HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER GOD
From The HeartPublish date: 01/09/2011
Blessed and fortunate and happy and spiritually prosperous (in that state in which the born-again child of God enjoys His favor and salvation) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God), for they shall be completely satisfied! Matthew 5:6 AMP
Whatever we are hungry and thirsty for is what we will seek to satisfy that hunger and thirst. If we are hungry for God, then we will seek after Him and His righteousness, His salvation and His wisdom. If we seek satisfaction only in earthly things, then we will be happy when we feel full and sad when we don’t - and we won’t realize that we are missing true fulfillment and contentment. Jesus said to those who attended to their body’s desires, but not to their spirit, “Woe to (alas for) you who are full now (completely filled, luxuriously gorged and satiated), for you shall hunger and suffer want!” (Luke 6:25a AMP) There are people who stuff themselves with wealth and food and drink and entertainment and popularity and whatever else they desire, and yet they are still miserable on the inside. There is a hunger and thirst deep inside every person that can only be satisfied by the Lord, Himself.
Salvation is far from the wicked, for they seek not nor hunger for Your statutes. Psalm 119:155 AMP
They told you beforehand, In the last days (in the end time) there will be scoffers [who seek to gratify their own unholy desires], following after their own ungodly passions. Jude 18 AMP
Our natural taste buds are just like our spiritual taste buds: if you fill up on junk food, you will have no appetite for healthy foods. Healthy food actually tastes good and is very good for you, but if you live on the junk, you won’t desire the healthy. If you don’t want to be sick and die young, then your body is going to need the healthy foods, so you will have to develop an appetite for them – not because you want them, but because you need them. What we all need – more than earthly food – is God and His heavenly food. We must develop an appetite for God and for godliness. Only then, will we be truly content and satisfied.
Blessed (happy--with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, apart from your outward condition--and to be envied) are you who hunger and seek with eager desire now, for you shall be filled and completely satisfied! Luke 6:21a AMP
In John 6:33-35 NIV, Jesus told the disciples, “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “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.” Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, “All who drink of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give him shall never, no never, be thirsty any more. But the water that I will give him shall become a spring of water welling up (flowing, bubbling) [continually] within him unto (into, for) eternal life.” (John 4:13-14 AMP).
We need to get hungry and thirsty for God and seek Him with all our heart:
•Psalm 119:2 AMP - Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are they who keep His testimonies, and who seek, inquire for and of Him and crave Him with the whole heart.
•Psalm 107:9 AMP - For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good.
•Proverbs 8:17 AMP - I love those who love me, and those who seek me early and diligently shall find me.
•Isaiah 44:3 AMP - For I will pour water upon him who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit upon your offspring, and My blessing upon your descendants.
•Isaiah 55:1-3 AMP - Wait and listen, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing]. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness [the profuseness of spiritual joy]. 3 Incline your ear [submit and consent to the divine will] and come to Me; hear, and your soul will revive; and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with you, even the sure mercy (kindness, goodwill, and compassion) promised to David.
•Revelation 21:6 NIV - He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
•Revelation 22:17 NKJV - And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
•Deuteronomy 4:29 AMP - But if from there you will seek (inquire for and require as necessity) the Lord your God, you will find Him if you [truly] seek Him with all your heart [and mind] and soul and life.
•Hebrews 11:6 AMP - But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].
What a wonderful God we serve, who loved us first and who sent His son to die for us while we were yet sinners. He is looking for, and longing for, those who will seek Him; and who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23). When we, by faith, genuinely and diligently seek after God, we will find Him. When we seek after the things of God, He will reward us. When we hunger and thirst after Him, we will be fed and satisfied.