Hungry

Hey Family! So listen, I don’t want you to be discouraged by the world we live in.

I know that it seems to be more focused on fame, gossip, money, and sex. But, I want to encourage you that the things of God are still made available to you and me.

You see, the world may offer us fame but in Galatians 4:9, God says we are known. The world may offer us gossip, but God gives us the Scriptures; Hebrews 4:12 refers to it as the living, breathing Word of God. We live in a world that equates money to success, but our God is Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides (Philippians 4:19). Everywhere we look, we see men and women sexualized through media, but in 1 Thessalonians 4, God shares He created a special design for intimacy.

As you know, God wants us to make the best decisions for our lives. And the way we do that is by feeding on the Word of God. According to Matthew 5:6, when we are hungry for righteousness, we become blessed. We see this lived out when Jesus was tested in the wilderness in Matthew 4:1-4:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

– Matthew 4:1-4

One thing I find fascinating about this passage is in verse 1, where it mentions that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. You see family, not every test or hardship we go through is from the enemy.

Sometimes the Spirit allows us to go through a ‘wilderness’ to increase our faith and hunger for God.

In my ‘wilderness’ moments, it’s easy for me to think things would be so much easier if this problem just didn’t exist. But I am so gently reminded repeatedly by our Heavenly Father that my ‘wilderness’ moments are not in vain – rather purposed to increase my reliance on God. And it’s in those moments when I must let go of the things of the world and cling to the Word of God.

So today, may your hunger and desperation for God increase. You have been set apart, equipped with the armor to prevail. Stay hungry so that when the ‘wilderness’ comes, you are strong in the Lord and able to take a stand against all that’s thrown at you (Eph. 6:10).