The Cure is Eating

 

In my last post "Lost in Conversation", I asked the question, “When was the last time you got lost in conversation with God?” I talked about how spending time with God leads to a passion and desire to spending more time in his presence.

I encouraged you not to wait for ‘feelings’ to develop before getting serious about reading and studying God’s Word.

If you have lost your spiritual appetite, then eat! The cure for starvation, is eating!

The truth is, the passion and excitement for spending time in God’s presence will grow when you choose to lay aside how you feel about it, and just do it!

We like to live life based around our feelings. If we don’t feel it, then we don’t do it.

Aren’t you glad God doesn’t live like this? God’s closeness is not based on your feelings; it’s based on his faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV - It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Verse after verse in God’s Word declare God’s faithfulness to us. We never have to be concerned that his trustworthiness, dependability, steadfastness, and loyalty will fail. God is always will be faithful.

Our feelings won’t change that.

I want to speak to those of you who have lost your spiritual appetite. I want to speak to those of you who have lost your desire to be in the Word of God on a daily basis. Those of you who find reading the Bible a chore. Those of you who find praying just another thing you ‘have’ to do as a Christian.

It’s sad, but it happens. Every one of us goes through periods in our lives when we don’t ‘feel’ as close to God. Maybe we’ve become slack in our Bible reading. Or maybe we don’t have the passion we once had to diligently study his Word.

SPOILER ALERT: Just because you don’t ‘feel’ close to God, doesn’t mean he’s moved! He hasn’t. You have! He’s still there, faithfully awaiting your return to him.

The cure for your lack of spiritual appetite is to eat! It sounds kind of silly, but it really is that simple.

If you are not hungry for the Word of God, it’s not because you’ve eaten so much that you are satisfied. No. The lack of hunger is more than likely because you have nibbled so long at the world’s table, that you are no longer hungry for the things of God.

If you are feeling little desire for God, take a moment to consider your diet.

Ask any health-conscious person to explain to you how it is that the more junk food you eat, the less hungry you’ll be for the healthier options and the less room you’ll have for them. But the more you eat of wholesome, nutritious foods, the more you’ll desire to fill up on them.

So, what are you eating? What is your diet like?

If you are filling your soul and mind with too much scrolling, too much entertainment, too much of what the world has to offer in the way of reading, viewing and listening, you are not going to leave much room for the good things God has to offer.

If you consistently feed your heart on the wrong things, the more anaemic your fruit will be. You won’t produce the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22,23) that God wants to grow in you. And you won’t desire the right things.

The Bible tells us that we are blessed when we have a hunger for God and his righteousness.

Matthew 5:6 KJV - Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

It also tells us to seek God first (Matthew 6:33). We are told that God rewards our seeking (Hebrews 11:6).

Many times in the Psalms, we see David speaking of the thirst he had for God. (Psalm 42:2; Psalm 63:1; Psalm 143:6).

And you know what the hungering and thirsting after God did for those who sought him? It increased their desire. Their appetite. It helped to remove their spiritual apathy.

So, what do you do when you have lost your spiritual appetite? If you have lost your desire for God, then resolve to flood your soul with his truth until your appetite returns.

The more you pray, the more you’ll want to pray. The more you read his Word, the more you’ll want to read it. The more you study, the more you’ll want to study. The more you feed yourself, the hungrier you’ll get.

The cure is eating!

Now, I don’t want to leave you simply feeling seen and exposed. I want to give you some practical tips on how you can gain back the appetite you’ve lost.

Remember the cure for starvation is eating. So, stop the hunger pangs, and EAT!

One of the first things you need to do is to be real! Be honest with God. Open up your heart to him and ask his forgiveness. Lay it all out on the table. Reveal your apathy to him. Tell him how you feel. (Psalm 62:8) You won’t scare him away by being open and honest with him.

Next, if you’ve stopped praying, then start again! Don’t fear that God will laugh at your feeble attempts to talk to him. He longs to hear from you. Your prayers don’t need to be intellectual and articulate. Let your prayers flow from your heart in words that even a child could understand. Don’t stop praying. Remember, the more you pray, the more you’ll want to.

Stay in the Word. Get back into reading God’s Word daily. If you have neglected your Bible for so long you have become unfamiliar, then read the Psalms. Read through the Gospels. Remind yourself of God’s goodness to you and to his people. Don’t let even a day go by without reading a verse or two and meditating on it. The Word of God will do more for your soul then any self-help book, motivational speaker, daily affirmation or inspirational quote will ever do!

And lastly, get around God’s people! If you have isolated yourself and shunned Godly, Chrisitan community, then you need to force yourself to get back into it! We were never meant to live our Christian lives alone. We were built for community.

It’s God’s idea for us to live in community with others. He is a relational God who designed us in his image. Built within us is a pattern for experiencing intimate relationship with God and then expressing that love to others.

It is so important to be grounded in the life of a local church. It’s where discipleship takes place, compassion, friendship, encouragement, accountability, exhortation, prayer, mentoring, shepherding, and teaching.

So, if you have lost your spiritual appetite, then gain it back by eating!

Be real with God. Pray regularly. Stay in the Word. Get around God’s people.

And watch your appetite grow. The more you eat, the hungrier you’ll get.

Jeremiah 29:13 KJV - And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.