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My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. – Psalm 84:2
Years ago, there was an advertisement on television featuring Andy Griffith and his big toothy grin. Smiling ear-to-ear in his inimitable way he asked, “What are you hungry for when you don’t know what you are hungry for?” His answer was always “Something on a Ritz® cracker!”
Have you ever wondered what you are hungry for? Sometimes, we may think true physical hunger is rearing up, shouting to be satisfied. We mentally run through the litany of foods we like to eat and nothing sounds good. We calculate what we will feed our hunger.
If we are quiet, we may hear:
“Me. You’re hungry for me. Let me feed you.”
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. – Psalm 73:26
We were created for intimacy with God. Our hearts cry out for it. For many years we have answered the cry with Ritz® crackers. Or chocolate, or pizza, or cheese enchiladas. We have misinterpreted the cry of our hearts for intimacy with God and fed our spiritual hunger, physical food.
Psalm 42:7 says “Deep calls to deep.” From the depths of our hungry souls we cry out for the Lord.
Try this: If you are hungry, but can’t figure out what you are hungry for, rather than tearing open a package of Oreos or Ben and Jerry’s ice cream or whatever is your biggest temptation when you aren’t physically hungry, try instead , opening up God’s Living Word of truth. Try calling upon the Lord of Heaven and earth. Believe His promises to you:
Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! – Isaiah 30:18
I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them. -Hosea 11:4
Oh Jesus, I know that when I don’t know what I am hungry for, it is actually YOU I crave. I pray that I might wait for you and experience your abundance and joy flood my soul. Amen.
That is beautiful, Heidi. Thanks for the reminder and the encouragement. He really does fill us up to overflowing with His goodness and grace.
Love this. I struggle with more emotional emptiness than real hunger. I know God is the only on that can fill this for me.
Heidi, I am new today to your site. I found you through Bev’ s site.
Based on your anointed SET YOUR TIMER and WHAT ARE YOU HUNGRY FOR articles, I have chosen the following to begin to renew my mind to THE TRUTH hourly.
“It is intimacy with you I am hungry for, LORD. You have lifted the yoke from my neck and You bend down to feed me from Your precious Word, so why should I by others be and not by Thee? Come and be to me, as I to Thee, SWEET COMPANY!” (Song of Solomon Canticle)
Thank you so much for sharing your giftings with us.
Nancyelizabeth
Hi, Nancyelizabeth. It is great to “see” you. Which Bev? Did she have a link to this site? I would love to thank her! How did it go yesterday with the Set The Timer Challenge? I hope you are experiencing the renewing of the mind. Thanks for your kind words.
Sorry, my bad, Heidi! It was “Barb” Raveling I was referring to. Sorry for the confusion. I’ve been using her bible study on “Emotional Eating” and her “I Deserve a Donut” book which have been very helpful. I do have the TW bible study as well, but find right now the Donut is the “go to” resource that works best for me. It’s the whole replacing the little t’ s with the big T’ s thing, and her book is so helping me to do that– thought by thought; emotion by emotion.
The SET YOUR TIMER exercise has been a source of great intimacy with Our Lord. He is using it to
speak to me hourly, and I have already passed this wonderful method on to two friends. I believe it is something I will continue to use; 5 truths at a time. One of the things The Lord reminded me of while I was declaring my five truths is: CONFESS IT WITH YOUR MOUTH, BELIEVE IT IN YOUR HEART AND YOU WILL BE SAVED. “Saved” is Sozo in the Greek, I believe, and it means “made every which way whole”. As Barb’ s site so clearly indicates, it’s the renewing of the mind After The Sinner’ s Prayer that transforms us line by line and precept by precept into the image of the Son. Alleluia!
I’m following your site now that I’ve found you, Heidi, and had to laugh because as I read the first week’s assignment my little “t” was “There is no way I can do all this journaling!” But you “caught me out” with your last paragraph (LOL) and I’ve replaced it with the big “T,” ANYTHING GOD CALLS ME TO DO, HE’LL EQUIP ME TO DO, so I’m trusting the Holy Spirit to lead me on this journey teaching me discernment daily as to what He would have me do each day, since I am blessed with so much abundance available to me from THE LORD’S TABLE through both of you daughters of The Living God.
I’ve added you both to my prayer list, as I am aware how the enemy hates those who are “taking back territory and possessing the land” he ERROROUSLY thought was his. Keep up the good fight of faith, ladies; and, as you do, it is good for you to remember and the enemy to recall that the Battle is the LORD’s and that He’s already won it; and that it is He who has already won it, and He Who Cannot Lie, that calls US “more than conquerors”! AMEN. So Be It.
Nancyelizabeth
Hi, Nancyelizabeth. I am thrilled to hear these resources have been so helpful for you. Barb has been used by God to transform my life and my ministry. She is a precious sister. So glad that you are doing her study and using her book. Thank you SO much for your prayers. I desperately need them!