HUNGER

Blessed are they who HUNGER and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled – Matthew 5:6

With much gratitude to the Lord, we round-off our meditations on the “Spirituals” on the note of Spiritual HUNGER! The human mind cannot fathom what God can do in the life of whoever comes to Him with a Holy Hunger for His Spirit and His power. God wants us to deeply desire to experience His purity and power so that we may bless a world that seems to be falling deeper and deeper into darkness with each passing day; so that we may live in victory, peace, and joy in a world that’s wobbling in crisis, confusion, and hopelessness. In the midst of this darkness, people are wrestling with unanswered spiritual questions. Some are hungry and thirsty for God, but their hunger and thirst have not been satiated because much of what they have been given is empty “religion” which cannot offer valid answers to questions of the spirit and of eternity.

For the most part, people have been offered a deity who sits on his heavenly throne, waiting for the world to fail so He can punish it, a distant god who lacks both supernatural ability and an intimate relationship with humanity. Thankfully, such a portrait of an ineffectual god is not the real, living God of Scripture. The supernatural God of the Bible still performs miracles today in order to give answers to a world in darkness. Many people want to know how to have a genuine relationship with this Living God; and those who have already reconnected with Him yearn to be used by Him to manifest His supernatural power on earth. Spiritual Hunger is a fundamental requirement in learning to be led by the Holy Spirit. Of course, one may fake spiritually in Christian circles, but God cannot be fooled. He knows if you’re hungry or not; and that hunger makes all the difference. Jesus said: “Blessed are those who HUNGER and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Mt.5:6).

Are you experiencing a holy hunger for more of God deep down in your spirit man? The more you “eat” the Word, the more your appetite desires more of it. You must go beyond reading and hearing the Scriptures; you must devour them! Let God’s Word and Spirit invade your home and saturate your environment. Keep hearing, assimilating, digesting, and practising the Word. Cultivate an atmosphere of the spiritual all around you: “Let the Word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col.3:16); “do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph.18-19). Those who do not hunger after divine things may not recognize when they come; they miss God’s Moves and their moments of manifestation.

There is always a PRICE for the PRIZE: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the PRIZE? Run in such a way that you may obtain it” (1Cor.9:24). Paul said, “I PRESS toward the goal for the PRIZE of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil.3:14). The Lord Jesus said: “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it” (Lk.16:16). Are you really pressing into the Kingdom? Are you pressing to obtain the prize? Are you ready to pay the price for the prize? Are you truly hungry and thirsty for more of God, His purity and His power? For weeks, one hundred and twenty disciples waited in the Upper Room, with passion and hunger, until God endued them with “Power from on High” on the Day of Pentecost (Lk.24:49; Acts 1:8, 2:1-4). If you’ll pay the price, God will visit you. You will be a living testimony of the reality that God has not ceased visiting men!