased miracles, signs, and provision, yet failed to recognize Jesus as the answer to their prayer.

In this episode, we unpack the danger of pursuing what is temporary while overlooking what is eternal. Jesus confronts a crowd more interested in full bellies than transformed hearts and challenges them—and us—to labor for what truly lasts. This teaching invites us to examine our priorities, our prayers, and our expectations of God.

As a new year begins, this episode calls us to refocus our faith, sharpen our spiritual vision, and commit to not missing what God is already doing. It’s a prayer for discernment, alignment, and belief beyond what we can see.

If you’ve ever asked God for more while overlooking His presence, this episode is for you.

Because prayer reaches every single situation.

#PressMovementPodcast
 #BreadOfLife
 #John6
 #NewYearWithGod
 #SpiritualDiscernment
 #ChristianPodcast
 #BibleTeaching
 #FaithOverSigns
 #EternalOverTemporary
 #PrayerLife
 #Don’tMissTheObvious
 #PressToPray

Follow us on Facebook or Instagram or enjoy our blogs and even more episodes at www.presstopray.com!

Transcript

Press means to apply force. When God said press, prayer reaches every single situation. He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through.

And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us. Greetings, everyone. And welcome to the Press Movement Podcast.

I am so glad you are here joining me today, because this year would just not be the same if you're not here. Isn't God good? We made it to a new year, and some of us crawled into 2026. Some of us danced into 2026 with joy before the Lord.

Some of us slept our way into 2026. Or perhaps you don't even know how you got to 2026. It was just nothing but the grace of God.

Either way, we are here now, and it is time to know God better, come closer, refocus, rejuvenate ourselves, and seek God more in 2026. We are going to end up finishing this New Testament here in the next few months, as we've journeyed through all the prayers in the Bible over the last year and a half. Let's now go to John chapter 6. And what's recorded as the prayer is John 6, 34.

The Bible says, Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. As we get to John chapter 6, verse 22 kind of sets the atmosphere for the prayer we'll study today. It talks about how it's the day after the miracles Jesus had done of feeding the multitude, and now they're looking for him.

They come and they see his boat. They're looking for his disciples. And when they can't find him, they get into the ships to go find him and hunt him down.

They're willing to look high, low, look for clues, whatever they got to do to get to Jesus. But when they finally find him, he tells them in verse 26, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you.

For him hath God the Father sealed. He's saying you did all of this, not because of the miraculous, but because I fed you, because your bellies were full. You hunted me down for the temporal things.

The Bible warns us against being caught up in things that are temporal, that those are the wrong things for us to work for, to make our number one goals. There's an old song that said build your hope on things eternal and hold to God's unchanging hand. It teaches us in song, don't put effort into constructing the things that will not last.

You cannot take it with you. You cannot let those things be your primary objective. You have to build on things that will last beyond you.

The scriptures say things like lay not up for yourselves treasures, where thieves can steal them and moths can corrupt them. No, I'm not quoting it, but you can find that passage or reference in Matthew 6, 19 and 20, where he says things like seek ye first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. It's also in Matthew 6, 33.

He says other things, speaking of things that are temporal, as he does in 1 Corinthians 15, when Paul writes and says, Now this say a brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither death corruption inherit incorruption. In other words, the things that are passed away are not going to be the things that get rewarded. We have to focus on the things that matter.

It is so easy to put effort into things that will not last. But I challenge you as we're setting a tone for 2026 and deciding what we'll prioritize and what we'll invest ourselves in this year, decide to invest in things that will be permanent. And all of those things will be God centered.

And it's amazing how when you center your life around God, he takes care of the things that are temporal as well. He teaches you how to be a better employee so you can get that raise, or he teaches you how to take care of your body so you can be in better health, or he teaches you how to be content with yourself. So if he does send you a relationship, you're ready for it.

All the things you're looking for, whether it's goals, whether it's colleges, whatever, when we center on Jesus and make him priority, he has a way of ordering our steps in his word and in his will and for our good. But they couldn't do that here yet. They were just chasing down somebody who would give them some free food, not even because the food was a miracle, but because it was free food.

