To What Measure Do We Hunger For Him?

I recently finished a book by Mike Bickle and Dana Candler called "The Rewards of Fasting". Sounds rather odd does it not? I mean, who talks about fasting anymore? Very few people... But that is a topic for another post.

Since finishing this book, I have continually thought about one part in particular.

"Hunger is when we cannot live without more [of God], when we we make radical alterations to our lifestyles in order to pursue God. A good way to measure the reality of our hunger is to measure the extent to which we rearrange our lives, our time, our money, and our comforts to pursue that for which we hunger."

and...

"God is calling us to live the radically different lifestyle necessary for us to experience deep intimacy with Him."

When I read this, I was like "Wow, do I ever actually arrange my time, money, or anything else solely to position myself to receive more from God and know Him more?" Clarification: Now, let me just say, doing this is NOT a justification-by-works thing or for the purpose of finding greater favor with Him above others. Instead, it is solely to make room for His grace and strength in our lives.

What do I mean by this? Well, the same thing happens when we fast. When we fast, we become physically, mentally, and emotionally weak and seemingly scatterbrained, but the weakness on our part positions us to receive more of God's grace and power. The same goes when we "fast" with our finances and "fast" with our time. It sets up those areas of our life for more of God.

Fasting is seen is just a no-food thing, but, while this is true and very Biblical, I see fasting as something that should be a lifestyle affecting not just when and what we eat, but everything else in our lives too.

The sermon on the mount is the perfect picture of what the fasted lifestyle should look like.

It's pretty intense.

Just saying.   <-- I said it.