HUNGER FOR GOD
When it comes
to satisfying our spiritual appetites, there
is no such thing as excess. There are no restraints placed on us by God.
There are no rules of temperance or laws requiring moderation or boundaries
beyond which we cannot go in seeking to enjoy Him. We need never pause to
inquire whether we’ve crossed a line or become overindulgent. You need never
fear feeling too good about God.
Sam Storms
One Thing, Christian Focus, © Enjoying God Ministries, 2004, p.27. www.enjoyinggodministries.com.
Used by Permission.
You have made
us for Yourself and our hearts are restless until they
find their rest in Thee.
Quoted in: This We Believe, Zondervan, 2000,
p. 40.
The cost of
food in the kingdom is hunger for the Bread of Life.
John Piper
Desiring God, Baptist Church, 1996, p. 83, used by permission www.desiringGOD.org.
The key to
Christian living is a thirst and hunger for God. And one of the main reasons
people do not understand or experience the sovereignty of grace and the way it
works through the awakening of sovereign joy is that their hunger and thirst
for God is too small.
John Piper
The greatest
enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of
the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the
table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of
triviality we drink in every night… For when these replace an appetite for God
Himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.
John Piper
A
Hunger for God, Crossway, 1997, p. 14.
For my part,
my soul is like a hungry and thirsty child; and I need His love and consolation
for my refreshment. I am a wandering and lost sheep; and I need Him as a good
and faithful shepherd. My soul is like a frightened dove pursued by the hawk;
and I need His wounds for a refuge. I am a feeble vine; and I need His cross to
lay hold of, and to wind myself about. I am a sinner, and I need His
righteousness. I am naked and bare; and I need His holiness and innocence for a
covering. I am ignorant, and I need His teaching; simple and foolish, and I
need the guidance of His Holy Spirit. In no situation, and at no time, can I do
without Him. Do I pray? He must prompt, and intercede
for me. Am I arraigned by Satan at the divine tribunal.
He must be my Advocate. Am I in affliction? He must be my Helper. Am I
persecuted by the world? He must defend me. When I am forsaken, He must be my
support; when I am dying, my life; when moldering in the grave, my
Resurrection. Well, then, I will rather part with all the
world, and all that it contains, than with Thee, my Savior.
Gotthold
Do you want
to increase your hunger for the Lord?
Try weaning yourself from the world's diet- be prepared for some withdrawal
symptoms when you turn off the radio and the TV and eliminate unnecessary
activities. Then begin feeding on the
Word of God. At first, it may seem bland
and boring; but in time, you will discover that it satisfies in a far deeper,
richer way than those things you once thought were so filling.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss
A Place of Quiet Rest, Moody, 2000, p. 130.
The thought
hit me like a bell rung in the dark, silent hall. So far, none of the scary,
negative arguments against lust had succeeded in keeping me from it. Fear and
guilt simply did not give me resolve; they added self-hatred to my problems.
But here was a description of what I was missing by continuing to harbor lust:
I was limiting by own intimacy with God. The love He offers is so transcendent
and possessing that it requires our faculties to be purified and cleansed
before we can possibly contain it. Could He, in fact, substitute another thirst
and another hunger for the one I had never filled? Would Living Water somehow
quench lust? That was the gamble of faith.
Anonymous
The
War Within, Leadership (Fall Quarter 1992), p. 97-112.
A man may
study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he
prays because his soul is hungry for God.
Leonard Ravenhill
God has
created each of us with a thirst that only He can quench. French philosopher Pascal
called it a God-shaped vacuum in our hearts that only He can fill. Or as
Augustine put it, "Our souls are restless until they find their rest in
Thee." Man is perpetually seeking. To whatever degree we don't know the
unseen and eternal realm; we seek answers in the seen
and temporal. We look for eternal answers among temporal things. But we
discover that they cannot provide them.
Dan Stone
The Rest of the Gospel, One Press, 2000, p. 31.