Living Hope Fellowship Church

BLESSED HUNGER

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

BLESSED HUNGER

Preface

(hungry for God)

        Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” 

          When you lose your hunger or thirst, you aren’t going to live very long!  If you lose your hunger and thirst for God, you won’t be righteous very long. 

          Many have lost their zeal and their first love!  It is only as we seek after the Lord that He feeds us.  John 6:51 says, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

            Let’s get hungry and partake of the life of Jesus and be filled with His righteousness!

BLESSED HUNGER

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

           God’s Word is full of promises for you, and it is packed full of FACTS.  These things came to pass in days gone by, and some of it will continue to come to pass until Jesus comes again.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and the promises are for all who will believe.

          Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”  This is one of the keys to getting to Jesus and for going on with God.  You have to choose blessing or cursing.  You can actually choose cursing by not choosing blessing, because the curse has gone throughout all the earth.  The curse can cause you to be ill, to be afflicted and tormented, and can cause you to lose the victory that you had in the beginning.  Even if you are full of the Holy Ghost, if you don’t continue to daily lay down your life for God, you can’t keep that blessing very long.

          Matthew, Chapter 5, lists nine blessings.  A child of God is blessed when they hunger and thirst after righteousness instead of the things of the world. 

          Jesus gave us a commandment in Matthew 6:33 that says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”          

          Revival is a product of someone pressing in with God.  Miracles are a result of someone who is close to Jesus.  A Christian is no good without Christ, and the church is no good without the anointing of the Spirit of God.

          Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.  If you find a body without the Spirit, you aren’t going to find any faith or any works of God.  I’m telling you that it is a blessing to be hungry and thirsty!  I have talked to people who have been sick, some who have gone through major operations, and some who have gone through periods of depression.  I have dealt with those who have gone through physical as well as emotional or mental troubles, and those who have experienced spiritual strain.  I have found that sometimes it takes away their appetite, the very nature of the thing that keeps us alive. 

          When you lose your hunger or thirst, you aren’t going to live very long!  If you lose your hunger and thirst for God, you won’t be righteous very long. 

          When Jesus rebuked Peter, He spoke to Satan in Matthew 16:23, “But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”  We have to be changed!  Jesus said we have to savour the things that be of God and hunger and thirst after them if we want a blessing!  Then we will be filled with the righteousness of God. 

          Some are seeking after a “better” way.  Some are seeking after a “survival kit”, but the only true righteousness and the only true ark of safety is in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living, Most High God.  You can look a lot of places and find a lot of things, but Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

          The Holy Ghost will never lead you anywhere that is contrary to the Word of the Almighty God!  The Holy Ghost will never lie to you, and it will never deceive or pull you down.  He will cause you to ask, seek, and knock that it shall be opened unto you (see Matthew 7:7).

          Jesus said in John 15:7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”  Folks, it takes something to abide and to hold on.  It takes something to press on in, and that is a hunger and a thirst for the things of God.  A lot of people only want the end results, but we need God and the righteousness of Christ, because Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”

          God is looking for a people that do seek Him with all of their hearts and say, “Lord, I’m not going to be satisfied from the best things that the world can offer, and the best things that the devil can give.  I’m only going to be satisfied with what Jesus Christ has promised me in the Word.”  Pray that God helps us to get into the place where we will covet only and earnestly the best gifts of God, and not the things of the world.

          Moses was hungry and thirsty after the things of God, and he asked the Lord to show him His glory!  (See Exodus 33:18.)  He wanted to see the power of God manifest.  Moses had seen God bring the people out of Egypt and perform awesome things.  He had seen God kill their enemies.  He had seen God protect His people.  He had seen God do many wonderful and marvelous things, and finally he couldn’t stand it any more.  He had to see God’s glory, experience it, and be in it!

          He knew there was more than to just know about the promises; he had to get in the promises!  When you get in Christ, you become a new creature.  All things are passed away, and all things are brand new!  

            We don’t have enough of what it takes to move mountains until God does something supernatural in our lives!  If we don’t get hungry and thirsty after these things, we will get cold and die!  We will be indifferent, and we will become naked before the world, having nothing with which to convict them.  At present state most churches are not going to move nations for God.  How will we convince people to believe in God?

