Hungry?

I love food. LOVE it. No, seriously, I could pretty much eat all day long. I love to try new foods, to experience new tastes and textures. I love eating, as is indicated by the sheer joy expressed on my face in the picture. It's a cupcake. A carrot cake cupcake. The most delicious carrot cake cupcake on the face of the planet. It was sheer bliss in a pretty pink box.

In all of my eating I have learned one thing. Food is ALWAYS better when you're hungry. It's true. A perfectly grilled steak is delicious, but if you are hungry peanut butter and jelly on stale bread is heavenly. This got me to thinking, what am I hungry for?

The Bible is littered with references to food, mainly in Jesus being like food: "I am the bread of life." -John 6:48, "but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." -John 4:14 Jesus was on to something with this hunger thing.

The following is an excerpt from the book Expecting Miracles by Heidi & Rolland Baker, who run Iris Ministries. They have spent YEARS, decades really, of their lives in Africa ministering to the poorest and most impoverished people in the world.
I spend a lot of time at the garbage dump. It is my favorite place to be. The people there are so hungry that when it comes time to eat, they literally stomp on each other. They are so desperate that they push and shove each other in order to get to the food first. It does not sound nice, I know, but the ones who scream the loudest and push the hardest get fed first. The ones who press in always get the bread.

I have witnessed this time and again, so I asked God, "What is this, God?" He said, The ones who are hungry get fed. The ones who are thirsty get to drink.

The visual image that is created in that text is heart-wrenching and at the same time so filled with truth. People climbing over each other, pushing, shoving, doing whatever it takes to get to the food. As I was reading this passage in the book the Holy Spirit reminded me of a passage of scripture, Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. There it is again, HUNGER!

Have you ever been REALLY hungry? Ravenously hungry? A few months ago I was extremely hungry. It had been a couple days since I had really eaten anything and I was (or at least felt like) I was starving. That evening I made spaghetti and rolls for dinner, nothing fancy, seriously, pasta sauce from a jar and Pillsbury rolls. The plate didn't even hit the table before I had pretty much vacuumed the food off of it. I was hungry, and that meal that night was fit for a king.

There has to be a reason why Jesus uses the word "hunger." I am no theologian, nor biblical scholar but I think it may be because everyone has been hungry at one point or another. So the question that begs an answer is this, what are you hungry for?

Jesus himself said that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled, and throughout the Old Testament and the New the Bible talks about being hungry for the Lord and His kingdom. Jesus wants us hungry. He wants every believer everywhere to be continually hungry for more of Him, of His presence, and of His supernatural power. We, as believers, we never meant to get to a place of "fullness," that is to say, we are not meant to get to a place where we say "Whoa, God, I'm full now, you can stop with the outpouring of yourself." And at the same time, we are never to stop pressing in to Him and asking for MORE! I know what you're thinking, you're thinking "Liz, even when you are ravenously hungry, eventually you get full." And you're right, you do, but there is a difference between being filled with the Spirit of God and being overflowing with the Spirit of God.

If I take a glass and put it under the water dispenser that is in the door of my refrigerator and just hold it there, what happens? The water dispenses in to the glass and the glass gets full. But, what happens if I don't move the glass? The water will continue to fill up the glass, eventually overflowing from the glass, spilling on to the fridge, the floor, and wetting everything it touches. EVERYTHING it touches. Jesus is the same way. He wants to permeate our lives to the point of overflow so that everything WE touch gets HIS touch.

In order to get to the point of overflow we have to start eating, devouring, ravaging the meaty things of Him. His word, spending time with Him in prayer, soaking Him up. It isn't enough to live on spiritual "junk food" and then wonder why we aren't full to the point of overflow. We live in a world of convenience, and if it doesn't come with a drive-thru window, get rich quick promise, or the claim of "bigger, better, faster, with less work" we don't want it. We fill our days will spiritual marshmallow fluff, CDs, radio, Christian television, books, and wonder why God still seems distant. Don't get me wrong, I love a good worship album, and part of the excerpt of this blog I took from an amazing book, but DO NOT under any circumstances substitute those things for the actual presence of the Holy One.

Get hungry. Seek Him. Overflow to everything you touch. STAY HUNGRY. THAT is how revival is going to happen. THAT is how we will change the world. THAT is how more people will see supernatural miracles. THAT is how we will change the Kingdom of heaven. THAT is how people will get saved.