Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. --Matthew 5:6
I want to be filled. Don't you want to be filled? Filled with joy and peace and love and just ooze with mercy and love for others? Have you met anybody like that? There are few out there in our current world of so much bad news and stress-styled lifestyles. But deep within each of us is the capacity to imagine that. Imagine how you would feel being that kind of person.
I've always been a wild horse. Rebellious, stubborn and full of pride. It had to be my way as a child, and being raised as an only child by my grandparents, it pretty much happened that way. I think those of us who are wild horses take a lot more bumps and bruises in life to get the real message. It takes a lot for us hard-headed folks to break away from our sins since we were made tough enough to handle it all. To find our way around bad circumstances and keep on plowing through even if we do so in misery.
How many burdens and health problems can I truly handle? The weight and pain of health issues can cause somebody to turn to Christ and choose life ... or to turn away in anger because they are not getting their own way. I still struggle with those thoughts against God when I don't get what I want. When my prayers aren't answered with "yes." I find that many times God gives me a "yes" answer to my delight, only to find that I end up in the devil's wasteland getting my own way.
It's quite a lesson to learn to "humble myself in the sight of the Lord" as the song and Scripture says. Matthew 5:6 above tells me that I will be filled if I hunger and thirst after righteousness. Gee, what does that feel like? Can you imagine that? I am usually so busy being hungry and thirsty for my own way. What does this mean? I asked to be filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and here I find out how to get that prayer answered. It's up to me!
Smith Wigglesworth says, "If you ever see a "shall" in the Bible, make it yours.
Health problems? Wouldn't it be just grand if God would just heal us of all our diseases!? I like that thought and I can imagine that. The Bible tells us that Christ healed all of our diseases, but how do we believe that when so few in the church have been able to take this to heart and make it happen?
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God is what Hebrews says, so what am I listening to? My own negative and faithless thoughts or am I thinking, believing and hearing the Word as I meditate on healing scripture. Oh how much easier it is to wallow in self-pity and beg God to just do it. Where is all my head-strong and stubborn determination in this arena of life?
Smith Wigglesworth says, "Jesus was true, inwardly and outwardly. He is "the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6), and on this foundation we can build. When we know that our own hearts do not condemn us (1 John 3:21), we can say to the mountain, "Be removed" (Matthew 21:21). But when our own hearts do condemn us, there is no power in prayer, no power in preaching. We are just "sounding brass or a clanging cymbal" (I Corinthians 13:1). May the Holy Spirit show us that there must be a ministry of righteousness."
Hunger and thirst for it! Imagine that and build your faith as you change your beliefs.
Donna L. Watkins lives in Central Virginia with her wonderful husband enjoying birds, wildlife, gardening, forests, nature travel and her cat, Squeek. She has one grown-up son who inspires her life in many ways. Read more of Donna's articles at TheHerbsPlace.com and subscribe to her free mailing, A Healing Moment. http://www.theherbsplace.com/ahm.html
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