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I am hungry!

Matthew 5:6 (AMP) Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [those who actively seek right standing with God], for they will be [completely] satisfied.

What is it that we hunger and thirst for? That is what I was praying about the other day. I was praying that we hunger and thirst for the right things. What we hunger and thirst for we begin to crave. My husband and I are foodies. We like finding new restaurants for the most unique dishes to try. I like cooking different types of cuisines and will often make my own twists on dishes. This year I had asked God to take away all my cravings and only crave Him. I looked up ‘what is the biblical definition of righteousness’ through Google and this was I found from Christianity.com:

In Its deeper spiritual meaning, righteousness is the quality of being right in the eyes of God, including character (nature), conscience (attitude), conduct (action), and command (word). Righteousness is, therefore, based upon God’s standard because He is the ultimate Lawgiver (Isaiah 33:22).

http://www.christianity.com

I have often heard the term that ‘I am now in right standing with God’ and that ‘through Christ I have been made righteous’, but those words out of context can tell us that we can live our lives any way we want to. There is still a standard. Since it was Jesus who spoke the words about hungering and thirsting after righteousness I searched for other times to hunger and thirst.

John 6:35 (AMP) Jesus replied to them, “I am the Bread of Life. The one who comes to Me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in Me [as Savior] will never be thirsty [for that one will be sustained spiritually].”

There was a time in the desert that the devil tempted Jesus to satisfy His hunger by turning a stone into bread (Matthew 4:3). Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” What was this bread they were referring to. Putting that quote into context, Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “He humbled you and allowed you to be hungry and fed you with manna, [a substance] which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, so that He might make you understand [by personal experience] that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” Manna was a substance that man could not make on their own. There is no recipe for it. If I wanted to show you what manna tasted like I could not recreate it. The ingredients do not exist here. God was showing us that our dependence on His Word would satisfy us.

John 1:1 (AMP) In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.

Jesus said that He was the Bread of Life (the Word at the beginning), when we come to Him we will never be hungry again. The Word and Christ are one, just as the Father and Son are one. How can we wrap our understanding around such? Let me ask you a question, how can God feed a whole nation with something that man could never make for themselves? Faith. Faith in His Word (Christ).

Joshua 1:8 (AMP) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful.

Now that I have hit on hunger, let us dive into some scripture about thirst. Jesus told the woman at the well that she would never thirst again from the water that He would give her (John 4:10).

Psalms 1:1-3 (AMP) Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked [following their advice and example], nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit [down to rest] in the seat of scoffers (ridiculers). But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law [His precepts and teachings] he [habitually] meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted [and fed] by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season; its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers [and comes to maturity].

One of my favorite verses to cling onto is that I am rooted and grounded in the Love of Christ (Ephesians 3:17). I cannot be rooted and grounded into someone that I have no relationship with. If Christ is the Word, then I need to have a relationship with the Word. This is what I have begun to hunger and thirst after. My roots are searching for nourishment. Everything that I need is found in His Word. My right standing, my righteousness, is found in Him. What happens when I try doing something else. God said that it was to bring the people of Israel to humility that He had them to hunger. Do you think He would allow us to thirtst?

Jeremiah 2:13 (AMP) For My people have committed two evils: they have abandoned (rejected) Me, the fountain of living water, and they have carved out their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Due to long times of drought, cisterns were dug to hold water. When a cistern was broken the water became contaminated. It is when we place our trust in anything other than God, that our cisterns are broken. It is when we say the Word does not work. It is when we say Christ might have done that for you, but He did not do that for me. When we do not trust in God and try to make out own way. He is the fountain of Living Water. He is the Bread of Life.

As Lysa TerKeurst writes in her books Made to Crave, we were made to crave after God. How? In the beginning was the Word. Christ being the Bread of Life (the Word made flesh). He being the fountain of Living Waters. I was made to crave after the righteousness of God. I am to hunger and thirst after Him. I am to be rooted and grounded in Him. There is a standard. My right standing cannot be defined by man, it must be Word defined. My righteousness in Christ is not the same as my self-righteousness. Today choose to hunger and thirst after righteousness (the God way).

Abba, Father, Lord and Creator, we honor Your Holy name today. We want to honor You in everything we say and do. Thank You for Your Son, the Word made flesh, the Fountain of Life and the Bread of Life. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit, that empowers us to seek after You. We repent for the times we have tried to fill our hunger and thirst with anything that does not line up with Your Word. You tell us to be Holy as You are Holy. You tell us to seek after righteousness, that is Your way of doing things. We are aligning our thoughts with the Word today. We are thankful that we are rooted and grounded in Your Love. We choose to forgive those that we may have blamed for being a root of our depression, our anxiety or even our rejection. We know that we do not have to take root in anything other than You. We are allowing the Holy Spirit to dig up areas that do not reflect Your nourishment. We choose love today. We choose joy today. We choose forgiveness today. We choose hope today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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My Calling

Matthew 10:41 (AMP) He who receives and welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous (honorable) man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.

