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Hungering for God
There are two groups by Chris Priebe, 2000-08-12
When I was in Bible school, in fact wherever I am in regards to the Church. There seems to be two groups. There is one group when they open their Bible they find something, when they pray they meet God, when they suffer hardship they keep going, when they go to Church they find something in the service.
There is also another group. It seems strange but they can do all the same activities, they can read the Bible, pray, go to Church or whatever, and this is what hints me that the way to being on fire is not a series of actions, it is something else. For you see, they do all the same things but they complain that the service was boring, or they struggle staying awake. As they read the Bible they turn the page to see how much print they must read on the other side. They go to prayer but soon find their thoughts drifting off and they look back on the words and wonder if they have only said them before.
futbolmamasita writes on 2001-08-07
I agree with this article very much. I sometimes find myself in both groups. In one more than I want to be. I have actually started trying to make myself more on fire for God. Let me tell you, it is not easy, but don´t give up....keep trying. God will help you through it. We need to be in the first group more than the second...so if you´re in the second...ask for God´s help...He always wants you on fire for Him...so I know He´ll help. Don´t be in both.
ghoffmanpdx writes on 0000-00-00
I think that one of the more unfortunate things to happen when you "try to make yourself on fire for God", is that a lot of people end up just seeking that rush. We did a play here called ETERNITY in February. Very intense, very emotional, VERY true. A lot of people came closer to God from having been a part of that production, and it was awesome. But, there were the few that got their high, hung around for a few weeks, and then left because they had come down. I have to admit to being one of the ones that had felt the coming down for myself, and I eventually fought it off, and now have a REAL purpose, instead of just looking for my next high to feel on fire for God.
deecee4jaycee writes on 0000-00-00
I believe that the key to staying out of group two (for I also believe that we have all been there) is attitude. If I show up for Sunday worship and think "I¥ve heard it all, I hope Pastor has something NEW for me" then what do you suppose I am going to get? If I show up to Sunday worship and prayerfully think "Father, what do I need to hear from You today" what do you suppose I will find? Remember, God does not MAKE us worship Him we choose to, therefore the responsibility lies with us. This is much like the advice my Grandmother gave me after my marriage to the man that I dearly love...."Marriage is something YOU have to work at every day"....see I can¥t depend on my husband to make the marriage work, I have to work at it too....you chose God and now you cannot depend on Him to do ALL the "work".
D-lite writes on 2002-05-07
Iíve heard that standing in a garage does not make you a car, just like going to church doesnít mean youíre a Christian. I guess the same can be ture for worship and communion with God. Entering through the doors of the sanctuary does not transform one into a worshipper any more than sitting in a school transforms one into a student. It just so happens that sometimes students do sit in schools and it happens that sometimes worshipper do worship in a sanctuary. But they can worship anywhere else just as well. They do not need a sanctuary for worship, although it may be convenient.
Itís not in the doing of the activities that we are drawn to God in worship. We are always drawn to God from our inner being. ìFor in my inner being I delight in God¥s lawî (Rom 7:22). Unless the Holy Spirit is drawing our spirit, we can show up for as many meetings as it gives and our hearts will remain cold to God. ìI pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.î (Eph 3:16-17 a). I pray that God will increase my desire to delight in Him (Ps 37:4 ) and that He would never let the fire in my spirit be reduced to embers and die as ashes.
