Yes,
my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my
salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
Hungering and thirsting for Christ. What does that mean? It means that more than anything else in this world you truly want Jesus Christ to be Lord of your life. You truly want everything out of your life that is not in accordance with His word, His plan for your life. The things you allow that are not right or in alignment with His Word will turn you into something you do not want to be if you allow them to influence you.
The Bible says to guard your heart
and we don’t take that seriously enough.
If we don’t guard our heart, the great deceiver will be glad to take it
off our hands. He is waiting and
lurking, watching for a weak moment. He
will gladly give us everything we think we need. See, we realize there is a
lack. We feel the hunger and thirst and
so often do not seek Christ to satisfy the cravings. We go elsewhere; we turn to the wrong people,
drugs, alcohol, food, etc. We look
everywhere but in the right place and that only leads to more feelings of
emptiness. Until we go to Christ to
satisfy the hunger and thirst we have, we will never be satisfied. We may feel good for a moment but then we may
feel worse than we did to begin with. We
have not filled the vacancy plus now we have sin and consequences to deal with
as well. Don’t compound the
problem. Turn to the only one who gives living bread and living
water. Only He can feed our hungry
hearts and quench our aching thirst.
How can we cultivate more
of a hunger for God?
- Decide
to put forth the effort – It takes discipline and
effort to seek fulfillment from God.
We sit in church and listen to short sermons and think we should be
ready to go for the week. But we
don’t spend time daily reading the Bible and praying because we want to do
other things more. Then we become dissatisfied
and wonder why. It takes a decision
and commitment to have a relationship with Christ.
- Actively seek His
fulfillment – Set aside the earthly cravings you have to
find that fulfillment in Christ. Nothing is more satisfying than
knowing you have done the right thing – the thing the Lord wanted you to
do. Attempting to satisfy
ourselves in any way that is not in obedience to His will can only result
in frustration, guilt, shame, emptiness and discouragement. Spiritual nourishment will come from
living in obedience and within the
boundaries of God’s will.
I believe you don’t truly hunger and thirst for God
until you have been broken; until you have hit rock bottom and you know that
there is nothing else that is going to work but Him. Then you are ready and willing and teachable. You crave His goodness and long for His power
in your life. He is the desperate air
you breathe in; the only thing that is sustaining you. Everything else that you have been
substituting becomes distasteful and His nourishing love is a balm on your raw
and bleeding heart. Now you are ready. Now He can help you. Now you can be nourished.
Scripture to Claim:
My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty
rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to
Him, for God is our refuge
by Lara Cook