But when Jesus tells them, you know what, labor not for the meat which perisheth. Don't do all this work for things that are going to go away. They do stop and they say, what shall we do that we might work the works of God? In verse 28, and he says to them in verse 29, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent.

And they go on in verse 30 and they're like, but what signs show us thou then that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work? In other words, what are you going to do to make us believe? Now, mind you, yesterday, literally yesterday, he had fed thousands with five barley loaves and two small fishes and set it up so they had 12 baskets left over. But they're asking for miracles. I challenge us because sometimes we ask God to do new things and we forget to look at what he already did.

And this passage, even the prayer you're going to see is a failure to see what God has already done, to see what's right in front of them. Don't miss the obvious. Don't miss that he woke you up this morning.

Don't miss that you don't deserve to be here today. Don't miss that you have food or clothing. Don't miss that if you're in your right mind, it took Jesus to do it today.

Don't miss the obvious. But they didn't hear me on this podcast. They definitely missed the obvious because they go on to say, you know, okay, so what are you going to do so we'll believe? Because our fathers did eat manna in the desert and they quote a scripture actually, and they say, as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.

But Jesus answered them. He said, I say unto you, Moses is basically not the he he's referring to. Now that's not a quote.

We'll read it. But that's his response. The he in that scripture was not Moses like you supposed.

He said, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father give you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. In other words, God did it.

Don't mess up the he in the scripture like it was Moses or like Moses proved himself to you by giving bread from heaven. There was no proof given from Moses. Moses didn't do anything.

Moses was a conduit of God. But my father did that. And it's the same father that has me here standing in front of you because the bread of God is the same one that came down from heaven and giveth his life unto the world.

And then they still say, Lord evermore give us this bread. That was their request. We want this bread.

Missing that the answer to their prayer was right in front of their face. They missed the obvious. And Jesus says to them, I am the bread of life.

He that cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I say unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not.

All that the father gives me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

And this is the father's will, which had sent me that of all which he had given me, I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me that everyone would see the son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day.

He's saying to them, I am the answer to your request. I am the bread of life. I was sent by the same God that sent Moses to be here in front of you.

I am what you're looking for. And you know what their response was? The Jews then murmured in verse 41, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. They didn't like what he said.

They wanted a different kind of answer. They prayed to believe and at the same time could not. They prayed to see a miracle and at the same time, miss the obvious.

Today, we don't want to mimic their prayer in John 6, 34. We don't want to miss the obvious. In fact, perhaps our prayer today should be, God, in 2026, don't let me miss what you're doing, what you're saying, where you are for any distractions or even for the way I think you should show up.

Don't let me get trapped in the way I think you should do it. Don't let me get stuck in thinking he'll be this or he'll be that and miss who you're already being in the moment. Don't let me limit you and don't let me think you have to prove anything when proof that you are with me is enough.

As we walk into 26, knowing that God is with us, that we have a testimony just in the simple fact we are breathing and that he has nothing to prove. Knowing these things, we can move forward and we can trust in the God who though we have not seen, we still believe. Amazingly, he was asking them to be the ones who would believe even if they didn't see the miracles.

He's saying he came for the believers, the ones who would believe he was sent, who will believe that he did the will of his father. You know what? They may have missed out on being those people, but today we are the people he came for. We are the ones he describes in John chapter 6. We are the ones who will believe on him until everlasting life.

We are they who say, God, your word is proof enough that you are who you said you are. And we're going to stand on it. We're going to trust in it.

And we're not going to forget it was always obviously you. Be blessed. Keep pressing and tune in next week.

Did you know that when you are quiet, your voice is missing to God's ears? I know some of us have prayed and we're wondering how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if God already knows? How will I know God is answering? And what do I do when I feel like God's not listening? But God is listening for your voice. It's too quiet in this world for the troubles we have. You have to raise your voice and God wants to hear from you.

It's Too Quiet, a book about prayer. It's designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith. Visit PressToPray.com