HUNGER FOR GOD

Are you hungry? Do you ever get hungry? Hunger is synonymous with life. A baby cries because it is hungry. Wherever there is life, there is hunger. A corpse doesn’t eat anything. Why? Because a dead person isn’t hungry! Hunger is a powerful force; not only in the physical world, but in the spiritual one also.

The mark of a truly born-again soul is a hunger for God: to know Him more and to live in obedience to His Word. I have met people who told me, “I can live how I like now that I’m born again! No matter what happens, I’m going to heaven!” Deception! The truly born-again soul will delight in God and keep His Word. A sheep of the Lord follows the Shepherd. If there is no fruit of sanctification, there has been no justification. He that has born of God overcomes the world; he doesn’t flirt about with it!

Jesus pronounced His blessing on the hungry, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6; Luke 6:21). And Peter urged us, “as newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). Many times we search, in fear and trembling, for a testimony of our salvation, and a sincere hunger for God, His Word and His presence is one of the surest signs of redemption.

A brother in the Lord told me yesterday, “When I was born-again, I couldn’t stop reading the Bible; I read it day and night. I couldn’t put it down. I didn’t know what was happening to me!” This is an evidence of Holy-Ghost given hunger. Once we desired the things of this world; but by regeneration, our longings and affections have been turned God-wards and He has become our life, our light, our joy, our salvation, our supreme and everlasting pleasure. In a word, Jesus has become our ALL. A child of the devil does not desire God; he hates Him!

The church is to be a hungry place for hungry people. History teaches that revival always comes to the hungry. In January 2010, we need to ask God to make us hungry again. In too many places of worship we find games and strategies taking the place of prayer and the Word of God; but they have left us empty. The consequence is that many poor believers don’t know where to go: they are hurting, confused and distressed. There is a real famine for the Word of the Lord in our days; and the multitudes are crying out for bread.

How do we remedy the situation? The answer is to exalt Christ again in our pulpits, churches and lives. Before the great Methodist revival came to Britain in the 18th century, there was barely a church left that preached the pure Gospel of Christ. And I fear, that as a general rule, Europe as a whole is now under that same predicament. Why do we need to preach the glory of Christ again? Because He is that Bread sent down from heaven! He is the One that will fill the hunger of the needy. He said, “I am the Bread of life; and he that comes to me shall never hunger” (John 6:35).

In 2009 I have seen first-hand the hunger for the reality of God that is present in 21st century Europe. The longing for God has not disappeared. There are multitudes willing to battle for the truth of the Gospel if we only give them a reason to fight! In the words of BH Clendennen, “There is a hunger for reality!” It is time to get fed up with superficial spirituality and cheap religious games! It is time to get hungry again!

Ask Him to make you hungry. Are you hungry for Him?