October is Pastor Appreciation Month, most churches celebrated and honored their pastor’s yesterday (ours did it the first Sunday). To be called into the pastoral ministry is a joy. We are tasked with the duty of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry, the ministry of reconciliation, as we were called into it first.

My husband and I have been on a series called “Restore” all year. We have taken the past few weeks to tackle a subject regarding “My Calling.” We find that many in the church start to chase after their calling. Leaving, and forsaking the covering of their pastors, and seeking out those who will promote their calling. Did I just say covering? Is that not old fashioned? Do you not think that this is anything new? The letters in the New Testament were not written to the unbeliever, they were written to the church. Hebrews 10:25 talks about not forsaking the meeting together as some have come into the habit of. What would the writer say about the church today, staying at home, watching on You Tube and disconnected from serving one another?

Hebrews 13:7 (AMP) Obey your [spiritual] leaders and submit to them [recognizing their authority over you], for they are keeping watch over your souls and continually guarding your spiritual welfare as those who will give an account [of their stewardship of you]. Let them do this with joy and not with grief and groans, for this would be of no benefit to you.

I understand there have been abuses. Your pastor does not have the right to tell you who you can marry, where you can live, what job you are to take, nor what car to buy. Your pastor does have the right to tell you that the counsel you have chased after to build up your calling, is not where you need to be. The pastoral calling is heavy and will come with more responsibility.

The initial verse of this is Jesus speaking. Jesus went to His hometown. He desired to see people set free where ever He went. The same power to heal and bring back to life flowed through Him every where He went. Why did it not flow freely in His home town? They still saw Him as the boy that grew up there and not the man who walked in freedom that all the other towns were able to receive from. They could not receive from Him because they saw Him as common. How do you approach the gathering on Sundays? Do you go with expectation? Or are you expecting the same thing every week?

Pastors are vision carriers. They have a passion to see you become free and to do the work of the ministry. That is not always vacuuming or cleaning the bathrooms, but sometimes it is. What it really is…the ministry of reconciliation. Who are we doing the serving with? Those who need freedom in their life, just like you. Do not get so caught up in the work that you do not see the person you are working along side and not get to know them.

I do a lot of one on one care. I will invite someone to do an activity and get to know them. I will find out how I can pray for them, direct them in the Word, share my own struggles and how I am overcoming in the Word, find out their interests and just get to know them. That is what it looks like. Then I will help them do the same for someone else. Not everyone will have a relationship like that with me. Some still see me as the teenage girl, that wore short skirts, dating the pastor’s son. Some still see me as the young woman that would roll her eyes. Does that mean I am not the person I am today? I do not remember that young girl, even if others do. That does not mean I will not serve them.

During this Pastor Appreciation Month take stock of how you see your pastor(s). Pastors, take a look at how you lead and serve the people God has called you to. We are connected for a reason and the reason is the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). We are no longer bound, but free. Freedom takes work to figure out, there are root areas that will try to keep us from putting on the newness (Colossians 3:10) we have become, it takes all of us to get there.

Father, thank you for your goodness, mercy and grace. Let me see the people you have called me to with fresh eyes. I no longer want to see them as common. Your Son said that if I would receive people with honor and see them as righteous that I would receive a righteous man’s reward. I want all that you have for me, so I choose today to lay down my rights and stand on Your truth. Forgive me for not receiving from the pastor(s) you have placed in my life. They have only wanted to see me free and I repent for fighting them in my stubbornness. I surrender my heart to You. Let it be tender and responsive to Your Holy Spirit. I choose to surrender today. Thank you for giving me the ministry of reconciliation, so that I can share Christ with others. I do not take it for granted. It is the calling that you trusted me with. I will not run the race in vain. I choose you today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Let it shine!

John 1:9 (AMP)  There it was—the true Light [the genuine, perfect, steadfast Light] which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone.

Here we are two days after Christmas. The time of the year that we celebrate the true Light coming into the world. The way my chronological reading plan worked out is that I started the New Testament yesterday with Luke 1 and John 1. The past few weeks (December 1-24) I took a chapter in Luke per day and read it along with my other readings. Today I wanted to focus in on John’s perspective. He starts off with Christ is the Word and the Light.

John 1:1-8 (AMP) In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being. In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it]. There came a man commissioned and sent from God, whose name was John. This man came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe [in Christ, the Light] through him. John was not the Light, but came to testify about the Light.

Christ came so that He could restore us to our rightful place with the Father. He came to be Savior to the world, but He is so much more than that. We begin our relationship with Him as our Savior. That moment that changes our life and we let the Light in. The Light is always going to point us to the Word. The Word should bring life to you. Do you dread reading the Word? Does it seem boring to you? Are you one who says that you read and get nothing out of it? The Holy Spirit can help with that.

