What are you hungry for?

Often times when a woman is pregnant, she gets strong cravings for particular things to eat. These cravings are believed to be linked to nutrients her body needs to support the baby she is carrying. The more she understands the root of the cravings, the better she is able to make selections to adequately nurture the life with in her. There is a similar dynamic that occurs in the life of everyone in regards to their cravings and desires. We really need to understand the root of our desires to ensure we make choices  that result in promoting life within us.

Many religious orders encourage the practice of ignoring desires in order to live spiritually but I have come to understand that all desires are rooted in a spiritual need. A characteristic of true spiritual living is having an understanding of the true root of our desires. Just resisting or ignoring desire does not lead to a peaceful existence and neither does simply indulging. People often try to satisfy spiritual cravings with physical things. This is an issue because physical things can never fill the need created by a spiritual deficiency. In fact, trying to fill a spiritual need with physical things will always lead to over indulgence, because no amount of a physical thing will satisfy a spiritual need. If you wanna a picture of what I am saying, just look around at all the areas of addiction today. In our day we have drug addicts, sex addicts, pornography addicts, food addicts, shopping addicts, gaming addicts and working addicts to name a few. These are so common, if you are not one of the addicts just mentioned, you have a family member or close friend that is. All of these appetite disorders are rooted in spiritual deficiency.

The Samaritan woman that met Yeshua at the well had five previous husbands and was currently involved with a man that was not her husband. This sounds to me like a person with a need yet having some serious issues trying to get that need met. Obviously men were not the solution to the need she had, yet it appears she was on her way to a sixth husband. When you don’t understand the root of your desires, that is, the real root behind the desire, it is easy to get into some vicious cycles. Yeshua told the Samaritan woman, “If you knew the gift of God and who you were talking too, you would have asked him to fill the thirst you have been trying to fill all these years and he would have given you living waters that would have truly satisfied you.” That is my paraphrase and translation, for the actual account, read the book of John chapter 4. Yeshua went on to tell the Samaritan woman that the water he offers becomes a well of life with in you which springs up to satisfy thirst forever. There are many people in relationships today that are destined to fail because each is looking to the other to satisfy thirst that can only be filled by Yeshua the Savior, also known as Jesus Christ. The living waters that Yeshua offers can break the cycle of addiction and set your appetites in order.

We are spiritual beings, created with an infinite capacity for the knowledge of GOD and it is only when we are in relationship with GOD and learning of Him daily that we are satisfied. Any disconnect in that relationship automatically creates a void that will surface in the flesh as an appetite for something. The Disciples would often badger Yeshua telling Him he needed to eat something and He would tell them, “I have meat that you know not of.” He was full spiritually! While in physical form, whenever Yeshua felt any appetites arising, He would set himself apart and spend some time communing in the Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit with in us giving light so we can discern the root of the motivations that drive us from time to time.

Physical things are only a shadow of the spiritual things we really need. YES…we need companionship, food, and recreation but we need them in the context of spirit and truth. Our Creator intended for us to have pleasure but in the context of life not death. One of my mentors, Edwin Louis Cole once said, “Boundaries are to protect life, not to limit pleasure.” A lot of the perversions we see today stems from man’s attempt to solve his own problems; destructive self-medication.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Prov 3:5-6)

The one that created you knows what is best for you. Trust Him with your life and He will lead you to freedom and fulfillment instead of bondage and disappointment. Make a determination today, to reconnect with GOD through submission to the Word. Yeshua saves.

Psalm 145:14-19

¹⁴ The Lord upholds all who fall,
And raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And You give them their food in due season.
¹⁶ You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
¹⁹ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.