Hunger

Spiritual hunger, that is.  Let's see what John G. Lake had to say about it:



"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

~Matthew 5: 6

Hunger can be a good thing. It is the greatest persuader I know of. It is a marvelous power. Nations have learned that you can do almost anything with a populace until they get hungry. But when they get hungry, watch out. There is a certain spirit of desperation that accompanies hunger. I wish we all had it spiritually.

I wish we were desperately hungry for God. Wouldn’t it be glorious? It would be a strange thing, if we were all desperately hungry for God, if only one or two got filled in a service.

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.”
Righteousness is the rightness of God. The rightness of God in your spirit, the rightness of God in your soul, the rightness of God in your body, the rightness of God in your affairs, in your home, in your business, everywhere. God is an all-around God. His power operates from every side. The artists paint a halo around the head of Jesus to show that there is a radiation of glory from His person. They might just as well put it around His feet or any part of His person. It is the radiant glory of the indwelling God, radiating out through the personality. There is nothing more wonderful than the indwelling of God in the human life. The most supreme example that God ever performed was His taking possession of men. By the Holy Spirit He comes in and takes possession of those who are hungry.

I will guarantee to you that after the crucifixion of Jesus there were 120 mighty hungry folks at Jerusalem. If they had not been exceedingly hungry they would not have gotten so gloriously filled. It was because they were hungry that they were filled.

“Blessed are they which do hunger.”
We are sometimes inclined to think of God as mechanical, as though God just set a date for this or that event to occur. But my opinion is that one of the works of the Holy Ghost is to prepare the hearts of men in advance by putting within them a strong hunger for that event that has been promised by God until it comes to pass.

The more I study history and prophecy, the more I am convinced that when Jesus Christ was born into the world He was born in answer to a tremendous heart-cry on the part of the world. The world needed God desperately. They wanted a manifestation of God tremendously, and Jesus Christ as Deliverer and Savior came in answer to their soul’s cry.

Many look forward to the second coming of Jesus as though mechanically, on a certain date, when certain events come to pass, Jesus is going to appear. I do not see it that way. I believe there must be an overwhelming hunger for the Lord’s coming in the hearts of men so that a prayer such as was never prayed in the world before for Christ to come will rise to heaven. And when it rises to heaven on the part of sufficient souls, it will take Jesus Christ off the throne and bring Him down to earth.

Daniel says he was convinced by the study of the books of prophecy, especially that of Jeremiah, that the time had come when the Israelites should he delivered from their captivity in Babylon; the 70 years were fulfilled, but there was no deliverance. So he diligently set his face to pray it into being (Daniel 9).

If deliverance were going to come to pass mechanically on a certain date, there would not have been any necessity for Daniel to get that tremendous hunger in his soul, so that he fasted and prayed in sackcloth and ashes that deliverance might come. God’s purposes come to pass when our heart and mind get the real God-cry, when the real God-prayer comes into our hearts and the real God-yearning gets hold of our nature. Something is going to happen then.

No matter what your soul may be coveting, if it becomes the supreme cry in your life, not the secondary matter, or the third or fourth, the fifth or tenth, but the supreme desire of your soul, the paramount issue—all the powers and energies of your spirit, soul and body are reaching out and crying out to God for the answer—it is going to come!

Dream: The Importance of Feast Days

"And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever."         Genesis 12:17

"And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever."    Exodus 12:14

I've been thinking about Old Testament regulations a lot recently.  Vanessa and I feel that it's been the Lord who's brought such things to our attention.

See, when God is speaking to Moses about feast days, celebration days, etc...He tends to use the words, 'for ever'.... quite frequently.  And I think there's significance to that.  God didn't say to keep such rules until His Son came.  He could have specified that, but He didn't.  There are many such Old Testament commemorations that God instructed His children to keep, for ever.

"For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."

Matthew 5:18

Even a few things Jesus said have made us think.  Heaven and earth have not yet passed away!  Though I don't have even close to a full revelation on all this, yet, I feel that some of aspects of the Word here just can't be discounted.  To summarize, I'd say that the Law is good (1 Timothy 1:8).

And I had a dream last week that really convicted me.  You know when you have a dream that you just know is from God?  This was one of those.  So, in the dream, I was being shown a pamphlet full of Heavenly revelation.  And I was reading a page that was titled something along the lines of, "The Importance of Feast Days".

On this page, there were several bullet points, and under each bullet there was an awesome description of why God ordained dates and calendars to be the way they were.  As I read more and more, the amount of wisdom and revelation coming through was astonishing.  I realized what God intended when He made things the way He did.  And I read all about the specific reasons for the feast days He established.  Reading through that page was pretty amazing, and I had God's heart for the ancient Israelites conveyed to me in a way that's hard to describe.  I realized in a new way just how meticulous, thoughtful, and wise God is in the things that He does--the things that He does for our own good.