          Exodus 33:19 says, “And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”  This was the Word of God talking to him, whom now we know as Jesus.  Then the Father said in Verse 20, “And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.”  This was a crushing blow to a man who believed that he was going to see the Glory of God.  God told him he couldn’t! 

          Jesus spoke again after the Father made His declaration.  Jesus wasn’t refuting what the Father said, He just made a provision!  Moses was crushed, but before his countenance fell completely, Verse 21 says, “And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:” 

          Can you see where the conversation is being fulfilled?  In other words, Moses says, Show me thy glory, and Jesus said, I can do that.  The Father says, You can’t see my face, but Jesus says, Oh, but there is a place by me.

          Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”  Man wants to get to God, but he is going to run into the god of this world.

          In other words God, the Father, said, You can’t come in, but Jesus said, I have gone in, and I can take you in the cleft of my side, and I can put you in me, and we can abide together, and walk before the Father.

          You aren’t shown in front of the Father anymore; all He sees is Jesus.  God allowed the world to pierce the side of Jesus at Calvary, and He suffered and died for my sins and yours.  Thank God for Jesus, for the crown of thorns He bore, and for all He has done for us.  I thank God that He raised Jesus from the dead.

          Romans 8:11 says, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

          The Father says we can’t see the glory of God except by His Son, Jesus.  Man was separated from God, but for every one who is hungry and thirsty after God, there is a way of redemption.  Jesus said in John 14:6, “. . . I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

          In Verse 5 Thomas had asked the Lord, “. . . how can we know the way?”  They had been working with Jesus for about three years, but they didn’t know Him.  If you get in Christ Jesus, He will fill you with righteousness and give you a place in heaven that He has prepared for you! 

          Jesus became the way for Moses to see God’s glory.   Exodus 33:21 says, “And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:  And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:”

          There is no Rock like our Rock, Christ Jesus.  Matthew 16:18 says, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  It may look like hell will prevail, but it will NOT.  However, people have lost their hunger and thirst for the things of God. 

          Jesus said that He made a way, but it is straight and narrow.  He said if we come the way that He has come, He will cause us to overcome.  Revelation 3:21 says, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

          People are so governed by what is going on around them!  If the sun doesn’t shine they get depressed, and just anything can move them, but God’s Word does not change!  Hold fast; God is your protector and your guide, because you are living by faith!  The Bible says in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

          People who lose their hunger and thirst starve to death, because they won’t eat.  If you don’t hunger and thirst after righteousness, you won’t read your Bible or pray!  People wonder where the blessing is, and I am wondering where their witness is! 

          Psalms 23:5 says, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”  Well, the devil is my enemy, and Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” 

          If we truly hunger and thirst after righteousness we can put the devil out of our way, put the weather out of the way, put the world out of the way, and say, I must get to Jesus!  You aren’t going to heaven unless you get hungry and thirsty for God!  You aren’t going to eat, be filled, and be blessed unless you hunger and thirst after righteousness.

           Someone can put a lot of effort into fixing a meal, and then find out that the ones they fixed it for aren’t even hungry.  Parents have this sometimes with their kids.  The church is like that.  God has prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies and some people are just picking and playing with it! 

          Moses wanted to see God’s glory, and Jesus said he could because there was a place by Him.  This was a special moment for Moses, but we can go in at any time.  The door is perpetually open if we will believe God.  I can fast or pray any time I want to.  I think it would be best if we would just stay hungry, because we are snacking on the things of the world, and we kind of spoil our supper. 

          The Lord called for a great supper, but some of them made excuses why they couldn’t come.  They weren’t hungry enough to come to supper.  If you are really hungry you might even get there a little early, and sit there and wait. 

          I believe that it is a curse not to be hungry and thirsty.  It is a curse to be cold and indifferent, because Revelation 3:16 says, “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”  You are lukewarm when it doesn’t matter to you if you go to church or not, and if you don’t care whether or not you read the Word of God or pray.  It doesn’t matter to you if God is in the church service.  It just doesn’t matter.  That is indifference, not hunger and thirst. 

