Hunger

To ache, to long. I've been in this constant state of burning desire for the Lord over the past few months. It's been like life wouldn't be worth living at all if I wasn't pursuing something of eternal weight. That deep desire within all of our hearts to pursue deeper things that will truly satisfy our hearts, I've been finding more and more as I give myself to spending time with the Lord in the mornings and seeking Him in the quiet place. I don't want that aching and longing to be satisfied by keeping myself so busy that I don't make time for it. I know that hunger can only be filled by one thing alone, and that is getting to know my heavenly Father and the way he desires to spend time with me.

Hunger for the things of God is something that is placed within each one of us, and depending on what we are filling our time with actually determines the degree that we feel that hunger. To the degree that we don't have a burning desire for a raw, vivid, alive relationship with our heavenly Father, is to the degree that our Spirit has been dulled by the temporary pleasures of this world. What are we filling our time up with? We can sit in front of TV screens, computers, entertainment of any kind and try to get away from that hunger for something that would satisfy, but we actually need to embrace that hunger, and run into relationship with a real God that really desires each one of us individually!

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6 When we are hungry for righteousness, for holy things, when we partner with that deep cry echoing from within our hearts that is screaming, "Father I desire to be filled with something that would not leave me feeling empty!" When we wake up a few minutes earlier just to spend some time with the Lord, we create a capacity in our hearts that has been stuffed full of everything else we've been trying to fill ourselves with. Us slowing down and actually wanting to spend time filling ourselves with things from the Word of God actually creates in us room for God to fill us with something! When we create that space and ask, our good Father in Heaven says that He WILL fill us.

A quote from Saint Angela when she was in a place of hungering and desiring the deeper things of the Lord. The Lord said to her, "Make yourself a capacity and I will make myself a torrent." What a promise! The Lord was saying, make room in your dull heart, and I will come like a rushing river and fill you! I want to always keep this gift of longing and desire for the deeper things alive and thriving in my heart! I don't want to let my spirit get dulled and tainted by what this world would say fills. I know that this world has nothing to offer me that will cause my heart to grow in love. I want to fill myself up on things that will last eternally! Another quote that is astounding to me!

"O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still...Amen." A. W. Tozer

This is the desire of my heart right now. I want to want, I long to be filled with longing. I am ashamed of my lack of desire! When we experience the embrace and touch of the Lord, it both satisfies our hearts, but leaves us longing and desiring more of Him. It's a continuous ride of seeking the Lord out, finding and experiencing Him again, but in return leaving us with a deeper longing in our hearts to find whole heartedness in Him and Him alone.

My heart aches, it burns, it's on fire for something that would not leave me feeling empty, but that would fill my heart and cause me to grow in Love for others and myself.

Strength and Honor,

Grace and Peace.

Isaac