thalteman writes on 2003-11-06
Acutually, I see it somewhat different, that there are more than just the two groups. There are those who referred to in the Bible as Pharisee´s, Sadduccees´, Legalists, and a host of others who have many diverse ways to study tbe Bible as well as to see it differently. I have often turned the page to gage myself allowing I had the time to not rush, and if need, place a book marker a return to the chapter at a time I could complete my study. Also, no two people ever see the Bible in the same light, for some it offers a way to journey to salvation, others look at it as how it prevents them from doing the things they want to do their way and also try to follow God, (which of course you cannot have your cake and eat it too, or better, you cannot serve both God and Mammon), but many will try to walk the wider path rather than stumble through the narrow. When we walk the narrow path, often during the most trying times, we often fit into the category of "FOOT PRINTS IN THE SAND", where we are not struggling, but God is by trying to carry us through the hard or difficult times to get us to the other side so we will once again find that narrow path and once again Journey on His (Gods")road again. The Paths that each take, either to follow God or to follow another, are many and as diverse as there are peoples. The Bible states we are to try to tell one at least once about his (Gods´) concern for us and our needs to be part of the his church, but if we fail to succeed (Oxymoron) then we are not held accountable, for at least we tried. Too, a seed has been planted, and like the mustard seed, well, who knows. We all, each and everyone of us, has a different approach tothe things in life that require choises and decisions or of not doing either, there will be a consequence/s. I often say jokingly, when asked a difficult question I am either unable to answer or route one to where an answer is available I tell them prayer often works/helps, because I once had the book that had all the answers was swiped by another and they now know it all. :-) [Don´t I wish!] But, in all earnet, our actions speak louder that words, a picture is better than a thousand (or more words) we can only try, and with the assistance of our Lord Jesus the Christ and God the Father and the messengers he sends, not all will seek or choose to follow Christ and God, so we must continue to seek through prayer to help those who will not seek the kingdom of God. Amen
Group one - dry spiritually by Chris Priebe, 2000-08-12
I have talked to both kinds of people. I was talking to one of my friends and asked him how his spiritual life was going. He began to cry and tell me how for the last few months he had wanted to meet God. He had tried to read the Bible and pray and go to Church but every time he did it came up dry. Over time he had given up and could not even find the strength to bother trying anymore.
And this happens. Sometimes when people grow up in the Church and they learn about God all their life - He almost becomes an academic study and not a real person. They might have gone to a Christian school and they learned a lot but now they do not care, God has become commonplace. They are what we call dry.
deecee4jaycee writes on 0000-00-00
Dryness can happen to any human....The Israelites became "dry" during the gift of manna and began to complain (imagine food falling from heaven yet, it became "common"), David became "dry" after he became King (David could have anything in this world that he wanted, including wives, and so he began to want one that he could not legally or morally have), and like these men of the Bible we have all seen many "miracles and wonders" from God (my salvation was one, a restored marriage was another, food on the table-brought by dear Christian friends when we had none, a mother who has cancer and was given three months who is still alive almost a year later and doing fantastic) yet, if I let God become "common" in my heart I will become "dry".
D-lite writes on 2002-05-07
Is dryness optional? Does everyone experience spiritual dryness at some point? Did Jesus ever become spiritually dry?
Perhaps we allow ourselves to be led into a spiritual dessert. Oh, we would never go there knowingly or willingly, but perhaps we might ìwanderî there on itís edges and before we know it, weíve gone too far to get back in time to be refreshed. So, our souls languish, until we cry out with thirst and hunger and are rescued again.
Spiritual dryness is in fact optional ñ because there is never a need for us to be spiritually dry again. ìÖBut whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14 ).
However, because we are prone to wander, we may find ourselves in that place ñ but we donít have to stay there. I love Rev 7:15-17 , ìTherefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
jive writes on 2002-12-19
A Healed Heart
Life¥s little trials can seem so hard.
The years go by and the wounds become scars.
The impact is gone, but the pain never healed.
With the walls we build up, we forget how to feel.
Our emotions we bury deep down inside,
and we cover them over with a mound of pride.
We distance ourselves from all who come near,
living our lives in a world of fear.
Not ever knowing who we can trust.
Who will stand by us,
and who will give up.
And the lives that we live seem to be in vain.
As we all try to live to avoid more pain.
But the answer truly lies in opening up,
and allowing God in with his loving touch.
Then freedom you¥ll feel as your love overflows.
For where there was once pain, joy now grows.
