Your Desire Brings His Power
Far too often we are looking to Heaven for help when we ourselves have placed our desires on things here on Earth. Jesus said in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.” The word “blessed” here means happy, joyous, spiritually prosperous, with life joy, and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation. This is exactly what everyone is looking for but yet the condition for obtaining such things is not being met. What is that condition? Hunger and thirsting after righteousness. Or in other words, craving the Born Again nature. To thirst and hunger means that one would take the attitude of considering death being more desirable than going without God’s will in their life. I’ll be honest, most Christians are not taking this attitude with the things of God today and the Church is powerless as a result.
How do you know that Christians are living without this attitude of passion towards the things of God? I talk to Christians who enjoy a football game with cheering and applauding a favorite team yet in church services they are lethargic and sleeping. Why the enthusiasm over a pigskin crossing a goal line and not over the Resurrection with Christ that produces eternal life? People are more likely to talk of the greatness of a team’s defense than the goodness of their God. People will think nothing of giving a waitress at least 10% for a tip yet God gets less than a true tithe on Sunday. Can you imagine stepping in front of the Throne of God and Him telling you that you honored your waitress more than Him? Ouch. Or how about when the worship music begins in church and people stand there silently checking their watch, “Are we done yet?” They forget that the Bible says in Hebrews 13:15, “…let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the FRUIT OF OUR LIPS giving thanks to His Name.” If we are expecting God to pour out the Living Water on our lives then our lips had better be rivers of praise and worship. Our hunger for God is the valve that allows the power of God to flow into our lives.
Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart.” Of course we all would like to have the desires of our heart come to pass in our lives. Notice the condition of the verse. You must delight yourself in the Lord. The word delight here is an interesting word. It means to be flexible and teachable. It means to be poured into a mold and take the shape of God’s Word. The Bible says that we are to be conformed into the image of God’s Son, Jesus Himself. (Romans 8:29) We need the passion that Jesus has for the Father. If you are without the passion for God you will be without the power of God.
Pastor Tim
Family Church Jamestown is a non-denominational church located in Chautauqua County in Jamestown between Lakewood and Busti, NY. The senior pastor of Family Church is Pastor Tim Stahlman a native to the Jamestown, NY area.
