Walk WIth Him Wednesday - Hungering For God

I recently came across a beautiful web site ~ Holy Experience.  "Walk With Him Wednesday" is hosted there and provides an opportunity to share about a spiritual practice that draws us nearer to His heart. Today the topic is Hungering For God.  

Our physical hunger demands attention.  It gnaws at us relentlessly until we provide our bodes nourishment.  Recently I came home and needed a snack. There was a cake that I quickly cut a piece of and ate.  I wanted more.  So, I cut another piece...I still wasn't satisfied.  Being somewhat health conscious, I realized that this cake was not providing the nutrients my body needed for energy, I made a better snack choice and was satisfied.  

Our spiritual hunger may not be so noticeable in our lives. In fact, spiritual hunger often begins as a small  whisper in our hearts.  Sometimes the case may be that our lives stay so busy and there is so many things clamoring for our attention we may miss that still, small voice.  It may begin as we evaluate our Christian lives.  We may have a checklist: 

• Pray? - Check, 
• Read the Bible? - Check,  
• Attend Church? - Check, 
• Extend Love and Kindness To Others? - Check.  

If we are then doing all that we know to do, where are those quiet questions, "Is this all there is?"  "Can I know the Lord deeper?"  coming from?  If we pause and listen to that small voice, we may purpose to draw near to the Lord.  We may do some "feel good" spiritual things.  Read an upbeat devotional, listen to praise music, watch some energetic preaching  on television.  But often, although these may "feel good", they are not the true satisfaction we are seeking.  What we need are true changes that fill our hearts and change our lives.  Changes from being distant to God to drawing near to Him, from a lukewarm heart to a heart passionate for God, changes from mediocre standards to holiness which in integrated in every area of our lives.  Impossible?  To man alone seeking his own way, yes, but when we purpose to satisfy our spiritual hunger by seeking God - nothing is impossible with Him.

God's Word encourages us to "Be still and know that He is God"  Psalms 46:10.  As we hunger for the lasting things of the Lord, by pausing and looking to His Word, He will speak to us.  As we read and reflect on how gracious, loving and powerful He is, our natural response is worship.  True worship causes our hearts to bow down before Him, acknowledging His holiness and our need for the lasting changes that He can make in our lives. We understand the we are His creation, He loves us and wants to fellowship with us.  We understand that the things we put our faith in is often sinking sand, but by trusting Him, He is the Solid Rock. and He will stand forever  When we open our hearts for Him to search, He will reveal things that may need to change.  Things that may have no place in our hearts.  But He will also replace those things not pleasing to Him, with the things that He alone can produce - fruit which is lasting.  Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, meekness etc.  These are life sustaining fruits that begin in our hearts and become a part of who we are, because we are connected to Him.  True communion with Him, brings forth a beauty in us, but causes us to seek out ways to honor Him in our lives.  We have a desire to live holy and allow holiness to direct our paths.  

The greatest thing about spiritual hunger is that God is the source of everything that we will ever need.  Look at these verses:  

• Colossians 1..."and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist...For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,"
• John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
• John 7:38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
• Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled."
• Through the book of John we know that He is the ...Living Bread, the True Vine, the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Door, the Good Shepherd, the Light of the World, the Resurrection and the Life - He is the I AM. 

He is able to satisfy our greatest needs.  May we listen for the hunger pains to draw nearer to Him and be filled to overflowing.