The Nature of man hungers for many things. Status, being the big man/woman on campus, fame and fortune, drugs, sex, alcohol, just to name a few. Before our conversion our minds may have been in some of these mind frames.
God has to bring us out of ourselves so we can see Him. Instead of hungering for the flesh we are to hunger for the Spiritual things of God. Romans 8:7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God; neither indeed can it be. (A Faithful Version)
G2189 enmity
Original: ἔχθρα
Transliteration: echthra
Phonetic: ekh’-thrah
Thayer Definition:
- enmity
- cause of enmity
Origin: from G2190
TDNT entry: 15:35,3
Part(s) of speech: Noun Feminine
Strong’s Definition: Feminine of G2190; hostility; by implication a reason for opposition: – enmity, hatred, against the law of God.
Total KJV (A Faithful Version)
Psalm 42:1. As the hart pants after the water brooks, so my soul pants after You, O God. 2. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? (A Faithful Version)
This hunger must be created in us before we can feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And this hunger will not come about until we come to see our need for God.
Many feel they are sufficient in themselves. They may have been in the Church for years and feel they have it all together, when in fact, they may have drifted into complacency and don’t even realize it. The longer we are at it the more chance there is of becoming complacent if we are not careful.
We can easily get out of focus in how much we need God. If we look at the example in Romans 7:9. For the good that I desire to do, I am not doing; but the evil that I do not desire to do, this I am doing. (A Faithful Version) This is the same battle we are still fighting today brethren. God had to keep showing Paul his need for God, by showing him the danger of his Adamic nature, Romans 7:24. O what a wretched man I am! Who shall save me from the body of this death? 25. I thank God for His salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of this, on the one hand, I myself serve the law of God with my mind; but on the other hand, with the flesh, I serve the law of sin. (A Faithful Version)
But we can easily drift into pride and feel sufficient in our own abilities. This is why God leaves us this example in 2 Corinthians 12:7. But in order that I might not be exalted by the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to buffet me, so that I might not be exalted. 8. I besought the Lord three times for this, that it might depart from me; 9. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you; for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, most gladly will I boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10. For this reason, I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (A Faithful Version)
Matthew 5:6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled (A Faithful Version)
Those who hunger and thirst will seek God as they should. But the complacent Christians will not.
Jesus left us a good example in Hebrews 5:7. Who, in the days of His flesh, offered up both prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him Who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because He feared God. 8. Although He was a Son, yet He learned obedience from the things that He suffered; (A Faithful Version) If Jesus had to cry out in tears in His prayers, what makes us think we can get by with anything less?
Spiritual hunger is created in us only when we see our need. But we can often see a problem when people try to pressure others into following God; they are pressured into being saved, before they are aware they are lost. This only brings about chaos in their lives.
Once we see what complete failure we are in spiritual matters-brethren we must come to this state—then it is God who can use us as needed.
It was not when the apostles proclaimed their loyalty to Jesus Christ and told Him they would not forsake Him that they were ready to be used properly. But after they forsook Him and fled to the hills—then they were ready to be used by the Master. They had to come to see their need; that they weren’t the men they thought they were. An important lesson for us today-ARE WE THE CHRISTIANS WE THINK WE ARE?
You really have to think about what they went through with all of that. Try to put yourselves in their shoes for a moment. Here was a man that you were with for over three years; you went everywhere together and were close friends. Then on the night the police arrest Him, you not only forsake Him; but you don’t even go back to claim the body after they kill Him. Not like leaving the body in a morgue somewhere, but on the cross for the birds and other creatures to devour.
Mark 13:12. Then shall brother betray brother to death, and the father the child. And children shall rise up against their parents and shall put them to death. 13. And you shall be hated by all men for My name’s sake; but the one who endures to the end, that one shall be saved (A Faithful Version)
Brethren there is coming a time in front of us, where our faith is going to be tested as never before, will we turn and run from our brothers and sisters in Christ?
That had to tear them apart when they thought about it afterwards; even though they knew they were forgiven, that had to be difficult. But God would use this to show them what failures they were in themselves. And after fifty days when Pentecost had arrived, men who acted like cowards, would go on to astound the world with courage, because then, the One who bled and died for them would produce in them. It was after they came to see their need for God that the Master could use them as needed, before that there was too much confidence in themselves.
God must take us through a similar process if we are going to properly serve Him. After enough training God makes us aware of the vast difference between Christ and self. This is part of the preparation that God uses to create in us a hunger to have Christ produce in us, to become more Christ-like. And this usually takes many years before we go through the necessary training.
We often wonder after we apply ourselves—why is it that we still don’t have the victory we were looking for. One may increase their prayer life and Bible study, then wonder why they don’t have deliverance from their problems. Certainty we need to be diligent in our Bible study and prayer—this must be in place. But we often fail to understand the lengthy process that God has taken us through. It is not our zeal that will get the job done; but after we have been through enough training and GOD’S PREPARATION—then we will be ready to be used by the Lord and become vessels of His mercy.
