Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Hungry?

HUNGRY?

Do you know what it feels like to be really hungy? Most of us reading this e-mail will never know what it's like to wonder where our next meal is coming from or what it's like to go without food for a long time. We may fast before going to the doctor for tests or just get busy one day and skip a meal and sure we get hungry, we may say "I'm starved!", but do we really know what it's like to be really hungry?

What about God? Not the generic God up in the clouds many of us confess believing in, but don't take the time to actually worship. Do you really know what it's like to be Hungry for God?
Hungry for knowledge? Wisdom? Spiritual growth? Spiritual Discipline? Are you hungry for the presence of God?

I didn't ask you if you were hungry to go to church, church is different than knowing God personally-I didn't ask you if you believe in God, anyone can and many do believe in God, but believe in God will not get you anywhere if you never move past belief.-I didn't ask you if you went to the right church, used the right bible, read the right author, followed the right preacher, or have the same religious views as me.

Do, you see why so many people in our world (maybe including you) don't really know God personally? You know about God, but you don't really know Him. Maybe you've never taken the time to know Him? Maybe you used to know Him, but you walked away from your faith? Maybe you are young and you think in arrogance you can do what you want right now and then later you'll get serious about God (it will never happen!), or maybe you are an adult, and you simply do "see a need" for getting all religious, or maybe you think "you can believe what you want".

If more of us would start getting hungry for the right things, and stop filling our appetite in other areas, maybe we'd know God a little better, and maybe we'd actually be heading in the right direction in life, and have some sort of clue?

I realize I am writing to a diverse audience: Young, old, progressive, conservative, non-christian, active christian, and christian by name only. I don't care if you fall under any of those categories, if you are not HUNGRY to know God and you do not make the EFFORT to learn, know, grow, and develop a personal relationship with God, you're never going to get this life, and you're not going to like where your headed after this life.

HUNGRY! Are you? There have been times in my life where I was starved of faith because I was filling my life with selfishness, bad habits, negative thoughts, and sometimes sadly, religion practices and shallow talk.

Serving your butt off, never missing church, going around correcting everyone cause you think God commissioned you to be like you, even reading the bible will not save you. It all depends on your obedience, surrender, and relationship you have with God and it begins with being hungry.
Are you tired of filling your life with the party scene? It's an empty life I know. Are you tired of filling your life with church activities and service. It's a burn-out waiting to happen. Are you tired of just attending church services or calling yourself a christian because your not jewish or a muslim? Then get hungry.

It's time we all got alot more hungry for God. Don't just read the Bible, get hungry to know His WORD and do what it says. Don't just get hungry about attending church, be the church God designed us to be. Don't just get hungry for serving and staying busy doing church activities, get your heart right, serve with the right motives, and get hungry for serving God with all your heart!

Do you see the difference a hunger for God can bring to your life? You'll stop playing games, going through the motions, pretending, being ignorant, arrogant, and abrasive!
You'll start actually enjoying God! You won't see reading His word as a chore, but as a joy. You won't see church service as something "you have to do", but something "you get to participate in", and you will stop focusing on petty issues and start focusing on real issues. Hungry! It's time we get hungry for God.

"I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." Luke 6:35 (NIV)

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