-Steven Jones
thalteman writes on 2003-11-06
I refer to it as that your friend was required to go to church and or Services, and was not allowed to mature in seeing the actions from others who truely belived and who gave milk before giving big chucks of partially cooked meat to gnaw on. For many, it takes the patience of a saint to reach those who are trying and need God in their lives. MAny a Aunt or uncle, Grandparents, and yes, even parents, have gotten through to those in need. They may seem hard to find, but I have often found the harder you try the more you over look. We saw for example, the raging fires that devastated parts of California, the roar of the fires, the crackling of the timbers and of homes and buildings when they went up in flames,"BUT" we never heard all of Gods´ other creatures as "they were devoured by the same ragging inferno. For them it was Hell on earth with no respite. Kind of makes me think of another place I have absolutely "NO" desire of going to, and with God and Jesus´ help, I will avoid that pitfall. I am glad there is what is referred to as "the eleventh hour", that is cutting it short mind you, but if you miss it altogether, there only the fire left, scary. We can all pray for this person (as I am going to do anyway) cause "PRAYER WORKS!" I know that God is real because of how he has perfomed for one, many healings in my life, prevented death through various means, and there have been so many of the mysterious ways in which God has intervened in my life, I shall always be a believer. AMEN
JesusLovesUS writes on 2005-09-01
this is a very interesting subject as alot do get dry spiritually although this is my point of view and alot of people have different views but been dry spiritually i think that people before they realised they were dry they alone must have been drifting before god because god always has his hands out for you wanking you to come unto him and this guy thats dry spirially i think then realised he was dry when he saw the lord wasnt working in his life i think people who give up on the lord and think they know everything and nothing new is happenining in their life i think its false and they arent 100% true to god as nobody in a full life time can learn absolutly everything their is to be known about god theres always something new we will learn no matter what and i for one hope i keep my point oif view until the day i die because im always hungy for gods word and i will pray for those that arent amen!
sue p writes on 2005-11-23
I believe there are times in all Christian´s lives that they feel God is not with them any longer. But those are the times that we need to be in the Word more than ever. I am reading from Oswald Chambers Greatest Works right now. He is doing a study on Job. Now Job went through a spiritually dry period, but he never lost faith. That is the lesson we all need to learn. For what was happening to Job was between God and Satan, not God and Job. But he didn´t know that, but he kept his faith. How do we know if during our spiritually dry period there is something between God and Satan and our soul is the battleground. God blessed him very much after it was over.
Group two - hungry for God by Chris Priebe, 2000-08-12
Others I know, especially the new in faith but also the old, hunger and thirst for the things of God. I think of some of our Russian friends who were not able to grow up with God, where it was illegal to study God as a child and people would be sent to Siberia for doing such a thing. When I gave them their first Bible they often were overwhelmed with thankfulness even to the point of tears. I would see them again in a few weeks and they had already read the first fifth of the Bible. I have even seen that here in Canada, so let us not be discouraged to thinking that we must be from another country to be on fire for God. But yet we can learn one thing, the absence of the freedom to know God tends to make one more hungry to know these things, and it is this hunger that we seek.
Another man, 99 years old at the time, sat me in his room at the hospital in 3 hills Alberta. Then he went on and quoted to me half the third chapter of John. He showed me his large print Bible with super strong magnifying class that he would strain through to study the Word. He pulled out his notes and shared his latest reflections and pointed out his Bible on cassette collection that he, and his younger friend, only 96 would listen through every 3 months. May God give me a soul that hungers after Him even at that age. Even at an age when I have heard it all, when I have read it so many times and yet it is still interesting, not because it is new but because my soul is hungry to hear it again, spoken once more by the one my heart loves.