Whenever a person tells me they want to grow more in their relationship with God, or they are ready to surrender entirely to Him, I ask them if they read their Bible and if they pray in the Spirit. If they have never received the baptism of the Holy Spirit then I encourage them to do so.

I remember my moment that I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I was nineteen. I had been saved for a little over a year and attending seminary. Their was a missionary ministering at the church and she gave the invitation. I was engaged (to my husband) at the time and we had talked about how important it was for him that before we got married that I was spirit filled. Just a couple of weeks before the missionary had visited our church I had given him a box with his wedding band in it, letting him know that I was ready to take the next step in my relationship with God. We set our wedding date for nearly six months after that moment. Unlike others I know, this was not a manipulation tactic to marriage. This was genuine.

From that moment. The Light was brighter, the Word came alive. The zeal for everything to be reconciled to Christ was greater. Life does happen and if you do not charge your self in the Word and prayer then you will become dim again, but the Light is still somewhere there. So what am I rambling on about? Do not wait until January first to say I want to get in the Word more. Do it today! Why wait? Pray in the Spirit more. If you have never been baptized in the Holy Spirit, message me and I can point you to some scriptures to help with that.

Now that we have our Word and our Light, go as John did and testify of Him. We do not draw people to ourselves, but point them to the Light.

Matthew 15:14-16 (AMP) You are the light of [Christ to] the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Let your Light shine!!

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Who have you been with?

Acts 4:7-8 (AMP) When they had put the men in front of them, they repeatedly asked, “By what sort of power, or in what name [that is, by what kind of authority], did you do this [healing]?” Then Peter, filled with [the power of] the Holy Spirit, said to them…

John and Peter worked side by side in ministry. John was referred to as the beloved and we know Peter to be quick to act and speak. They still ministered together. The early church was about unity. The early church was about pointing everyone to Christ. Think about what the body of Christ would do today if we focused on just that. Instead, if we have a “Peter” we talk about how too harsh or crass they are and draw away from them. Not realizing their heart is pure. We are a people who judge on the outward, but God does not.

As I was praying yesterday before church, I came across chapter 4 of the Book of Acts in one of my devotionals. Peter and John had just healed a man.They have a crowd they are talking to at this point, proclaiming the Name of Jesus, reported that 5,000 men received salvation! There were the Sadducees and the temple guards listening and becoming very annoyed, some translations say indignant. So they have them arrested. Peter and John spend an evening in jail, then are brought before the magistrates and priests. When asked by what sort of power, or in what name did they do this healing, it was Peter who spoke up. It says he was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Peter said, “if we are being put on trial today [to interrogate us] for a good deed done to [benefit] a disabled man, as to how this man has been restored to health, let it be known and clearly understood by all of you, and by all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you [demanded be] crucified [by the Romans and], whom God raised from the dead—in this name [that is, by the authority and power of Jesus] this man stands here before you in good health. This Jesus is the stone which was despised and rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief Cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among people by which we must be saved [for God has provided the world no alternative for salvation].” Acts 4:9-12 (AMP)

Acts 4:13 (AMP) Now when the men of the Sanhedrin (Jewish High Court) saw the confidence and boldness of Peter and John, and grasped the fact that they were uneducated and untrained [ordinary] men, they were astounded, and began to recognize that they had been with Jesus.

They recognized that these men had been with Jesus. It reminded me of another story in the Bible about a life change happening after she had been with Jesus: John 4:28-30 (AMP)  Then the woman left her water jar, and went into the city and began telling the people, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done! Can this be the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)?” So the people left the city and were coming to Him.

They recognized that these men had been with Jesus.

To finish up this chapter in the book of Acts, verses 14-22 says, And seeing the man who had been healed standing there with them, they had nothing to say in reply. But after ordering them to step out of the Council [chamber], they began to confer among themselves, saying, “What are we to do with these men? For the fact that an extraordinary miracle has taken place through them is public knowledge and clearly evident to all the residents of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But to keep it from spreading further among the people and the nation, let us [sternly] warn them not to speak again to anyone in this name.”  So they sent for them, and commanded them not to speak [as His representatives] or teach at all in the name of Jesus [using Him as their authority]. But Peter and John replied to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you and obey you rather than God, you must judge [for yourselves]; for we, on our part, cannot stop telling [people] about what we have seen and heard.”  When the rulers and Council members had threatened them further, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because [of their fear] of the people, for they were all praising and glorifying and honoring God for what had happened; for the man to whom this sign (attesting miracle) of healing had happened was more than forty years old.