          The men who went in through the roof of the house to get to Jesus were not indifferent!  They needed to get to Jesus.  They wanted a miracle and knew that man on the bed needed healing.  The place was packed to capacity; the people were on one another’s shoulders!  They were even outside the door looking in, trying to get a glimpse of the Master.  Some people might have said they were crazy, but they took the risk and got to Jesus!

          If you aren’t hungry, you can’t even digest what you eat.  There is something about that in the medical books.  When I was younger, I worked hard at hauling hay.  We started out of a morning right after the dew was off, or maybe a little earlier, and we would eat just a snack around noontime.

           Sometimes we would eat an evening meal about 6:00 or so.  A lot of times we would be near Hoots restaurant, so we would have one guy write down what we all wanted, and he would go get our meals.  You ought to have heard those guys make their orders!  “I want a GREAT BIG coke, and a GREAT BIG SUPER burger, and a GREAT BIG batch of fries!”   That was just from one guy!  The list went on and on.  We wanted the biggest of everything, because we were hungry!  I never saw anyone leave even as much as a french fry after we were done!  We inhaled probably 20 pounds of food!   We even ate the cheese off of the paper and chewed on the ice, because we were hungry!  When you get somebody hungry, you are going to have a time filling them up!

          Have you ever seen someone that wasn’t really hungry?  They just push stuff around on the plate.  Some will just scatter it out so the plate looks heavily dirty.  I tried that with my mama.  I would kind of scoot it around on the plate, and make it look like I had eaten, but she would scrape it all back together in a big pile and say, You haven’t eaten that.  Look there.

          I see a lot of Christians just picking at their food.  They are just pushing the food around the edges.  They aren’t hungry for God.  They are sickly, weak, and uncaring, and you have to kick a shout out of them. 

          Romans 8:18-19 says, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”

            This is the expectation of the Holy Ghost in you.  It is Christ in you, the hope of Glory.  He is looking forward to some glory, and if you will press in, and yield to God, He can take you right into the glory. 

          When we are saved, the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ comes in.  All things are made new.  Then you need to be filled and running over with the Holy Ghost.  We need a quickening, an enlarging.  We need to stay running over to where it literally drives out the world and our carnal ways.           

          A tremendous war goes on when you refuse to let the old nature go.  When we get saved, and we get filled with the Spirit of our God, we are to go on from glory to His glory and from our faith to His faith.  God will cause us to ever draw closer to Him.

          It is a hunger and a thirst after God that causes us to eat and drink of God’s Word and grow.  What would an infant or any human being do if they never, ever had an appetite or a desire for the things that sustain physical life?  They would die in short order.

          We must remember that the devil is a liar and a loser.  He cannot partake of the things of God, nor even look into the deep things of the Spirit of our God.  However, you and I can sit at the table with the Master anytime and eat whatever God wants us to have!  He said that all the promises of God are “yea” and “amen” to all who believe!  You can have whatsoever you ask, if you doubt not in your heart!

          God wants to change us so that we can stand more of God.  We have to be totally sanctified so that this vessel is no longer controlled by our carnal nature or any influence of the god of this world.  We must be influenced and controlled by God, our Lord Jesus, and the Holy Ghost.        

          Have you seen anyone deprived of food?  I spoke earlier of hungry hay haulers.  They didn’t have much manners when it came time to eat; they were shoving it down.  You aren’t going to leave any food if you know that you are going to be working and will need all that energy.  Folks, all of us are taking a journey, and we need what God has for us, but if we loose our hunger and thirst He will not force feed us. 

          Many have lost their zeal and their first love!  It is only as we seek after the Lord that He feeds us.  John 6:51 says, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

          John 6:53-57 says, “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.  As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.”

          Again, God promises in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”  Let’s get hungry and partake of the life of Jesus, and be filled with His righteousness!

CONTACT INFORMATION:

PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY

LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O. BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL  62941

CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541

E-mail  livinghopefellowship@lazernetwireless.net

These condensed Bible studies have been published to help new Christians in their new walk with the Lord.  Kevin Badgley, the author, is the pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.

This is a Living Hope Fellowship publication.

© Living Hope Fellowship, Inc.