HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER GOD
GET OUT OF THE BOAT
February 3, 2015IT TAKES A TEAM TO REALIZE A VISION
February 24, 2015SERIES: OUR NEED FOR REVIVAL
GCC Message
Case study King Josiah and King David.
2 Chronicles 34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.
3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images.
Psalm 63
A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.
1 O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
7 Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me. (NIV)
THE GOD SPACE IN US.
There is a God space in every human being and that space can only be satisfied by God.
It is a spiritual space, it is in the heart and it is relational.
As human beings we are created as spiritual beings, with an emotional part we call our heart or our souls and we have a house we live in which is our body. As human being when that God space is not filled with God calls for attention, we tend not to know how to respond and most times we respond in ways that make more sense to us as human beings.
A few verses that describe thirst and hunger:
Psalms 119:20 My soul is crushed with longing After Your ordinances at all times.
Isaiah 26:9 At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
Psalms 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
Amos 8:11 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.
THIS VACUUM COMES TO US WHEN GOD IS CALLING UPON US TO GET SAVED. BUT IT ALSO COMES TO US WHEN GOD IS CALLING US TO RETURN TO HIM ESPECIALY FOR THOSE OF US WHO MAY BE SLIDING INTO A PLACE OF BEING LUKEWARM OR COLD.
It is God’s call for restoration.
A TIME OF HUNGER IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT SHOULD LEAD TO ACTION.
HOW DOES HUNGER COME FOR THE BELIEVERS?
1. A dissatisfaction with our spiritual state.
When you walk with God for some years, there is a time when our spiritual walk becomes so low. You feel a discontentment in your life; you feel there is more to this life than what you have right now. You are not happy with your service, your prayer times and you do not seem to see the joy of the Lord in your life.
2. A Reminder of our Former spiritual Life.
Some others you get a reminder of your former life. Ps 42: I remember when I used to lead a procession in God’s house. For some of us you remember how you used to be on fire, how you could stop on the road to share your faith, how you used to be the first person to give a testimony.
For Josiah he was reminded about God’s power in the land. The miracles that God had done.
3. A Realization of our bondage to sin.
When you slaken you begin to allow small sins to creep into your life, you begin making some white lies soon the white lies become real red lies.
If you work in finance you begin by not reporting balances to your purchase the next thing is beginning to doctor receipts and as the sin grows.
For guys it begins by strange gazing at women, then it goes to buying sensational newspapers (Red pepper, the Sun etc) then next thing you begin visiting pornographic sites and after that fornication or adultery begins.
PAUL’S DILLEMMA
Romans 7: 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.(NIV)
4. Spiritual Dryness
When you pray it is as if heaven is closed or God has closed his ears.
No longer see fruit in your life, you are totally empty.
You do not have feelings.
You may actually be serving but it is more to fulfilling a task no passion at all.
PEOPLE RESPOND TO GOD IN A NUMBER OF WAYS.
In our hunger for God we usually respond by:
1. SINFUL RESPONSE
· Seeking power and authority to drive other people around
· By seeking relationship with others, we want someone to love us and if they don’t we feel rejected.
· We sometimes we deal with this by physical cravings like: food, gluttony or alcohol and many become drunkards or alcoholic or addicted to drugs. Other people become addicted to sex, that is why we have many young girls allowing themselves to be sexually compromised with the hope that they will be loved, many men get involved in adultery, masturbation, and even pornography.
2. BY DOING INSTEAD OF BEING.
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Working hard on our jobs. People have a saying: “ God helps those who help themselves.” This is not in the Bible.
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By good works, giving to the needy, contributing to good causes.
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By church services. Morning glory, lunch hour, evening glory. Attending all kinds of spiritual programs.
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Being in every ministry in the church. Ushering, choir, prayer group etc.
3. THE BETTER WAY.
Seek After God.
What does He say?
It is Prayer, it is time in his word the Bible, thinking about him.
The Message Bible says Jeremiah 29:12-13
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BEGIN SEEKING GOD?
You begin to get into a love relationship with God.
You begin to see yourself as you are.
You begin to see the road blocks between you and God.
YOU BEGIN TO SEE YOUR IDOLS
· Idols are those things that take the place of God in our lives. Idols can be things but they can also be people.
· Idols are those things that take the priority of God in our lives.
· Idols can be sinful things but they can also be things that look very innocent.
Story of the rich young man:
Matthew 19:16-24. He loved God but his riches took first priority in his life.
a) Work
b) a spouse or fiancée
c) property like a car, house etc.(our neighbor who never allowed anyone in their car)
d) love for money
e) Education
Witch-craft Superstition and many of what we mentioned above.
A. When you recognize an idol act immediately and decisively.
· Repent of that sinful Action.
· Put yourself in a place of that generates more hunger for God.
· Be near people who are on fire for God.
· Read book and listen to stories of people that had experiences with God.
· Get in the presence of God through worship, prayer and the fellowship of the saint.
· When the burden to seek after God comes respond.
FALL IN LOVE WITH GOD.
Hunger is about that deep desire to fall more in Love with Jesus.
