“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)
There are only a few people who are not hungry: the dead, the sick, and those who just ate. When we are hungry, we look for ways to quench our hunger and thirst. Hunger is a sign that we need something. When we feel hungry or thirsty our bodies are signaling to us that it needs nourishment. Here hunger is not from food for our physical bodies but, a hunger for something else. Some people are hungry for respect, love, power, or even money. This is not the hunger that satisfies people but, instead it leaves people craving for more. This hunger pertains to our spiritual health a hunger for righteousness is a hunger for something deeper than the world cannot offer. A hunger for righteousness comes from knowing God. By knowing God, we know what he desires and what he dislikes we can look around at the world at all the injustice and develop a deep craving to do the next right thing. It does not involve just wishing that everything would be made right. This involves a deep soul-searching and understanding of seeing what is going wrong in the world from taking care of the environment, fair treatment of individuals, and education. By knowing God, we recognize our need for God’s grace and strive to live a life in a worthy manner. There are practical steps that we can take by doing the next right thing we can recycle, treat people fairly, volunteer, donate, and even raise awareness. There will be a day when our hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. The world can feel overwhelming at times with all the injustices, evil, and pain don’t lose hope for one day there will be no more injustices. Heavenly Father, the world seems overwhelming with all the injustices that are happening help us to do the next right thing to help take care of our neighbors, friends, and those we care about. Walking with you, Stacy Watkins
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This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15)
Little children are amazing they have no problem asking if a friend can take their tongue and lick their elbow or why questions. I am not sure who even tells a child “You need to ask why” but they somehow just get to the point of asking why regarding various subjects in life. They are confident in coming to any person and asking. It is the same for us today we can be confident when come before God in prayer. We can become confident because we know that God is faithful and desires to take care of his children. As we continue to walk a faith journey with him, we become more confident in our prayers and what we are asking for from him. Often, in our prayers we only list out the situation but forget that we must ask God. He wants us to make our requests. Our requests are not just desires that we want. God is not a genie granting wishes of the things that we desire for he knows some of the items that we desire in life is not good for our relationships, health, or who he has made us to be. We are to ask according to his will which can be difficult. Asking according to God’s will makes us first have to step back and reconnect our heart to God. From spending time with him we get to know what he truly desires and wants for us. It changes how we pray we go from praying for a certain amount of money to praying to learn to steward our money better. God’s will is written throughout scripture if you are unsure seek guidance from a pastor. God earnestly desires to hear from all of us for he loves all of us. When we ask according to his will our prayers become bold. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of prayer and you hear our prayers and answer them according to your will. Lord help me to not just list my situation to you but ask you for what I need according to your will. Walking with you, Stacy Watkins |
AuthorPastor Matt Huff leads Portland Central Nazarene Church. He loves being in ministry and seeing lives transformed by the power of Christ. Archives
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