Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Feast not famine

The spiritual life God intends for us is rich!  Routine praises and prayers with dull (or null) encounters with God are empty. Personally, I wouldn't even bother with pursuing God if all it delivered was things to do...read the Bible, go to church.  His presence is irresistible to me.  Do you feel Him?  Oh, my prayer is that you do!  His desire is that you do.

There is a song that's been floating through my mind all week:


This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break

At least I'll be feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything
Instead of going through the motions?


As I read in Hosea this morning, the emptiness of their lives cried out to me.  God wants abundance for us, but He lets us choose our way.  They chose to reject real knowledge of Him--chasing their own desires and giving him the scraps of their lives.

His response paints a frightening picture:  "I will feed you as a lamb in a wide open place."  I've never raised lambs, but I can't imagine an open field is a safe place for a defenseless baby. Outside of God's desires, we are that lamb.  Knowledge of Him comes only through His Word; that is the feast He offers.  My former pastor admonished those who taught with these words: 'God only promises to bless His Word...not experiences, not programs, only His Word.'  In Hosea's day people were starving for the Word of God.  They went through the motions but their hearts were not encountering the Lord.  Our world is the same.

Our lives are to be journeys toward God.  Journeys take effort.  'If you're coasting, you are going down hill' is a great truth of our Christian lives.  And the hazard is that we pick up speed on downward slopes.  If you are reading this, you probably are not coasting...but someone around you is.  Let them see the abundance of loving God...make them hungry for the feast you are enjoying!  Live God's way, live His truths...plant seeds, respond to His call on your heart, love people because He loves them.  Like the song says...this might hurt and it isn't safe (in human ways) but His all-consuming passion is the key to full life.

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