Hunger Games

Hunger Games

December 21, 2017 3 Comments

From the teaching Yeshua's Disciple: The Narrow Way - Hunger

Shalom everyone!  So, it's beginning to feel more like winter, but then I saw the forecast for today, the first official day of winter and it's supposed to get up to 65oF today.  Tomorrow will be a high of 41oF.  The weather here in Oklahoma is even more strange than Germany, but I am enjoying seeing the sun and blue skies on a regular basis.  This unpredictable weather reminds me of how the circumstances of life can be.  Up and down, left and right, but through it all we need to aim to remain consistent in the will, peace, and comfort of the Father.  In this past Shabbat's teaching, Marcus covered the Hunger beatitude.  Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.  Like Marcus pointed out, we can all relate to varying degrees of what it feels like to be physically hungry.  Some may even know the suffering of what it feels like to starve.  When the body is hungry, the mind is affected.  I know what it feels like to be "hangry", which is the irritability that comes about due to hunger pangs.  However, when people experience a lack of food/water  or are starving, there is a desperation that takes over.  The words that Yeshua uses to describe those that are blessed are ones that hunger and thirst for the righteousness of YeHoVaH.  Can we relate this desperation to our own walk with Messiah?  

When my body is hungry or thirsty, getting food and water become a top priority.  Once that urge is satisfied, it drops down on my list of priorities until it's time to eat again.  Yet this hunger and thirst that Yeshua speaks of is a desire of righteousness.  No one wants to be physically hungry, but this hunger and thirst that He speaks of  is desirable.  This hunger and thirst will one day be satisfied with the fullness of His presence.  Until then, we should hunger and thirst after the Almighty.  

This verse is also a good barometer to gauge our priorities and level of commitment.  Are we occasionally satisfying a sweet tooth or is feasting on His righteousness a top priority everyday or even most days?  Are you a snacker or do you have your three square meals a day?  At times we may even alternate from one of the above examples to another, but only you can answer how hungry and thirsty your heart is for the Father.  It's not a time to play "hunger games"; it's a time to truly reflect on what is in your heart.  We will go to great lengths to eat when we are physically hungry, but will you do the same for the will of YeHoVaH?  I pray that Father gives us all a desire to get after His Word and to really hunger for His righteousness the way He would have us to.  

Yeshua says in John 6:35 that He is the bread of life and whoever comes to Him and believes on Him shall never hunger or thirst.  The people He was speaking to were following Him around because of the food that they received to fill their bellies, but He taught them that physical food will perish, but what He had for them endures unto everlasting life.  This all ties in with the entire Narrow Way series because what Marcus is trying to highlight is that we first need to honestly desire submission to the Father through the true example Yeshua leaves for us.  When we submit to Him, we allow Him to provide for us.  He will provide that physical food that we often kill ourselves laboring for.  At the same time He is allowing us to feast on the bread from heaven that endures unto everlasting life.  In this life, we don't want to stop hungering for this bread from heaven; we will be filled with it and not filled from it.  In the proper time, we will never hunger or thirst for it because we will be in the fullness of His glory; with the Bridegroom for eternity.  This is what my desire is; this is why I fight everyday to draw near to Him, to  submit to Him and crucify the flesh; to love Him the way He teaches in His Word - receiving Yeshua and keeping the commandments of the Most High.  With the death of two of my son's grandmothers within a year, he is tring to wrap his little head around the concept of death.  He told me that we'll never see them again.  I have tried to explain to him that they are in YeHoVaH's hands.  Whatever the Father designed for us from the period between death and Revelation 21:1-6 is His business and whether we lived worthy of unworthy of being with Him is a job for Yeshua's righteous judgment and not mine.  If I put people in heaven or hell, then I make myself their judge and let's be honest, everyone that we liked goes to heaven and those we disliked go to hell.  That's how humans judge.  We have His instructions for salvation and at the end of the day, it's not about getting to heaven to recreate a "holier" version of the life we've lived on earth with everyone we have ever cared about, it's about worshipping HIM.  Being in the presence of the Holy One in the fullness of His glory.  Hallelujah!  So we have to remember that all our hungering and thirsting for His righteousness is for that very thing.  I encourage you to read Revelation 21 -22 if you have forgotten why you do what you do; why you need His strength to endure the current hardships and the ones to come.  Don't be disheartned, remind yourself of the greatest gift of all and go get after it!  Until next time...

Cassandra



3 Responses

Cassandra
Cassandra

March 07, 2018

Thank you so much for the kind words Norfleet and Juliet. Blessings to you both!

Juliet
Juliet

December 23, 2017

Cassandra, it is good to hear from you from Oklahoma. I sense that a lot has transpired since you visited us in HOI London earlier this year. I thank the Father for sustaining you. Thank you for faithfully writing the blogs. This particular blog is helping me to refocus and fine-tune my priorities. Thanks for encouraging us to meditate on Revelation 21&22. It is indeed a narrow way but what lies ahead for us in the new heaven and new earth is worth walking that narrow path for. Cassandra, may YeHoVaH renew your strength and sustain you as you wait on Him (Isaiah 40:31)
Shalom
Juliet

Norfleet Griffin
Norfleet Griffin

December 22, 2017

I agree with this entirely, especially the part about judgment. I take great effort to judge no one. Others may feel it is acceptable, but as I am led, judgment is the province of Messiah. I am content to follow Him and teach the commandments and spread the Gospel. Father bless you, dear sister! Shabbat Shalom

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