A few take aways for me from these passages were: 1) John and Peter worked together. They had different personalities. They did not point to one another, they pointed to Christ. When you have someone come to you about the flaws of another, point them back to Christ. It hurts my heart when we use divisive words such as “they should not have said that” or “they should not have done that,” especially when you were not witness to it. Inadvertently we are pointing back to ourselves, we should be pointing back to Christ. 2) There was no denying they had been with Jesus. Although we do not have Jesus in His physical form here on earth, He did send the Holy Spirit. We can have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Can people tell we have been with Him? Sign, wonders, miracles, healings and etc. will follow us when we walk in this relationship.

In 2020, when Covid-19 was causing everything to close, my heart yearned to see the miracles take place. Distractions happened. I lost focus. I let the disappointments of people get in the way. I tried my hardest to focus on His word, but still having hurt in my heart from the disappointments. It is not worth not walking in my calling. He has called us out! Do not fall into the trick of the enemy to get us distracted. Focus back on Christ and get a relationship with the Holy Spirit!

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My van overheated

This past week started off tough for me. It started off with stress and anxiety over getting items ready for a consignment sale, which were exasperated by how I was “tolerated” as a consignor by the new owner. Also, on Monday my van started to overheat. We had just gotten back from a trip to north Alabama, where the temperatures were still below freezing and they had gotten snow. We let the van run for longer periods of time in idle than we usually do. We added antifreeze to it as we found out it had none and by the next day it was low again.

On Wednesday I took my van for an oil change and asked them to look into the coolant issue. That I could smell it and that it was leaking somewhere. They gave me a quote and sent me on my way telling me to be very careful. I traveled from there about twenty miles to see my mother and have a visit. On the way back from my mother’s it started over heating again. I pulled it over to the shoulder and call a town truck.

Just that morning I had posted: Yesterday was rough. I was stressed and anxious for most of the afternoon. I spent the past two days hanging, tagging and preparing items for a local consignment sale (this will be my last time doing it). While doing it I binge watched an episode on Netflix. Really interesting and entertaining…I like a good crime series.Today I am reading and came across this nugget:“The Bible shows us that there is a direct relation between hearing and seeing Jesus, and the health of our bodies. The more we hear and see Jesus, the healthier and stronger we become! Our mortal bodies infused with His resurrection life and power! If we are constantly feeding on the news media, it is no wonder we feel weak and tired. There is just no nourishment for us there.” From “Unmerited Favor” by Joseph Prince. Now I don’t watch the news but I do like to get into a good series. It’s comforting, but then when I’m away from it I feel anxious. Hello! Doesn’t that seem like symptoms of an addiction? I read my Word every day. I spend time in worship. I know the Holy Spirit. Here is what He is trying to tell me: stop putting time limits on what is His time and what is my time. I do not have as much stress and anxiety when I give Him more of that “me time.” I had an amazing time in the Word and a really good visit with my mom. I had accomplished everything I needed to do on my checklist and now I am on the side of the road. I did not freak out, I did not get into an over anxious mess ball, I had peace.

I got my van home and called the one place I was trying to avoid, my service center. I had not had good experiences with them in the past. When we bought the van my husband also bought an extended warranty that is good as long as we own the van, no renewing required. It is bumper to bumper, but not for normal wear and tear (tires, oil changes, fluids, etc.). Since this was a leak in a hose I did not think this was covered, so that is why I was seeking elsewhere for the repairs. I get it to this service center and guess what…it is covered. What I was willing to pay over four hundred dollars to get fixed only cost me a hundred and fifty.

This is my take away from this. That extended warranty was put into our payments at the beginning of the purchase. It is one hundred percent paid for now. I would not have known the benefits of it completely if I did not get it checked by the service center. We can be just like that with our relationship with God. There are some benefits and blessings that we know are available to us because of the cross, but others we are not sure of so we go someplace else to get our resources. Then we know we should be blessed in an area and think if we make ourselves small and keep a good attitude that God will give us just enough to get us by.

There are some benefits and blessings that we know are available to us because of the cross, but others we are not sure of so we go someplace else to get our resources.

Luke 12:22-24 (AMP) Jesus said to His disciples, “For this reason I tell you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; or about your body, as to what you will wear.  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the crop]; they have no storehouse or barn, and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!“

Ephesians 3:20 (AMP) Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us

These are just two verses that should give us an assurance that we have the promise of favor, of abundant blessings and nothing in it tells us to make ourselves small. What about John 3:30 then, “He must increase, but I must decrease”? This is telling us that nothing should be more important in our lives than Christ. John the Baptist wanted to point others to Christ. When we take this verse out of context we start to put the smallness onto ourselves.

If I had stayed in my good attitude and went to the other place, the place where I knew they would not make me uncomfortable because I had never had a confrontation with them, then I would not have known all that was available to me. You know what else, this visit to the service center was the most pleasant experience I have ever had! Favor and blessings all around!!

I pray this blessed and encouraged you. If you need prayer or need to chat, message me at amanda@desiringformore.org.