Discussion Hunger and thirst for righteousness!

[jiminpa]

It's Jesus's own words that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. It's important to note that we must first hunger and thirst to be satisfied. I've noticed that apathetic contentment is never a sign of abiding in God, but a contentment in the midst of the battle is. It's a contentment that still feels the pain of combat but trusts more that our Father and Commander knows what He is doing and loves us infinitely.

Some see grace as having once hungered and thirsted some time in a past so distant that they remember it only like some childhood memory. I see grace as God giving us that hunger when we recognize that we have lost it. He can't satisfy a hunger that we don't have.

So my question is...who's hungry, and are you hungry enough? Will you die from starvation and dehydration if you do not soon get relief, or are you just hungry enough to think that maybe you should get a little something to eat before too long? Are you hungry for a snack? Pray for more hunger. Are you starving for more of God? Take hope.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

It's Jesus's own words that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. It's important to note that we must first hunger and thirst to be satisfied. I've noticed that apathetic contentment is never a sign of abiding in God, but a contentment in the midst of the battle is. It's a contentment that still feels the pain of combat but trusts more that our Father and Commander knows what He is doing and loves us infinitely.

Some see grace as having once hungered and thirsted some time in a past so distant that they remember it only like some childhood memory. I see grace as God giving us that hunger when we recognize that we have lost it. He can't satisfy a hunger that we don't have.

So my question is...who's hungry, and are you hungry enough? Will you die from starvation and dehydration if you do not soon get relief, or are you just hungry enough to think that maybe you should get a little something to eat before too long? Are you hungry for a snack? Pray for more hunger. Are you starving for more of God? Take hope.

If you are still hungering and thirsting for righteousness then you may not be saved yet, but are still a "seeker" after God. When a person is converted to Christ, his sin is laid on Jesus and God clothes the converted person with the righteousness of Christ. This means that the person is totally righteous before God. Note this Scripture:

"He who did not sin was made sin for us that we may become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). At conversion there is an exchange of sin and righteousness. Jesus takes our sin, paying the price and taking the punishment of it, and we are gifted with His righteousness. Therefore, there is no further hungering for righteousness. The words of Jesus that He spoke to the unconverted Jews of His time that those who hunger for righteousness will be filled. is totally fulfilled and completed the moment a person receives Christ and is born again. Then there is no more hungering. Why continue to hunger when you are made completely righteous before God in Christ?

A converted Christian is filled with the godhead bodily. He is filled with the Spirit, God lives inside of Him. How much more of God do we need? Do you fit that profile, or are you still a "seeker" after God with Christian conversion still in your future? (just stirring the pot to encourage you to search the scriptures more closely about these issues).

 

[Gregory Thompson]

hmm hungering and thirsting, that's what communion is for no? (Jesus is the lord our righteousness)

 

[Gideons300]

It's Jesus's own words that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. It's important to note that we must first hunger and thirst to be satisfied. I've noticed that apathetic contentment is never a sign of abiding in God, but a contentment in the midst of the battle is. It's a contentment that still feels the pain of combat but trusts more that our Father and Commander knows what He is doing and loves us infinitely.

Some see grace as having once hungered and thirsted some time in a past so distant that they remember it only like some childhood memory. I see grace as God giving us that hunger when we recognize that we have lost it. He can't satisfy a hunger that we don't have.

So my question is...who's hungry, and are you hungry enough? Will you die from starvation and dehydration if you do not soon get relief, or are you just hungry enough to think that maybe you should get a little something to eat before too long? Are you hungry for a snack? Pray for more hunger. Are you starving for more of God? Take hope.

I love your spirit, Jim. In another post, in discussing a verse I quoted by Christ, I was told that he spoke that to Jews, pre-death, so that is all for the old covenant and has nothing to do with us. How clever satan is. To get followers of Christ to assign some of the most profound words spoken since the dawn of man to "not being applicable to me", discarding them as having an expiration date is a true sign that we are nearing the end.

The verse you quoted is one of those, a basic principle of new covenant life. Hunger and you will be filled. Hunger with your whole heart. How we have lost that aspect in the modern day theology where we are mistakenly told that the state of our heart has no bearing on anything. We are saved, we are sealed, so to do anything else would be a sign of unbelief, and self effort is legalism. May God awaken us before it is too late.

I wrote a post that garnered no responses about the battle we are all called to. It is the battle to put off the old man and to put on the new. And only when we get serious about it do we finally see how deeply self goes and how much of a rebel it really is. We are new creatures, but we are told that truth must be mixed with faith for it to become beneficial for us, and satan is dead set on keeping us in unbelief. How can we match up with satan? First, we must know the word of God...our sword...and become aware of his devices. Secondly. we must raise our shield of faith that we are no longer in the flesh, and refuse to identify with it any longer.