I woke up the next morning remembering the dream, but having completely forgotten the specifics of what I'd read.  And I think that's what God intended.  Some of the stuff I read probably wasn't meant to be made known!  But this dream convicted me of the tremendous physical and spiritual benefits that will come by following God's calendar of religious feasts and fasts.

Like I said, I don't have all this figured out yet.  But I feel like there is something to it.  For now, I'll liken keeping the Old Testament Law--whether by observing feast days, religious fasts, the Sabbath, or dietary rules--to icing on the cake, so to speak.  The Law cannot save you!  Nonetheless, I think it pleases God if His children show a conviction for the Law.  I think it pleases Him if we show our interest and appreciate His workings of the past.   I think that the ancient Hebrew calendar, which God first made for His chosen people and continues to work by, is worth researching.

Fasting: Lifting the Veil and Removing the Blockages

Recently God's revealed to Vanessa and I something that we feel have been overlooked within the Church today.  It's not a 'fun' topic, and it's not something that gets talked about often, but it should be talked about nonetheless.  This topic is fasting.

Remember that Jesus said "when" you fast.  Jesus said "when" you pray.  When, and not if! Christians today have come to realize the importance of prayer, and that's awesome...but what about the importance of fasting?

“And now about fasting. When you fast, declining your food for a spiritual purpose, don’t do it publicly, as the hypocrites do, who try to look wan and disheveled so people will feel sorry for them. Truly, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, put on festive clothing, so that no one will suspect you are hungry, except your Father who knows every secret. And he will reward you."                                                                 Matthew 6:16-18   TLB

Fasting eliminates the distractions caused by over-indulging in food.  Fasting causes hunger, and that leads to desperation.  Fasting causes desperation, and desperation leads us to seek God.  And a hunger for God leads us to rewards from the Father!

Fasting is something we do for our own good!  Fasting feeds the spirit, not the flesh.  It feeds the Spirit of God within us, not our own flesh.  Fasting gives the Holy Spirit free reign.

When we fast and pray, revelation starts to flow.  We can see and hear God more clearly.  We can feel His heart without normal distractions!  It becomes our food to do the will of the Father.  And when we do the will of the Father, He gives us our daily bread and we become satisfied by Him.

FASTING BRINGS BREAKTHROUGH

Right now, there are barriers between us and God's will.  There are blockages, delays, and obstacles opposing what God wants to do.  There are things hindering us from being blessed, and there are things hindering us from overcoming.  There are problems in our life that don't seem likely to ever go away.

Remember, there are some problems that only go away with prayer and fasting.  When desperation is mixed with faith--when fasting is mixed with prayer--breakthrough happens!  When we draw near to God, we can ask for anything in His name.  And when we ask, He allows us to receive for our problems the right solution.  Fasting removes the blockages.

FASTING BRINGS UNDERSTANDING

Right now, there are things we don't understand.  There are situations that we just can't figure out. But we need to remember that Jesus lifted off the veil.  Jesus paid for our spiritual discernment, and He paid in full for our wisdom and understanding.

Now, God does not promise us all knowledge.  But if something impacts us, it's within our area of influence, and it's within our inheritance to understand.  It's within His power to cause us to know.

Fasting allows us to live in a place where we experience wisdom.  We can validate by the Holy Spirit that Jesus really did tear the veil!  We can validate by our walk in the Spirit that Jesus really does give the spirit of prophecy.  We can receive God's perspective on things if we are spiritually hungry enough to attain to it.

There's a time for everything, and for you, it may not be time to fast.  But I believe this is a word in season, and I believe that fasting, combined with prayer, is something that the Church is missing right now.  Imagine what would happen if we all fasted and prayed and became closer to God!  Fasting may be hard, but it's worth the rewards.  And I believe we're missing out.  

Snapshot: True Fasting

I have been seeing lots about fasting recently.  Seeking the Lord about it, I turned to this passage:

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

    and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

    and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

    and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you,

    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;

    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I..."

Isaiah 58:6-9

This is fasting.  Fasting is denying oneself and satisfying the needs of others.  Fasting is to be spent on behalf of others.  Fasting is a journey onwards to being "moved with compassion" (Matthew 14:14).  On a spiritual level, fasting in itself cannot leverage us closer to God.  It cannot automatically push us into His presence.  We must be receptive and hungry for God...regardless of what we do, let's follow this command:

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  1 Corinthians 10:31

Neither feasting nor fasting is much in itself; God is Spirit and the flesh profits nothing.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.