Hebrews 10:36. For you need to have endurance, so that, after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise (A Faithful Version)
Your brother in Christ,
Ron
Spiritual Hunger and God’s Preparation – Ron Volk
March 16, 2024 by Shirley Gohner • Uncategorized • 0 Comments
The Nature of man hungers for many things. Status, being the big man/woman on campus, fame and fortune, drugs, sex, alcohol, just to name a few. Before our conversion our minds may have been in some of these mind frames.
God has to bring us out of ourselves so we can see Him. Instead of hungering for the flesh we are to hunger for the Spiritual things of God. Romans 8:7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God; neither indeed can it be. (A Faithful Version)
G2189 enmity
Original: ἔχθρα
Transliteration: echthra
Phonetic: ekh’-thrah
Thayer Definition:
Origin: from G2190
TDNT entry: 15:35,3
Part(s) of speech: Noun Feminine
Strong’s Definition: Feminine of G2190; hostility; by implication a reason for opposition: – enmity, hatred, against the law of God.
Total KJV (A Faithful Version)
Psalm 42:1. As the hart pants after the water brooks, so my soul pants after You, O God. 2. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? (A Faithful Version)
This hunger must be created in us before we can feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And this hunger will not come about until we come to see our need for God.
Many feel they are sufficient in themselves. They may have been in the Church for years and feel they have it all together, when in fact, they may have drifted into complacency and don’t even realize it. The longer we are at it the more chance there is of becoming complacent if we are not careful.
We can easily get out of focus in how much we need God. If we look at the example in Romans 7:9. For the good that I desire to do, I am not doing; but the evil that I do not desire to do, this I am doing. (A Faithful Version) This is the same battle we are still fighting today brethren. God had to keep showing Paul his need for God, by showing him the danger of his Adamic nature, Romans 7:24. O what a wretched man I am! Who shall save me from the body of this death? 25. I thank God for His salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of this, on the one hand, I myself serve the law of God with my mind; but on the other hand, with the flesh, I serve the law of sin. (A Faithful Version)
But we can easily drift into pride and feel sufficient in our own abilities. This is why God leaves us this example in 2 Corinthians 12:7. But in order that I might not be exalted by the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to buffet me, so that I might not be exalted. 8. I besought the Lord three times for this, that it might depart from me; 9. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you; for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, most gladly will I boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10. For this reason, I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (A Faithful Version)
Matthew 5:6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled (A Faithful Version)
Those who hunger and thirst will seek God as they should. But the complacent Christians will not.
Jesus left us a good example in Hebrews 5:7. Who, in the days of His flesh, offered up both prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him Who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because He feared God. 8. Although He was a Son, yet He learned obedience from the things that He suffered; (A Faithful Version) If Jesus had to cry out in tears in His prayers, what makes us think we can get by with anything less?
Spiritual hunger is created in us only when we see our need. But we can often see a problem when people try to pressure others into following God; they are pressured into being saved, before they are aware they are lost. This only brings about chaos in their lives.
Once we see what complete failure we are in spiritual matters-brethren we must come to this state—then it is God who can use us as needed.
It was not when the apostles proclaimed their loyalty to Jesus Christ and told Him they would not forsake Him that they were ready to be used properly. But after they forsook Him and fled to the hills—then they were ready to be used by the Master. They had to come to see their need; that they weren’t the men they thought they were. An important lesson for us today-ARE WE THE CHRISTIANS WE THINK WE ARE?
You really have to think about what they went through with all of that. Try to put yourselves in their shoes for a moment. Here was a man that you were with for over three years; you went everywhere together and were close friends. Then on the night the police arrest Him, you not only forsake Him; but you don’t even go back to claim the body after they kill Him. Not like leaving the body in a morgue somewhere, but on the cross for the birds and other creatures to devour.
Mark 13:12. Then shall brother betray brother to death, and the father the child. And children shall rise up against their parents and shall put them to death. 13. And you shall be hated by all men for My name’s sake; but the one who endures to the end, that one shall be saved (A Faithful Version)
Brethren there is coming a time in front of us, where our faith is going to be tested as never before, will we turn and run from our brothers and sisters in Christ?
That had to tear them apart when they thought about it afterwards; even though they knew they were forgiven, that had to be difficult. But God would use this to show them what failures they were in themselves. And after fifty days when Pentecost had arrived, men who acted like cowards, would go on to astound the world with courage, because then, the One who bled and died for them would produce in them. It was after they came to see their need for God that the Master could use them as needed, before that there was too much confidence in themselves.
God must take us through a similar process if we are going to properly serve Him. After enough training God makes us aware of the vast difference between Christ and self. This is part of the preparation that God uses to create in us a hunger to have Christ produce in us, to become more Christ-like. And this usually takes many years before we go through the necessary training.
We often wonder after we apply ourselves—why is it that we still don’t have the victory we were looking for. One may increase their prayer life and Bible study, then wonder why they don’t have deliverance from their problems. Certainty we need to be diligent in our Bible study and prayer—this must be in place. But we often fail to understand the lengthy process that God has taken us through. It is not our zeal that will get the job done; but after we have been through enough training and GOD’S PREPARATION—then we will be ready to be used by the Lord and become vessels of His mercy.
Hebrews 10:36. For you need to have endurance, so that, after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise (A Faithful Version)
Your brother in Christ,
Ron