Beloved, I am happy to share with you today on the fourth step of spiritual ascension which is spiritual appetite or spiritual hunger. It is a hunger and thirst for the spiritual goods that are lacking, the true inner justice of which the concerned feel deprived, a life in conformity with the will of God. True justice always implies obedience between the Creator and human beings.
Man can therefore choose to grow spiritually, since God is holy and he is endowed with conscience and freedom. This is why it is written that “no one can serve two masters”.
By wanting to do what is right before God, he manages to be satisfied, that’s to say to receive the heavenly reward that results. For God is not only the legislator, but also the remunerator, the judge (James 4:12). And his judgments are in accordance with the requirements of his holiness.
It is this spiritual growth that is expressed in Matthew 5.6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” That’s to say, every soul that experiences before God this hunger and thirst for justice will be satisfied, since that’s what it is hungry and thirsty for. This hunger denotes the spiritual growth of a soul; and the appetite is the desire to satisfy the need for justice. That is why all the promises made by the Savior suppose faith to appropriate them.
More precisely, let’s focus on what the Word of God teaches us about this spiritual appetite.
First of all, it should be said already that bread can satisfy neither the thirsty nor the spiritual hunger: in Deut 8.3 it is written: “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” This means that the divine blessings are closely related to the observance of the law of the Eternal God.
Moreover, Matthew 4.4 says: ” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Our strength is therefore only in trust in God and in obedience to his Word: “it is written”.
Jesus meant that God could nourish him supernaturally by order directly from Him. The demonstration was made that bread was not the solution.
Thus, hunger for the word of God is foretold, as we read in Amos 8: 11-12 : “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. 12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.”
Indeed, made available to the prophets, the word of God was finally removed from the people by disobedience, and he had to go everywhere to seek it in order to appease anguish in his distress.
However, it is necessary to satisfy the thirst and the spiritual hunger, because:
- God has promised to do it: Isaiah 55: 1-3 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.”
Prophet Isaiah calls therefore to enjoy free salvation: he shows that by faith and not by works, he invites everyone who sighs after grace, to grasp it without being stopped by doubt or fear. It is understandable then that money and labor can not satisfy and represent the vain and laborious efforts of man to find happiness on the path of earthly satisfaction.
- Jesus is the bread of life: John 6:35, 48-58 ” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” 52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Indeed, the bread of life is the one that communicates life, and Jesus is the bread of life because in him life was manifested. We must therefore come to him and believe in him, for he is the Savior. The teaching of eternal life is based on the fact that he gives himself as the bread of life, because he came down from heaven so that all who eat him will remain in him and him in them. Hence the importance of the Lord’s Supper.
- Jesus is the water of life; John 4.13-14 “Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The Samaritan woman who first called. Jesus a Jew finally called him with the honorable title of Lord. It is because she has understood that Christ alone by the Spirit that he communicates to her, quenches her thirst forever. And the Spirit of God who vivifies it abides in it and forms a permanent source springing up to eternal life, for what is eternal always goes back to Eternity.
John 7: 37-38 “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” It is the thirst for the soul that Jesus offers to quench for all those who wanted it.
- The spiritual desire is expressed in the six verses below:
Psa 27.4 ” One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”
Psa 38.9 ” All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. “
Psa 73.25 ” Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you”;
Isaiah 26.9 “My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. “;
Luke 6:21 ” Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh”;
1 Peter 2.2 “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,”
Apostle Peter asks Christians to renounce all that is contrary to love, and to nourish themselves with the food that has made their regeneration, in order to grow in new life.
- Precisely, it is written in John 4:14 “but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Indeed, the heat of the sixth hour or noon heats the most and shows that Jesus was thirsty; yet, drinking the water given him by the Samaritan woman, he could not stop his thirst for good. He is revealed to the latter as the Messiah, the prophet who was to come to save the world. Christ reveals to her certain truths about her life as a woman without a husband, having lived with six in all. She was comforted in her faith that the Lord Jesus could give him living water.
And in John 4.35-36 ” Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.”
Indeed, the Lord Jesus is contemplating in advance the results of Evangelization in these Samaritans that he would bring to salvation. He thus painted the Gospel as a green countryside where one could see a promise of harvest. And by inviting his disciples to see this campaign, he meant the spiritual harvest among those who came to him. And to announce that the spiritual harvest is already ready so that the sower and the reaper rejoice together. For he who sows, he himself has just shed the good grain in the soul of the Samaritan woman and will still teach his fellow citizens, by making his disciples play the role of the reaper.
Then in Acts 11:23 ” When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.” Barnabas, disciple of Peter, saw well in these pagans of Antioch a work of the grace of God and he rejoiced. He recognized in the hearts of the new believers the work of grace, this grace that was manifested in those whom the Samaritan woman went to call to come and see a man who told her all that she did. And persistence in work is also emphasized in Gal 6: 9 ” Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” This is mass conversion also among the Galatians.
This is why it is written in Apo 7.16 ” ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’nor any scorching heat.”. It is the fulfillment begun by the incarnation of the Son of God and which will end with glory in heaven.
And also in Rev 22.17 ” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” This is the joy for all regenerated souls.
Then, the spiritual fullness resulting from thirst and spiritual hunger meets the deepest needs below:
-it’s an overflowing cup: Psa 23.5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
-it’s an abundance of blessing: Malachi 3.10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
-it’s an abundance of joy: John 15:11 ” I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
-it’s the fullness of God: Ephesians 3:19 “and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
-it’s the fullness of the Spirit: Ephesians 5.18 ” Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,”
-it’s an abundance of wisdom: Col. 1.9 “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,”
Thus, to seek spiritual food in faith and to fully surrender to the Lord Jesus, in obedience and humility, will enable every sincere soul to rediscover all the promises announced in the Word of God, with abundance of joy, fullness of the Spirit and eternal life in the first place. What an immense happiness to become a reaper of souls for the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ!
From Jesus’ teaching to the Samaritan woman who showed her thirst for God, one of the great needs of the soul, she ended up calling everyone to come to the Messiah who gives living water. The Bible says that through this woman, many people have believed and converted. I pray that this be your case too; as well as the people with whom you share these teachings. Our prayers strengthen you all in this issue.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite anyone who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me as follows :
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I acknowledge that I have sinned against you and ask forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as my Lord and personal Savior. I acknowledge that you died on the cross of Calvary and that you rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me each day to eternal life you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal to me and strengthen my heart and my faith so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me in your divine family so that I too can contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
To you all adoration, power, and glory, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to your questions and comments, before sharing next week the fifth stage of spiritual ascension: mercy.
May the Almighty God bless you in abundance.
David Feze, Servant of the Lord Almighty.