restless_poet writes on 0000-00-00
Recently my Grandmother, age 86, and I, sat for 8 1/2 hours (from 6 pm until 2:30 am, no less!) crying and worshipping the Lord together. We¥d both been church-attenders as long as we could remember, but shared with each other how we had both only about 3 years before begun to realize the difference between religion and an intimate relationship with the Lord... so we worshipped God together for His grace and goodness. It¥s amazing, we can change from dry to hungry at any time... whether we¥re a youth, middle-aged, or old! Isn¥t it wonderful?
deecee4jaycee writes on 2002-03-01
Just an observation....I think that most of us view hunger as something that can be satisfied and therefore we miss the fact that true hunger is never satisfied for it returns...when we feed our body it is good for a few more hours then, it begins to cry for food again....the same with our spiritual hunger, yes, it can be filled for a time but, then the hunger pangs begin to gnaw and we must either feed them or let them starve. No wonder some spiritual lives resemble skeletons!
D-lite writes on 2002-05-07
I wonder why Ö why do many Christians have so little excitement in their lives? Why do many seemingly not know how to worship and commune with God? Why do many not witness? ìYou are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden Ö In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.î (Matt 5:14 ).
Can it be that hunger for God needs to be nurtured and developed? I observed in my childrenís growing up years that it was very good for them to learn how to wait. This waiting period served to build anticipation and enhanced gratification when they received that for which they had waited. Often children who receive things before they need or desire them donít appreciate things as much. For instance, if I bought my son a new bike before his old one needed replacing, he probably would not have appreciated the new one as much (as if he had really needed it). When I was a kid, a loved Campbells Vegetable Soup. My Mom never bought canned foods. So, when I was at my teacherís house, this little treat was very special. The greater the need or anticipation the greater the appreciation and satisfaction in return.
I grew up in a community where there was a strong Christian presence. This had its good sides, but it also had some drawbacks. I found it difficult making friends. You see, very few parents allowed their children to associate with my siblings and me. My father was an alcoholic and other parents feared that their children might be adversely drawn into a life style.
Perhaps as Christian parents we should think carefully and plan intentionally how to best help our children create a desire in their hearts to love and serve God? How do we teach our children to have compassion on those less fortunate? How do we teach them to love, accept and reach out to those that are different from us? How do we stimulate passion for God and the lost souls of the world? "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.î (John 8:12 ).
Growing up in a Christian home is not enough. It only lays the foundation. But one must know how to build on the foundation in order to have a functional and beautiful home. My daughterís best friend between grades 3-7 came from one of the worst homes in our community. Her father was an alcoholic. I had no fear that this would influence my daughter negatively. The girls spent most of their waking hours together and often their sleeping hours too (at pajama parties at our house). Her friend knew that she was welcome in our home anytime - she never needed an invitation. But she also knew that my daughter would not come to her house. Simply because there was no responsible adult to watch over them. She in no way felt rejected, only even more cared for at our house - it was place of refuge for her. ìBut whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.î (John 3:21 ).
userlw80 writes on 2002-07-04
I stay hungry for God. I know that no matter what happens to me I know that God is always in control and it makes me hunger more and more for him. I hunger for his word, his spirit, and to know the heart of God. I try to be the best Bible I can be.
seekker writes on 2003-04-06
Over my 20 something years with the Lord, I have been in both camps ... the hungry, and the not so hungry ... for a while I kind of took God for granted, and forgot that He was .. well ... GOD ...
I also discovered that in myself, I couldn¥t make myself BE hungry ... no matter how much I might want to be or tried to do it in my own strength ... so, my heart¥s cry became: Lord cause me to hunger and thirst after You with my whole being ...and over time, He has done exactly that ... my life with my Heavenly Father today is richer than at any other time in my life ... and I¥m finding the more that I seek His face, the more I need Him, and therefore the more I need Him the more I need to seek His face ... I am at the place where I can never get enough of Him ... I desire to be in His Presence every moment of every day ... to include Him in every area of my life ... to make Him a part of every thing I think, say or do ...
