Cultivating Our Spiritual Hunger

Wade E Taylor

 

There is within each of us a hunger drive that is at the foundation of all life, which seeks its satisfaction in many different ways.  When we sanctify this hunger and lift it to the Lord for its satisfaction, the Lord will respond.

 

“Draw me, we will run after You. The King has brought me into His chambers… .”

  Song of Solomon 1:4a

 

This prayer, “Draw me,” expressed in two words, is vital to our spiritual well-being.  The outworking of this prayer of spiritual hunger and desire, along with the expression of our determination to respond in heart obedience (we will run after You), will lead us into an intimate relationship with Jesus (the King has brought me into His chambers), and also, it will release Him to become active in our life circumstances.

 

Once we become spiritually hungry, we must be careful to separate this newly acquired hunger from all other desires and not allow some substitute to seemingly satisfy us.  Nor should we seek some other means than the Lord Himself to satisfy our spiritual hunger.

 

As we actively look to Jesus and prayerfully ask Him to “draw us,” this hunger will intensify, causing us to cry out for its satisfaction.  The Lord will respond and come to “sup” with us.  As we welcome His presence and then “feed Him” with our worship, and with the expression of our commitment to “run after Him,” He in turn will “feed us,” fully satisfying our hunger with Himself.

 

“For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, dwells in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father, so he that eats Me, even he shall live by Me.”  John 6:55‑57

 

Our Lord is a seeking God who is both desirous and anxious for our fellowship.  He will, as we seek to better know Him, create within us the spiritual hunger that will lead us into His presence, that we might be able to intimately sup with Him.

 

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will c0me in to him, and will sup with him (we feed Him) and he with Me (He feeds us).”

Revelation 3:20

 

This “dining with Him” has to do with our partaking of His very life, thereby becoming a part of Him.

 

“For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.”  Ephesians 5:30

 

As our spiritual hunger increases, we will be moved upon by the Holy Spirit to wait in expectancy before the “door” that will lead us into a relationship of intimate personal communion with Jesus.  We do this by setting aside all that is earthly, to seek communion with Him.

 

“Blessed is the man who hears Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My doors. For whoever finds Me finds life, and shall obtain favor from the Lord.”

Proverbs 8:34-35

 

As we respond to His beckoning knock, the doorway (gates) into His manifest presence will open to us.  When we invite Jesus within and set apart a time in which to commune with Him, He will draw us into an active relationship with Him, which will result in a deepening of our spirituality, and our sensitivity to His voice and presence.

 

“But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.”  Matthew 6:6

 

This increased sensitivity and responsiveness to His desire for our fellowship will induce Him to knock upon the door of our heart more often, as now, the “approbation of God” (divine favor) rests upon us.  Thus, the spiritual hunger that we hold before the Lord is the foundation of our spirituality, and of our growth into spiritual maturity.

 

The next step is our commitment - “We will run after You.”  The word “we” portrays every part of our being totally seeking after and responding to the Lord.  In response to our response, He will cause His Word to become an experiential reality within our life experience.

 

Concerning Jesus, the Scriptures tell us that “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14a).  Only as we experience the Word of God, and it becomes a personalized reality within us, will we be able to witness to its truth with authority.  When we submit ourselves to His Kingdom Governmental Rule over every aspect of our lives, the Lord will arrange the circumstances to accomplish this.

 

“I counsel you to buy from Me gold tried in the fire, so that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness do not appear.  And anoint your eyes with eye salve, so that you may see.”  Revelation 3:18

 

Often, the Lord’s people are led to make a consecration, and then are left hanging there, until the next evangelist comes along and leads them to make yet another consecration.  This pattern is repeated again and again with nothing further being offered.  Our consecration should be the “doorway” that leads us into a new and higher realm of spiritual life and experience.

 

We asked the Lord to “draw us.”  Then we consecrated our lives to “run after Him,” but this is not the end.  There is another step that we are to take; “The King has brought me into His chambers.”  Here, as we enter into the Lord’s chambers to experience the intimacy of His manifest presence, we will receive the enabling power to guide us in our involvement with Jesus in His end-time, and also, His eternal purposes.  As we ascend into the “deeper” realms of His chambers, we will enjoy increasing degrees of communion and fellowship with the Lord.

 

“He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”  Isaiah 40:29-31

 

Herein is the secret, the Lord will enlarge our spiritual capacity as we look to Him to cause us to become spiritually hungry.  A primary means to accomplish this is to present ourselves before the Lord and then actively “wait upon Him” in anticipation.  As we wait, He will work in our behalf.

 

It is a fact that our strength will run out, but “they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.”  When we enter His chambers and wait in His presence, the “power” of God will flow into our being.  It is extremely important that we spend time waiting in His presence to partake of His life.  Only then will we have the strength to face the testings and problems of life.

 

Our Heavenly Bridegroom desires to bring us into “His chambers” to abide with Him.  Here, as His Bride, we will experience joy unspeakable that is unknown to others.  During these times of intimate fellowship, we are brought into a closer union with Him.  In the closeness of this communion, we will receive of His life and strength, and come into a greater understanding of spiritual truths and principles.

 

“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:  and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show you things which must be hereafter.”  Revelation 4:1

 

As I pray this short yet powerful prayer, “Draw me,” I am opening the way that will lead upward into the inexhaustible chambers of heaven.  Here, as the hunger within me finds its satisfaction, all that I had longed for will be found in Him.

 

As you prayerfully read and meditate on this, may you also be able to testify, “The King has brought me into His chambers.”