Are You Really Hungry for God?

 

Some time ago I read the following in an e-mail – “When I look at myself, I see how desperately I need to change. When I look at the Church, I see how desperately we all need to change. And I'm so hungry for that change, I can hardly stand it. I do thank God for what He's done. I am grateful for it. But I can't be satisfied because we're still so far short of all He has for us.”

There are times the Lord allows us to experience what I call times of “Divine Discontent.”  Author Tommy Tenney says it this way - It’s like having a “compulsive addiction for God that makes you tired of church games, man’s manipulations, and passionless worship services consisting of religious gymnastics & emotional hype designed to excite & stroke the flesh.”   And recently while reading a book by John Bevere I cam e across this statement: “We’ll hunger for what we feed on.”  That reminded me of a teaching I did some time ago & I want to share with you. I titled it Hungry for More of God. Once again, I’ve used an acronym, this time for the word HUNGER.  Let’s see how we can feed our hunger for God.

Hear His voice 

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."' Rev 2:7

We must be willing to hear his voice. Then when we hear his voice, we must obey what the Lord is saying to us. It’s not always easy. But being obedient will make your life easier. Believe me, I’ve been there.

Undistracted Worship – 2 Sam. 6:20-23

We must come to a point when nothing will distract us from our worship of God. Undistracted worship will lead you to have a passion for wanting to get close to God. When you are in his presence you will have thoughts like: “if I can just touch the hem of His garment” or

“If I could just see Him” or “If I could just get His attention…” You get to this point where it’s all you can do to maintain your composure & you think you’re going to burst. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry… That’s a good place to be in the Lord.  For some other examples of people who pressed through see Luke 19:1-6 and Mark 10:48-52.

Nevertheless

But Simon answered and said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." Luke 5:5

We need to be determined that we are moving forward with the Lord regardless of what comes our way or what things look like. Sometimes we can be in a difficult season when the Lord is giving us challenging directions and things just don’t make sense in the natural. That’s when we have to say, “OK, Lord, nevertheless, I will follow you. Remember one of my favorite quotes – “Obedience doesn’t require understanding.”

Grasping for More

My soul follows close behind You; your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63:8

Quoting author Tommy Tenney again - “A God chaser is a person whose hunger exceeds his reach... a person whose passion for God’s presence causes him to desire more.”  Too many of us put limits on God. It’s time to break out of our religious box… God is bigger than our box!

Exalt the Lord

“You are my God, and I will praise You; you are my God, I will exalt You.”  Psalm 118:28

Take time to praise the Lord. Sing to him. Read from the Psalms – out loud. Let your whole life praise the Lord! Singer Chris Christian puts it this way: “Worship is more than just singing a song, it all that you say and everything that you do.” He is worthy of all our praise!

 Rearrange Priorities

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Matthew 6:33

This means that your relationship with God should hold more importance than anything else in your life.  Now, that doesn’t give you an excuse to be irresponsible. We all still have jobs to go to, families to take care of, etc.  This just means that if we will give God first place in our life he will take care of everything else.

OK, let’s try to pull all this together. Here’s one more quote from Tommy Tenney – “God is not going to pour out His Spirit where He doesn't find hunger.”  My friend, are you hungry for more? Cry out to God! He is waiting to hear your voice.  It’s time for us to crawl out of our safe boxes and trust God to be all HE IS!

 

Know Your Season

 Wow! It’s almost officially the Fall season.  Many look forward to the cooler weather and the change of scenery as leaves show us the beauty of new colors.  I think 2024 has been one of the fastest years yet. When you add to that being in a season of transition in your life, sometimes you begin to wonder what in the world is going on.

 I once read two quotes that really got me thinking about how much more in these days, we need to trust God and have discernment with all that's going on around us. Most define discernment as knowing the difference between right and wrong. Spurgeon says, “Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.”

 "The present is all I ever have. There is never a time when my life is not “this moment.” When I feel the uneasiness, anxiety, tension, stress, and worry—they are all forms of fear and are caused by too much future and not enough present. When I feel guilt, regret, resentment, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness, they are caused by me focusing too much on the past and not enough on the present. The basic problem is the attachment of my mind to the past and the future and the denial of the now. My present is the key to my freedom. I do not let my mind create an obsession with the future as an escape from the present. My life is now!" --Lou Tice

Jesus is present in your now moments. You are not alone! --Ceitci Demirkova

Here’s a few scriptures to ponder…

“But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil.”  (Heb. 5:14 NASB)

“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,” (Phil. 1:9 NKJV)

“Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, And the righteous will walk in them, But wrongdoers will stumble in them.” (Hosea 4:9 NASB)

Are you ready to step into the season God has for you? If so, get ready for a “shift.” I will be posting more about a transition to the shift in the next day or so.