I just thank God that He is faithful and that He knows our hearts even better than we do, and that He is always there reaching out to us no matter where we are or what we have done ... and that He can make us hungry when we are not ... all we have to do is ask ...
ioweHim writes on 2003-05-22
This really touches by heart. Oh, how I pray that I´m always that hungry for God. Not just to learn, but to really know Him.
thalteman writes on 2003-11-06
I would like to add here a little something that is the opposite of this story of people who hunger for God! I loved my Great Grandmother dearly, and she went to church regularly, prayed, read the Bible and did mostly what a good christian would/should do. But there was another side of her that came to light, twice that I am aware of a) The first was that she belonged to a church that did not believe in doctors, and in one particular case a young child died in not getting the medical help he required and these same well learned well educated people, when they were sick, yeah you guessed it, they immediately rushed to the doctor. and b)when My great grandmother became ill, she not only blamed God, she cursed him! (until she was better) then she became pious once more. There are strange people with strange ideas, and one of them was in my family. There are many who proclaim, but few who truely follow. waivering is allowed, but we have to be sincere as to reason/s so we do not loose sight of christianity, as it will be a costly mistake in the end come "ITS rewards. It is said, that when Jesus comes, he will come with eachs´ rewards, and if none are earned there will be none given! Amen
boilermaker writes on 2007-03-07
Hungry I am! The Lord fills me with a hunger for him, and the will and drive to continue my search to feed my hunger and learn, give, and respect our God. He leads me to places to learn, to websites like this one, to places where I can fill my soul and heart with his news. If you continue to Hunger , he will continue to feed you. God Bless
jesus4life@sbcglobal.net writes on 2009-03-17
I would like to thank you for having this discipleship class free in tne internet. This is an answer to my prayer. I wanted to study but the cost of going to school prevented me from doing so. I truly believed that God can do miracles and wonderful things. I want to know him more and eagerly serve His Kingdom.
The difference is hunger by Chris Priebe, 2000-08-12
And that is what I have learnt to be the different between the two groups, one is hungry and the other is not. And this must be one of our prayers for ourselves and for those we work with. For unless a person is hungry you can tell them to read the Word all you want but it will do them no good unless they want to be fed. You can ask them to come to youth but why should they care? You can bring them to Church but they think they have nothing to learn, nothing more to experience. You can teach them all you want but unless they are hungry they will not care. Pour your life into them all they want but until they are hungry little will happen. But once they become hungry you do not have to try very hard to give them spiritual food, no, they come looking for it. They come to Church and desire to learn and grow. They can go to the worst service in the world and God shall meet them there for God can fill a hungry soul. When they read the Bible they will not be able to put it down, when they pray they will not be able to get the words out fast enough. So then, we must first be hungry and pray that those we disciple are hungry before we bother with other things. That is why I say these things to you now.
deecee4jaycee writes on 0000-00-00
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6
Happy are those that hunger and thirst...I like that...to me it says that they have tasted the food or the "milk" of God¥s Word once and were "filled" so to speak, then as they "digested" the Word it became "understanding" and so they desire to eat and drink again. To me it is not the same as "seeking" God¥s Word for seeking implies looking for something not yet found.
Don´t lose your hunger by Chris Priebe, 2000-08-12
But let us not deceive ourselves that once a person is hungry they will remain that way for many things cause us to forget our hunger. The business of the world, the Devil loves that tool, steals the hunger from a person slowly but ever so truly. Unrepentant sin causes the heart to ignore God for God will bring up the sin once more (but the grace and overwhelming love that fills the soul when it finally deals with God makes us wonder why we wait). Even when one just gets into a routine and the spiritual becomes normal and one loses focus and it is no longer done to meet God but just to get it done. These things take away one´s hunger.
And so in my life I have days when I cannot do anything but read the Bible and I have days when I sleep through sermons. And so if you find yourself dry and yet you do not hunger and thirst for the living God do not write yourself off as no good to God but come unto Him.
