March, 2001 "Are You Hungry?"

The greatest day of celebration in the Christian faith will be upon us in April - Resurrection Day. Truly it is a day for which to prepare our hearts - a good season to assess our Christian walk - to look at our character development and check out our "growth curve" of faith.

There are many traditions that precede Easter. The most common is to set aside the 40-day period known as Lent, which is defined as a season of fasting and penitence. I would like to encourage you to spend this time of lent in fasting and meditation, but also to ask you to consider extending and including these disciplines into your daily lifestyle.

Why would you want to do this? I believe that this type of lifestyle will develop a more intimate relationship with the Lord and will increase the anointing in your life for ministry. But first I want to make it very clear that we "fast" not because of the thinking that says, "If I fast and pray and pay the price and work hard, then God will be pleased with me and reward me."

The reason we fast is so that we can give up things that are distracting to our relationship with God - things that might keep us from hungering after Him. God longs for us to be in love with Him. So as we draw near to God, because of His love (not out of fear or trying to earn His pleasure), then areas of darkness get removed and then He can release power through us without it hurting us, as He uses us to help others.

Many times, we must give up the old things, in order to receive new things from God. Do you desire the fullness of His grace? I do. But that can be scary because it is costly and it does require us to make choices. To whom or to what do you choose to abandon yourself? Be honest with yourself as you think about it.

Fasting is not just about food. It covers many areas of our lives. Mike Bickle teaches a seminar called Friends of the Bridegroom (www.fotb.com) referring to John the Baptist and all of us who long for that close fellowship with Jesus, the Bridegroom. He states in the syllabus on page 38 that there are three realms of power and human strength - time, physical energy and money. Time, as the saying goes, is money, because what we spend our time on yields a harvest. There is power in time. Prayer takes hours. Worship and intimacy with God take time to develop as you linger in close communion with Him. Money is a source of power. Food and physical strength are also sources of power. John the Baptist preached on these three things. Jesus spoke of them in Matthew 6, His Sermon on the Mount.

How are you using your power? What choices are you making with your time, money and physical body? What are you really hungering for? In Matthew 5, Jesus said if you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you will be filled. Check your gauge - full or empty or full of the wrong stuff?

I like to use this analogy about food to depict spiritual hungering. If you spend the day snacking on chips, candy, pop or other junk food and dinner time arrives, will you be hungry? What if that dinner was your absolute favorite - t-bone steak grilled on the BBQ, served with mushrooms, onions, baked potato and all the fixings, garlic toast, nice crisp, tossed green salad - YUM, YUM? Well, there is no way that you would be able to eat and enjoy it to the greatest pleasure if you are full already. Oh, I can hear some of you saying, "Yes, I could and I would!"

Well, we fill ourselves with so much of the pleasures of the world sometimes that there just isn't room to "feed on" much of God. Oh, we get a little nibble here on Sunday morning, a little taste there on Wednesday night, a bigger share on Christmas - maybe…. Oh, you get the picture, right?

I was just thinking of a television program that was on years ago starring Danny Thomas called "Make Room For Daddy." He had a heart of gold for his family and was always trying to do what was best. Often it seemed that things weren't going right, but in the end it always came out for the best. (Which then reminded me the t.v. show "Father Knows Best.")

God is our Father, and He always does know best. I think sometimes He must be saying to us, "Make room for Daddy." Do you need to make room in your life for more of your Heavenly Father, your Abba, your Daddy?

Why not pray this prayer right now? "Father, Daddy, help me abandon myself to You. Empty me of myself and the things of the world so that You can fill me up with Your grace and Your Holy Spirit. I really do want to hunger for You. Help me, Lord."

You can trust that God heard you if you just prayed that because He loves to answer you when you ask for more of Him. And if He heard you, He will answer you! (1 John 5:14-15)

Be His in Everything.
L.O.V.E., Patty

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