Spiritually Hangry (Episode 9)
Episode 9
I know when I'm hangry: I'm cranky, tired, and emotional. What about when I'm spiritually hangry? Come find the symptoms and the cure.
Show Notes
Matthew 5:6:"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
There’s actually a design for hunger in our spiritual lives.
Deuteronomy 8:3: And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Hunger should teach me that my life is only in Jesus
When I’m physically hangry:
Crankiness, lack of energy, and raw emotions mark physical hunger
Spiritually hangry: symptons
lack of energy for work of God
Laziness in spiritual disciplines
Easily discouraged
apathetic to others needs
Can’t lift hands to praise (remember Episode 7?)
Here’s what it looks like:
Psalm 63:1: O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
How do we solve a case of spiritual hangries?
Praise feeds:
Psalm 63:3b-5 – my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips.
The Word Nourishes:
Jeremiah 15:16- Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts.
Psalm 119:103- How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Job 23:12- I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
JESUS Feeds
John 6:35, 51: Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ... I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
IF I’m spiritually hangry then I need more Jesus.
Biblical example:
Elijah in 1 Kings 18.
1 Kings 19:4: But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers."
God could have zapped him, like he did the pagan priests a few days before. But He feeds him!
1Ki 19:5-8: And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, "Arise and eat." And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, "Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you." And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
And I need Jesus, just like Elijah, if I want to do what we’ve talked about in episodes 5, 6, and 7:
Recognize: Am I Feeling Spiritually hangry?
Here’s our menu:
When we get worn out, let God care for us. He wants to do that.
Praise the Lord
Eat His Word
Invite Jesus into every hungry, hurting part. He’s our bread of life.
Jesus is our cure for the hangries.