I was recently out at Bethel Church in Redding, California which you can find out more about at www.ibethel.org. As we attended a Friday night service there was a man who spoke in front of the church saying that he recently was with a team of people to do an outreach in a foreign country and they had seen 500 miracles with many conversions. Most of us as believers have seen very few miracles, maybe a small number of people healed, and some times an even smaller number who get saved. Yet the response of this man was to cry out for more. Now that's hunger! It was once said about the Senior Leader of Bethel, Bill Johnson, by someone who knew him that he was the hungriest man he knew. Through Bethel Church there has been a revival outpouring that is not only impacting the city of Redding, the some 9,000 students who come to the school of ministry, but touched many nations on the earth as many of the staff travel the globe. There was another man two rows back from us who was talking to someone next to him who was from Australia who had driven through the night from Michigan just to be at Bethel for the weekend. Hunger. Hunger will cause us to take risks that we normally would not take. Hunger for healing pushed the woman with the issue of blood to push through the crowds, risk public humiliation, face possible disappointment, be denied by Jesus, and finally to lose all of healing yet her desperation pushed her forward. I believe we need to walk with faith but I more and more convinced that hunger is a key to see God work in a greater way. Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:3) This Beatitudes was the very foundation for the others, Jesus responded to hunger. Too many of us are content to read about miracles, healings, transformed lives, or people saved rather than see this manifest in our own lives. If your not hungry but content with the life you currently are experiencing you are being deceived by the Enemy because Jesus purchased for you abundant life, which is the same quality of life He had and called Zoe life or God kind of life. Oftentimes we are not hungry because we have worked very hard to satisfy all our needs and insulate ourselves from those who are needy because they upset our nice little life. If you are connected to people who are hungry and needy, love for them will produce a hunger in you for more of God for them. Religion is a "form of godliness but devoid of power", in other words we teach, preach, and talk about transformed lives through Jesus but don't actually see this happen (for us or for others around us). Admitting the depth of our need for love, freedom, God's power, and God's resources puts us in a humbling position but also opens us to receive grace. I have to admit sometimes I get weary of being so hungry and desperate for more of the Lord but this is because there have been lies that I have believed that He won't meet my need. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God must be our guide for truth, we cannot live by our feelings, opinions, or our own thoughts. Bottom line the logos (written word) and the rhema (the spoken or revealed word) must be our source for truth. The gap between what I am currently experiencing and the truth of the promise in Scripture is where hunger enters in, the hunger or desperation to see the Promise manifest in my life or others is where the faith plays a role. There were times throughout the gospels that Jesus was unable to do very many healings or miracles because of a lack of faith in the city where He was ministering. We like to think it is through my knowledge that my faith is built, thus we are the most knowledgeable American church in history yet there is very often not the fruit that the Bible points should be there. Could it be that we lack hunger, satisfied on a diet of religion, materialism, our satisfaction with a Christianity that doesn't deliver what God promised, meeting our own needs, and pride we don't see the kind of fruit God desires to see poured out through His people. Let's face it desperation and hunger is not socially acceptable, in our orphan culture we must have it together or it least fake it hide that we don't. I think if there was more honesty about the depth of need that is churning in most of our souls, then we would see God respond. God moves through faith, which is clearly what Scripture says but so often in the gospels you see faith and hunger (or real need) tied together. It was the Roman Centurionion, dignified and a man of power, who out of his desperation to see his servant healed seeks out Jesus and through his faith sees what he longs for. There is so much more that God has for His people, yet I believe He is waiting for us to be dissatisfied with what we have, so we can exchange it for the abundance that He has for us.
Desperate for more,
Bret
P.S. Our Senior Pastor has been doing a series on the Orphan Spirit and Sonship. Visit www.bridgeway.us and listen under "Sermons".
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