Arnet Hales writes on 2001-05-25
Jesus reminds us in the Book of Revelation that our labours, suffering and endurance count for little if we have lost our first love. I am reminded as well of the early days of my conversion, the hot desire to share and to know God. Years have past, Bible school and seminary, much good learning, yet it is only recently that I have regained that hunger of the early days, and with the hunger comes the renewed excitement. It all has to do with the focus that we have on where we are going. Do you remember the words to that old chorus: "Heaven is a wonderful place, filled with glory and grace, I´m going to see my Saviour´s face, heaven is a wonderful place." The more that the truth of these few words sinks into our souls the more we will understand and know God, and the deeper will be our worship.
thx
Arnet
deecee4jaycee writes on 2002-03-01
Again I am struck by the fact that the responsibility is ours....the hunger is NOT gone it is only squashed by our human desires...in each case mentioned the hunger was refound after many years or days....it did not leave it was forced down.....by who? By us! God has promised that He will never forsake us or leave us....We leave Him....
D-lite writes on 2002-05-27
Spiritual anorexia: Losing hunger for God is spiritually a very dangerous condition. This is truly all about worship and the object or focus of our worship. The analogy of ìphysical hungerî may be inadequate to describe the heartís true spiritual condition. Perhaps we tend to equate physical hunger with spiritual hunger for lack of a better analogy. The fact that spiritual hunger is felt, to me would indicate a sign of spiritual health. For if we hunger, we will search to have that need met. If in fact our ìhungerî has been ìforgotten or stolenî then we have another condition, other than hunger. In reality we may be spiritually starving to death and feel no spiritual hunger at all and therein we ìforget our hungerî, because it indeed has been ìstolenî from us.
Perhaps ìanorexiaî would be a better analogy for this spiritually malnourished condition we are referring to in discussing this topic. It is far more serious than ìhungerî, if hunger is serious at all. If it were only hungry, then we would be keenly aware of it. Hunger can be acknowledged and rectified. However, if we no longer can even identify our ìhunger,î it truly goes beyond ìfeelingî spiritually dry. Spiritual anorexia is not caused by the lack of spiritual nutrition available to us or by our feeling of hunger. It originates in the mind. He assuages the conscience to the point where ìÖ they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man. Ö They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-- who is forever praised. Amen. Ö.î (Rom 1:22-32). In our own eyes, we may actually perceive ourselves as quite healthy. We think that weíre doing just fine, not recognizing that there is next to no life reserve left in our emaciated spiritual lives. In that state, we simply languish spiritually and donít even recognize the condition. All the while the enemy is busy ìfeedingî us a steady diet of his lies.
The only way to reverse this condition is to address the original problem ñ the mind. ìTherefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God¥s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God¥s will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.î (Rom 12:1-3). When we have offered ourselves (our minds) up to Christ and have been transformed to His values, then true spiritual worship will grow out of that. None of us are beyond spiritual anorexia.
taximan writes on 2006-04-28
This is only a personal opinion, but this is my key to unleashing a hunger in my heart for Jesus that never seems to fail.
Firstly I would just like to agree with Chris wholeheartedly, when something is actively trying to stop us from seeking God, or if calamity strikes us, these things can actually work in the reverse and cause us to press into Him even more.
For me the times of dryness come when I have a period of easiness in my life, not much conflict, no real hardship, and abundance of blessing. In these times I so often take God for granted, until eventually my heart begins to wax cold. If I don´t check this attitude before it gets a grip, the downward spiral is rapid and constant.
Whenever I sense this hard heartedness creeping in the first thing I do is to pray that the Holy Spirit reveals afresh His love for me in my heart. I know this sounds selfish, but without the overwhelming sense of His love for me bubbling away in my heart, I´m hopeless!
Secondly, I just begin to praise the Lord for all He has done. Even if I feel dry as a bone and totally insincere, if I begin to confess with my mouth thanksgiving, the dry crust begins to crack, until eventually a heat builds up within me and the thanksgiving and praise becomes more fervent and heartfelt.
