Message 1: Hungering and Thirsting

INTRODUCTION:
• I want you to look at the front of your bulletin.
• Notice the title of my new series of messages: “Entering His Presence”
• We just finished “Supernatural Jesus”
• I’ve realized that living in the realm of the Supernatural Jesus requires that we learn to enter into His presence.
• When you look at the people who have made the most difference in this world for Christ, without exception they all have known how to enter His presence.
• Moses stood on holy ground and saw the back of God
• Elijah saw the Spirit realm with his very own eyes!
• Shadrach, Meshach and Adednego stood in the fiery furnace and had Christ as their companion.
• When Pastor Jack Hayford speaks, you know that every word that comes out of his mouth is the direct result of being in the Presence of Christ.
• Without His presence, we will live as mere men and women – we will never ‘get it’!

Over the past couple of years, God has rebuilt this man. Oh, how I praise Him for doing so. He has enabled me to sit, to listen, to hear His voice. He speaks to me. Do you know what that means to me?

Tomorrow, I begin seven weeks of chemo and radiation for this cancer in my neck. Listen to what the Lord spoke to me last week about this:
“Doug, you are entering into a season of blessing. Major blessing. I am working in an opposite spirit. You have cancer. You are undergoing chemo and radiation. The world would say that this will be a very difficult time, but I am working in an opposite spirit. You will enjoy major blessings. See my hands of blessing, Doug and stay in close with me.”

God is going to bless me and my family through this! Just the opposite of what the world would say! My task in all of this is simply to ‘stay in close’ with Him. I simply need to make sure that I am entering His presence in order to enjoy His blessings!

Can you even imagine what this does for me?

Let me tell a few things that entering His presence does:
• I get peace.
• I get guidance.
I get comfort.
• I gain revelation and understanding of what He is doing.
• I get vision.
• I get corrected when I’m off track.

Those are all good things. Very good things.

And you can have them too!

I love you. I desire good things for you. I want you to grow in Christ and enjoy Him more than ever. I want you to experience the Supernatural. And I would be remiss in my role as you pastor – shepherd – if I didn’t give you some practical guidance into how to enter His presence.

And so, for the next few weeks, we are going to be exploring some of the things that God’s Spirit has revealed that will help us all move in closer.

PRAYER

Turn to Matthew 5 – in verse 6 Jesus tells us about the first things you need to possess if you want to enter His presence:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6

This isn’t rocket science. To enter His presence, you have to hunger and thirst for Him.

We’ve all heard the expression: “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.” And the same is true of the life of the Spirit – I can teach, encourage, counsel, challenge, model – but if you don’t have a hunger and thirst for the things of God, there is nothing anyone can do to help you.

But, if you DO hunger and thirst, God promises that you will be fulfilled! He won’t leave you wanting. He won’t leave you empty. He won’t leave you lacking. God says: “If you hunger and thirst for me – I will give you everything you need!

What a promise! What a joy! God says: “I will meet with you. I will be with you. I will show up and you’ll recognize my presence! And it all begins with desire!”

Let me describe this desire with a collection of David’s writings from Psalms:
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalms 42:1, 2

Think of a time when you’ve been really thirsty – how desperately you desire to have that thirst quenched. Think about how dry and parched your mouth, lips, and throat were. Think about how all you could think about was getting some water to drink – in order to have your thirst quenched. It was priority one. That’s what it means to ‘hunger and thirst for God.’

“My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Psalms 84:2

Have you ever been homesick? Lonely? Longing to be with your loved one? Have you ever been away from your loved ones and stood in the airport terminal looking for the one face that will satisfy? That’s what it means to ‘hunger and thirst for God.’

Jesus says to us today: “You are in fact BLESSED if you possess this desire, this longing, this passion for me. You are blessed, because you will soon be in MY PRESENCE! Your desire will be fulfilled!”

God isn’t messing around with us today. He won’t disappoint. He will arrive. He will speak. He will reveal. He will touch. It’s what He does, if you hunger and thirst, you’ll be satisfied.

The problem? We hunger and thirst for the wrong things.

We long for things that simply don’t matter. And in doing so, we miss out on what really matters.

We’ve all heard the saying: “No one ever comes to the end of their lives and wishes that they spent more time at the office.”

Let me suggest this: How tragic it would be for any of us to come to the end of our life on earth and not have pursued what really matters and what will really last: Our relationship with God!

Yet, this happens far too often. And I’m not talking about non-Christians – I’m talking about Bible-belieiving born-again Christians who miss out on the best part of our faith: Intimacy with God.

And I’m talking from personal experience.

For years my faith was an intellectual exercise accompanied by a set of moral laws. My prayer life was lukewarm and my worship experience was virtually dead. I had as my goal the vague goal of growing a church – but I wasn’t aware of or experiencing abundant life in Christ!

But all along, God was trying to get my attention. And He loved me enough to allow me to have an accident. I hit the wall.

Every man or woman of God will eventually hit the wall. And it is almost always a wall of their own making.

I hit my wall about 2 1/2 years ago and I’m so glad I did. In October 2003 – we had a day when Beth and I both realized that all the years of striving, suffering and seeking to ‘grow’ the church simply wasn’t working. In fact, it was killing us. And God spoke to us and gave us this word: “Something is going to change or something is going to change.” From that point forward something did change. And it was mostly me. I surrendered and I’m still surrendering – my will is simply not important. What I want doesn’t matter. My ways don’t lead to life. My ways are limited by time, space, experience and knowledge. But God’s will and God’s ways are far better than mine. And when I align my life with His will and His ways, my life takes on a quality that I never ever experienced doing it ‘my way.’

That was my wall. And it changed everything.

If you are surrendered, you have a wall in your future. And it’s a very good thing that you do. Because if you aren’t surrendered, you are heading in the wrong direction. I’m not saying that you aren’t saved. I’m not saying that you aren’t a Christian. I’m definitely not saying that I’m better than you. I’m simply saying that because God loves you, there will be a wall in your future.

When I hunger and thirst for anything other than God – I am headed towards a wall.


What walls are made of:
• Financial problems - Debt. Compulsive spending, Trying to ‘buy’ happiness.
• Relationship problems. Bickering, inability to communicate, Apathy or Enmeshment
• Inner problems – lack of peace, stress, compulsive behaviors, a general sense of frustration or disappointment with yourself or with life.
• Health problems – Headaches, skin rashes, nausea, inability to sleep.
• Business/career problems – Inability to keep a job, or to stay with a job. Sudden rise of income, or loss of income. Inability to stop working or to feel satisfied with a job well-done.
• Sexual problems – porn, lust, or other fixation. Or, coldness or distinterest.

If you are hitting walls like this – maybe, just maybe – God is attempting to get your attention. Maybe, just maybe He loves you enough to let you hit the wall, in order for you to turn towards Him for healing and restoration.

After I hit my wall, my life changed. I began to enter His presence. And I began to get exactly what I needed from Him. My life is far better today that it has ever been before. And, I am closed to Him that I’ve ever been.

Here’s why: Christ promised and Christ keeps His promises!
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6

• I am blessed.
• I am blessed because I hit the wall, and in doing so, He changed my direction.
• I am blessed because I now hunger and thirst for Him, more than anything else.
• I am blessed because as I hunger and thirst for His presence, He fills me up.

He fills me up with…
“…the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7

Do you need peace? Hunger and thirst for God! Enter His presence! Simply by entering His presence, what was chaotic and confusion, becomes filled with peace and clarity.
So, what will you do this week to enter His presence?