Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
John 6:35
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
How many know that when you are hungry for something, not just anything will do.
You can try other things but until your taste buds hit on what it is you’re looking for, you won’t be satisfied. Then when you find it “aaah” your taste buds are satisfied.
I’ve come to the place of “MORE”. I know there is more. All prophecies say there is more, so I can’t be satisfied until we taste it. I’m not satisfied because I know there is more.
But for us to develop a genuine hunger for God, we have to make room for a new normal.
Old things MUST pass away.
2 Kings 4:1-2
1 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”
2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”
We have a prophet and a lady in crisis.
Here is her crisis:
She is in EMOTIONAL pain – her husband died.
There is FINANCIAL pain – he left her broke and in debt and the creditors are calling.
She is in PHYSICAL pain – she is hungry.
Her digestive juices are burning the lining of her stomach.
She has MOM pain – the creditors may take her children.
She is in SPIRITUAL pain – so you see the question -
“My husband feared God, and I feared God so why am I in this mess?”
She needs a BREAKTHROUGH. No pain seems FAIR and her pain is too much to bear.
Whenever in the Bible you hear or read the term “CRY OUT”, someone is in a desperate situation.
She cried out to God because her situation was bigger than what a human can fix.
So here is what I’m trying to say. You will never discover that God is all you need until God is ALL YOU HAVE!
When you are at that place you don’t pray little casual prayers, YOU CRY OUT!
I mean cry out. When a baby is HUNGRY, it does not care who is in the next room.
OK so if Jesus says, “Blessed is the one who hungers for righteousness. YOU WILL BE FILLED.”
Why don’t we see more power and presence? The answer is simple. WE ARE TOO FULL. We are too full of ourselves, our money, our friends, our jobs.
So the prerequisite of spiritual passion is spiritual hunger. YOU have got to be hungry.
Why did God move in Guatemala? When God is all you have, God is all you need.
So how hungry are you? TRY fasting to see what hunger feels like.
Write down HUNGER = PASSION.
Passion drives you to the next level. Without passion you will stay where you are because you will have no reason to go anywhere else. This woman CRIED OUT.
She needed things to be different. When God allows crisis it’s to make you hungry for change.
A dark room used to mean, “turn a negative into a positive.”
So the prophet gives her a strange answer, “Go borrow empty clay pots, LOTS of them.”
“Elisha I need money, honey, not pots.
I’m EMPTY except one LITTLE jar of oil.”
Elisha says, “Your empty so go get more empty.”
HUH?
I don’t just want your emptiness; I want your neighbour’s also.
So we have MULTIPLIED EMPTINESS! Church, hear me now! “The amount of your hunger (emptiness) will determine the amount of your filling.”
And if God can get HUNGRY people together it increases the possibility of your FILLING. This was a new approach to a normal problem.
Many have debt, pain, crisis. Church, the Lord wants to increase your emptiness.
What?
Question: “Do I believe the man of God or not?”
How many times have we cried out to God but did not like the answer because it requires a step into the unknown.
Without faith it is impossible to please God.
So if I’m hungry, if I say I have passion, DO I BELIEVE GOD?
So the woman did what was asked.
2 Kings 4:5
So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out.
Your alarm clock told you to get up today and go to church.
Whether you liked it or not, you’re here. God’s alarm clock often seems to go off at the WRONG TIME. But faith IS NEVER A FEELING. FAITH is a matter of “Am I going to ACT?”
This lady / family was hungry. When you’re hungry, sophistication does not matter anymore.
Using your fork right does not matter. You just want food.
This woman was hungry enough for an answer from God and she SHUT the door and started to pour.
Church, when you’re hurting it’s normal to focus on yourself. But the Bible tells us, when we are hurting and in need, it’s time to minister to others.
Then God has more to fill.
You hungry? God says go to your neighbour and take on their emptiness through prayer.
When you are hungry enough to help others, God will fill you.
She poured what little she had into one pot and it got full, then another.
Church, God will keep filling as long as the emptiness keeps coming. The amount of emptiness determines the amount of filling.
You see Church, the solution already existed before she cried out to God; the answer to her problem was in the house but her spiritual eyes could NOT see it.
She thought her hunger made her cry out. But in reality, she wasn’t empty enough yet to receive what she needed.
She cried to get out of debt but God gave her exceedingly abundantly more.
So HOW HUNGRY ARE YOU? Are you hungry enough to help others? Are you hungry enough to do what God tells you to do?
Or keep trying without God. Be content! Be FULL of other things.
Snacks are a substitute for real food.
Are you sure you’re not full of snacks?
God will never bless your snack.
God is looking for growling stomachs. People hungry for God will not accept a pacifier.
Yours for revival,
Pastor Francis Armstrong