I never come away from a place like that the same as I went into it. Funny that huh? :)
God bless,
John.
How to gain hunger? Realize empty. by Chris Priebe, 2000-08-12
And how does one hunger and thirst for the living God? Well it all begins with realizing that one is dry and then crying out to God to pour water on the dry soul. For when we realize that we are empty then we will become hungry in that we will cry out over and over for God, for He is the only One who can fill us up again. For hunger is not being full but realizing one is empty and earnestly desiring to fill that. It is in the emptiness that makes one desire God. And so if you find yourself empty like my friend I mentioned earlier do not give up hope but understand that the first step to hunger is realizing you are empty. Now cry out to God and do not give up. Like David prayed unto the Lord, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" (Ps. 42:1,2) Pray this over and over and you will find your soul crying out in like manner to meet God. And then you will catch a glimpse of Him and your soul shall cry louder. Each time you will see Him more and each time your hunger to see Him better will grow. Then a day shall come when you will notice that when you do not read the Bible and neglect to pray that the hunger within you naturally cries out till you almost can´t help but seek God in that way.
Lowey_banana writes on 0000-00-00
O God, Where are You?
God, You¥re here.
I know you¥re always near.
The problem is, You feel so far away.
I feel alone again.
I pray. I know you hear me call.
But I don¥t hear an answer...at all.
I cry out. Yet nothing seems to change.
Again and again, I sit and call your name.
Oh, God. Please be close to me.
Show Yourself to me.
I feel so alone.
I feel like no one listens.
I know that You are there,
And yet, I¥m still alone.
Do You even hear my prayers?
Or are all my prayers in vain?
I will never, ever be the same.
Please. Answer me now.
Let me KNOW You are here.
Again.
Lois Anne Dawson
Copyright ©2001 Lois Dawson
tammyingham writes on 0000-00-00
When I¥m away from God a long period time my soul cries out for him. That is when I fall on my knees and pray to God...He comes quickly to set me back on track I can feel his love and kindness he doesn¥t get angry with me that I lose sight of him. He helps me back up to keep on going hes my rock to rest on to talk to hes like my best friend that will listen to me..
amen
thanks
tammy
deecee4jaycee writes on 2002-03-01
Yes, realize we are empty, but, also realize that the one who fills us is right there always! There is no need to go in search of HIM, He is here...He is in our emptiness, He is in our hunger, He is waiting for us to reach out and accept all that He has prepared. Notice that He has prepared it not IS preparing....it is ready and waiting on us...
D-lite writes on 2002-05-27
It is very good to hunger and thirst for the living God ñ He has living water to offer each of us, ìëIf anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.íî (John 7:38 ). Nutritionists tell us that if we are thirsty, our body has already become dehydrated. We should be drinking enough liquids to keep our body from becoming thirsty.
This is good spiritual advice. We should not allow ourselves to get to the point where our soul is crying for refreshment. We need to give our soul daily refreshment, so that it need not be shriveling for lack of living water. There is a good and obvious reasons for keeping spiritually refreshed. The living water not only flows in to us, but it also flows out from us. If we are not getting enough living water flowing in to us, we will not have any living water flowing out from us to others.
Sometimes my life is like a sponge. It needs to take in a lot until it finally begins dripping out onto others around me. But the problem is God doesnít want this living water to just drip a little onto others. He wants the living water to flow like a constant stream or river, continuously out of me onto those around me. If I only take in enough refreshment to keep myself from being thirsty, there will never be enough to flow out of me onto others. Not only that, if the water stays in me, it is no longer ìlivingî water, as it quickly becomes stagnant and begins to stink.
The only way to keep fresh and refreshed is to both be taking and giving out continuously. The flow is to be continuous and constant. The more I give out, the more I need to take in. If I am experiencing spiritual dryness, I find that I have been giving out more than I have been taking in. I need to find my balance in this process, so that the flow of living water will be uninterrupted, constant and continuous.
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