ECWA Food for the Day – 5th August, 2025

TUESDAY, 5 AUGUST
TEXT: JOHN 1:43-51
TOPIC: GO AFTER YOUR OWN NATHANAEL

This is the formative stage of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, where He continued harvesting teams of people that would later become His disciples.

In Galilee, Jesus found Philip and called him to follow Him. We can tell with certainty that Philip left everything and followed Jesus without hesitation.

Philip acted in a truly African way. His plan of activities was flexible enough to accommodate Christ’s invitation to follow Him. Not only that, but Philip, having discovered that Jesus is the Messiah, found the discovery too important to keep to himself.

Therefore, he went after Nathanael, who was initially reluctant to accept the Messiahship of Jesus as explained by Philip. But when Nathanael met with Jesus face to face, he turned from being a skeptic into a firebrand believer.

Nathanael then made one of the key and central declarations about Jesus in the Gospel of John. He said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (vs. 49). Nathanael became a believer because Philip went after him with the gospel.

QUESTION
Are there Nathanaels within your circle of influence that need to hear about Jesus?

PRAYER
Father, forgive me for ignoring many Nathanaels that could have been believers today.