God to be hungry?
Do you think God has hunger pains? At first glance this question has an obvious answer; No! God is not confined to a human body, He is Spirit. He has no need for food. God is self-existent and does not need any outside source to assist Him in sustaining life. However, though He is not physically dependant on food, there is a burning hunger in God that He actively seeks to satisfy.
Today, I have outlined only three and I knew God’s hunger could be a lot more and can not be confined by my three points.
I- GOD IS HUNGRY FOR our LOVE:
Man In His Natural State Has No Real Love For God. Period.
It would be wrong for us to conclude that there are some people who naturally like God and others who do not. The Bible declares that all human beings are at enmity with God. Instead of having love for Him they have a natural nauseating feeling to Him.
"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior." ( Colossians 1:21)
Since the beginning of the dateless past, we can read in the Scriptures the longing of God for us to love Him. “Where Art thou?”.
God’s question to Adam is the first recorded question in the Bible. It was a relevant question of tremendous importance. The question was asked by the God who had walked, talked and fellowshipped with Adam and Eve before and from whom they now shamefully hid. He was their Creator, the all-knowing and all-seeing Jehovah (Psalm 139:1-10) “...O LORD, You have searched me and known me!” If the Lord knew where Adam and Eve were, why did He asked? God did not ask the question for His sake, but for Adam and Eve’s sake. He wanted them to realize where they were and why they were there. They were separated and hiding from the fellowship of God in shame because of their sin!
God missed them!
And Adam and Eve were alienated and there was now a vacuum in their hearts only God can fill. The first question recorded in the Bible is still a relevant and important question for us today. God is still asking “Where are you?” He asks the question to you and me.
He knows the answer.
GOD MISSED US!
GOD MISSES US ALL THE TIME!
How will we respond?
For by grace are we restored in Him through faith in Jesus.
Only through the finished works of Jesus!
Only by believing on Him. Only through His way. The Spirit way. Ezekiel’s 36 of verse25¶Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them had been fulfilled for us today. The Holy Spirit had come and continually fills us! Only through Jesus and in the Holy Spirit can we follow after God’s love. To satisfy His cravings is finding the Source of our longings! Oooohhhh... the feeling is mutual. Just like St.Augustine’s favourite quote: "Our Hearts are Restless Until They Rest in You"
(From the Confessions). Our love would be restless till they rest in You!
God gives us His love, and we should reflect that love back to Him: “We love because He first loved us” ( 1 John 4:19).
Jesus said, “I have loved you just as the Father has loved Me. You must go on living in My love. If you keep My commandments you will live in My love just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and live in His love. I have told you this so that you can share My joy, and that your happiness may be complete. This is My commandment: that you love each other as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this—that a man should lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I tell you to do. I shall not call you servants any longer, for a servant does not share his Master’s confidence. No, I call you friends, now, because I have told you everything that I have heard from the Father. It is not that you have chosen Me; but it is I who have chosen you. I have appointed you to go and bear fruit that will be lasting; so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you. This I command you: love one another”. ( John 15:9-17 PHILLIPS)
This is what God is telling us in Deuteronomy 6:5 “And you must love the Lord Your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” ( Deuteronomy 6:5 NLT ). He is saying; Love Me with all your heart, soul and strength! Let us satisfy His cravings by finding the Source of our longings! Oooohhhh...
Now.
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24) God is seeking us to worship Him. He has a perpetual hunger for relationship with His children.
We can now proceed with our other points, for I believe that the next points hangs on love. For without satisfying and longings of God and our restless hearts, we could not do the next point.
II- GOD IS HUNGRY FOR SOULS:
John4:4 And He must needs go through Samaria.
8(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
31 In the mean while His disciples prayed Him, saying, Master, eat.
32 But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 33Therefore said the disciples one to another, hath any man brought Him ought to eat?
34Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.
See that Jesus in verse 4 “must needs” pass by Samaria denoting such importance. And as His disciples returned from buying food, they found Him talking to the Samaritan woman. Then they told Him to eat something and He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.” This was at around noon and He had been tired, so they would expect He was also hungry. Yet He rejected the food offer, and said He had some other type of food. Doing the will of God who had sent Him! Jesus had just finished talking to the Samaritan woman. He had reached out to her and was already satisfied with that!
Food is primary for human survival. When Jesus says that His food is to do the will of Him who sent Him then what obedience was very primary for Him, that He considered it first. Sort of He wouldn’t survive without doing God’s will. From doing God’s will He would get fulfilment that not even food would offer. Another one is that He had shown that His only satisfaction is to share to that Samaritan woman! To witness. As it turns out, this supposedly unclean woman will soon bring back many people to meet Christ, while the disciples have brought no one. Jesus explains that some work to plant spiritual seeds, while others might be the ones collecting the harvest. Both are valuable and we should be ready for opportunities in either case.
