Kingdom Calling Blog…

I was in a church meeting last week when someone brought a word about hunger and how God wanted to create hunger in people for more of Him.

I felt there were some who wanted to respond but were afraid of hunger and what that might look and feel like!

In that moment God reminded me about the blood test I had gone for a few days earlier to speak to me…

I had booked it for mid afternoon because I was busy in the morning and had forgotten it was a fasting blood test so I couldn’t eat or drink anything including my beloved coffee for most of the day, except water.

On the way to the blood test I had a great idea to get some food to eat to leave in the car so I wouldn’t have to wait and could eat as soon as I came out. How desperate to eat was I!

I went in early and surprisingly got straight through and I’m not going to lie the whole time I was thinking I can eat a bit sooner than I thought.

It was almost like I was afraid of being hungry for a moment longer than I needed to be.

I don’t know what I thought was going to happen to me by not eating and I sat in my car and ate my pack of sushi and felt satisfied. Who cared what onlookers thought, I was hungry!

So, finally I’m getting to the point (I knew you were thinking it). I felt that just as I was feeling in the natural there were some who were feeling scared of what it would mean to have this overwhelming hunger for God in a spiritual sense. You want it but aren’t sure how it will feel and this leaves you feeling anxious about responding to an invitation from God to hunger for Him. Did you know that the invitation is open to you right now, it has your name on!

But at the root of this fear is not actually the hunger at all but that the hunger won’t be met and you will just be left continually ravenous, leading to dare I say it-feeling ‘hangry’ spiritually. Nobody wants that!

Somehow we have believed a lie that God will not come through for us. We are anxious that if we want Him so much it could leave us vulnerable and then potentially unfulfilled leading us to disappointment in Him for not ‘filling us’.

But here’s the thing, God cannot resist the hunger we have. He is drawn like a magnet to it. The bible is full of examples of Him coming to feed the hungry. In fact in the story of the boy with the loaves and fishes in the book of Matthew, the food multiplied to feed the multitudes that were present and then there was so much left over they filled 12 baskets!

Wow what an abundant Father He is. He could have multiplied the food so there was just enough but He went over the top to exceed what they needed just because He could, because He is God and because He is just that good! He is always good, even in the midst of the stuff in our lives that is difficult and painful. He cannot be anything other than good because that’s His very nature.

So why if we are hungering and thirsting after Him would He leave us wanting. Why would He not feed His kids?

Luke 11:9-13 MSG

9 “Here’s what I’m saying:

Ask and you’ll get;

Seek and you’ll find;

Knock and the door will open.

10-13 “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?”

So friends let me urge you to hunger for the presence of God and let Him come to you today and overwhelm you with His love and kindness. He is all you’ll ever need and you will never go hungry.

Matt 5:6

6 “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

Photo cred: Anna Hendon who runs a beautiful grazing company called The Bountiful Table. What a picture for us of what the Father wants to provide for us-He sets a table before us to feed us well if we will draw up a chair and allow the hunger to seek after Him for more.