Just like Jesus, we should never get tired of sharing the goodness of God in our life, the transformation He had done on us. For truly, the harvest is plenty but the labourers are few. We must needs to go to our own “Samarias” that we can bring the whole town to the Lord because that is His will and the food that would satisfy His hunger.
What is now the food of Jesus? To do the will of the Father.
What now is the will of the Father? The will of the Father, to satisfy His hunger as exhibited by Jesus is the need to win souls for God. A single soul won is Acts16:31 in action. An Acts 16:31 would definitely be Acts20:20 “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,” From one soul to family to house to house
III- GOD IS HUNGRY FOR our TITHES AND OFFERING:
Tithes and offering is a hotly debated and contested topic inside the church and between churches as well and depends on what side of the fence you are in. It can offend people with set ideas either way. Some churches preach “you must tithe”, some churches teach “complete freedom”. Some avoid this issue entirely because it is too controversial. But somehow, in all of the arguments and discussions, the principles of the Bible about giving, tithing and offerings are somewhat forgotten.
The principle that lead us to one very important conclusion is: It’s not about the tithe and offerings. It’s all about the reason WHY. The principles should be established first that we might understand why God is hungry for our tithes and offering as written in 1Corinthians 9:13-14’s TLB)... “Don’t you realize that God told those working in His temple to take for their own needs some of the food brought there as gifts to Him? And those who work at the altar of God get a share of the food that is brought by those offering it to the Lord. In the same way the Lord has given orders that those who preach the Gospel should be supported by those who accept it.” I purposely have chosen this verse in the New Testament to show forth that tithing is commanded by the Apostle Paul in the early Church. We can learn from it that the Apostle advocates tithes and offerings for one purpose that there maybe food in the House of God, for His workers. You see, when His servants and workers would be hungry, God would be hungry... Let us be reminded of that great verse in Matthew 25:35-40
(The King will say,) “For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me." Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see Youhungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?’ The King will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me,’” (NIV)
It’s a life long desire of God for His workers!
You see, and should understand that when His people goes hungry, He suffers this cravings with them.
Does God need our tithes and offerings?
No.
Psalm 50:10-12, NKJV. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine. IF I WERE HUNGRY, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness.”
From bibleinfo.org:
Why should I tithe? Tithing is a way of teaching us that God must be our first priority. It’s in the Bible, Deuteronomy 14:22-23, TLB. “You must tithe all of your crops every year. Bring this tithe to eat before the Lord your God at the place He shall choose as His sanctuary; this applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn of your flocks and herds. The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives.”
When should I tithe? We are to return the tithe to God first—before we start spending money on other things. Proverbs 3:9, TLB. “Honor the Lord by giving Him the first part of all your income.”
Christ endorsed tithing.
Matthew 23:23, NKJV. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”
For me and for this church;
It’s not just about money, it’s also about ministry.
Our tithes and offering is not as much about giving money as about giving our hearts.
The tithes and offering is not as much about sacrifice as about releasing blessing.
The tithes and offering is not a matter of obligation but an expression of our love.
CONCLUSION:
The Holy Spirit had come and continually fills us! He made Himself know in us, through us and with us. Only through Jesus and in the Holy Spirit can we follow after God’s love. To satisfy His cravings is finding the Source of our longings! This I command you: love one another”.
( John 15:17 ).
God is hungry for our love that we might be satisfied as well. God is hungry for our love because when we can satisfy Him, we would also learn to feed the object of His hunger: Souls! Let us all be reminded of the words of Jesus always, let it reverberate in our souls; “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me” Lastly, the Ministry exists because of this love for God and for those lost souls.... let us continue that we might have workers for that great and final day of rich harvest of souls never seen...
Malachi 3:6 "I am GOD--yes, I AM. I haven't changed. And because I haven't changed....
3:7 You have a long history of ignoring My commands. You haven't done a thing I've told you. Return to Me so I can return to you," says GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies. "You ask, 'But how do we return?'
3:8 "Begin by being honest. Do honest people rob God? But you rob Me day after day. "You ask, 'How have we robbed you?' "The tithe and the offering--that's how!
3:9 And now you're under a curse--the whole lot of you--because you're robbing Me.
3:10 Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in My Temple. Test Me in this and see if I don't open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams.
3:11 For My part, I will defend you against marauders, protect your wheat fields and vegetable gardens against plunderers." The Message of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies.
3:12 "You'll be voted 'Happiest Nation.' You'll experience what it's like to be a country of grace." GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies says so. (TheMsg.)
There is a chain reaction here, a cycle...
first, mark 12: 30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Then, that we might love one another just as He loved us...
And as we love one another, we learn to tithe and offer and give that we might have more workers in the Lord’s Vineyard, more nations in the 10/40 windows to be reached and preached the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and then....
MARANATHA, LORD JESUS!!!
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