But before all this, something must happen. We must get hungry. Like crystal meth addicts, we are starving, extremely malnourished spiritually, yet we are not hungry. Content without godliness. Is this not the primary reason that the church is such a poor example to true seekers in the world? But praise God, we are about to be awakened in this last days. The body of Christ, the bride, is about to awaken to how we can walk in the light and be without spot or wrinkle. It is truly an exciting time to be a believer of all God has promised us. It will be to all who hunger for more of Jesus in them, those desperate for the answer as to how to walk in the world without being of it.

Many blessings, dear friend

Gideon

 

[jiminpa]

If you are still hungering and thirsting for righteousness then you may not be saved yet, but are still a "seeker" after God. When a person is converted to Christ, his sin is laid on Jesus and God clothes the converted person with the righteousness of Christ. This means that the person is totally righteous before God. Note this Scripture:

"He who did not sin was made sin for us that we may become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). At conversion there is an exchange of sin and righteousness. Jesus takes our sin, paying the price and taking the punishment of it, and we are gifted with His righteousness. Therefore, there is no further hungering for righteousness. The words of Jesus that He spoke to the unconverted Jews of His time that those who hunger for righteousness will be filled. is totally fulfilled and completed the moment a person receives Christ and is born again. Then there is no more hungering. Why continue to hunger when you are made completely righteous before God in Christ?

A converted Christian is filled with the godhead bodily. He is filled with the Spirit, God lives inside of Him. How much more of God do we need? Do you fit that profile, or are you still a "seeker" after God with Christian conversion still in your future? (just stirring the pot to encourage you to search the scriptures more closely about these issues).

By such a theology Paul wasn't saved either then.

But the scripture says, "awake, oh sleeper."

I long for more and more and more of Jesus, and I'm still not hungry enough yet.

 

[jiminpa]

I am not content with seeing as through a glass, dimly, but my tasks here are barely even started. Yes, we have God dwelling within us, but not in total, infinite fullness. We are unable to contain infinity in our finite bodies. One day we will see face to face, but until then I want to grow to be able to know Him more and more.

For those of you content some little morsel, well, I don't know what to say. Pray that you will recognize your own condition before the impending threshing. It's not that God will reject you, but will you stand when being a Christian is no longer comfortable, and all of the authorized teachers are telling to go ahead and do what feels right to you?

Why does it have to come to that? Shouldn't we already want a deeper and deeper relationship to the One we claim to love?

 

[jiminpa]

I love your spirit, Jim. In another post, in discussing a verse I quoted by Christ, I was told that he spoke that to Jews, pre-death, so that is all for the old covenant and has nothing to do with us. How clever satan is. To get followers of Christ to assign some of the most profound words spoken since the dawn of man to "not being applicable to me", discarding them as having an expiration date is a true sign that we are nearing the end.

The verse you quoted is one of those, a basic principle of new covenant life. Hunger and you will be filled. Hunger with your whole heart. How we have lost that aspect in the modern day theology where we are mistakenly told that the state of our heart has no bearing on anything. We are saved, we are sealed, so to do anything else would be a sign of unbelief, and self effort is legalism. May God awaken us before it is too late.

I wrote a post that garnered no responses about the battle we are all called to. It is the battle to put off the old man and to put on the new. And only when we get serious about it do we finally see how deeply self goes and how much of a rebel it really is. We are new creatures, but we are told that truth must be mixed with faith for it to become beneficial for us, and satan is dead set on keeping us in unbelief. How can we match up with satan? First, we must know the word of God...our sword...and become aware of his devices. Secondly. we must raise our shield of faith that we are no longer in the flesh, and refuse to identify with it any longer.

But before all this, something must happen. We must get hungry. Like crystal meth addicts, we are starving, extremely malnourished spiritually, yet we are not hungry. Content without godliness. Is this not the primary reason that the church is such a poor example to true seekers in the world? But praise God, we are about to be awakened in this last days. The body of Christ, the bride, is about to awaken to how we can walk in the light and be without spot or wrinkle. It is truly an exciting time to be a believer of all God has promised us. It will be to all who hunger for more of Jesus in them, those desperate for the answer as to how to walk in the world without being of it.

Many blessings, dear friend

Gideon

Thank you. This is precisely the discussion I was looking for. Those of us desiring more to encourage one another to go deeper and deeper by God's grace. I know that is your message. It's so nice to have compionship on the journey.

I don't listen to the human voices preaching sleep anyway, except to encourage them to pray for the grace to desire to awaken. I doubt they will listen, but that becomes their problem.

 

[Frogster]

I am not content with seeing as through a glass, dimly, but my tasks here are barely even started. Yes, we have God dwelling within us, but not in total, infinite fullness. We are unable to contain infinity in our finite bodies. One day we will see face to face, but until then I want to grow to be able to know Him more and more.

For those of you content some little morsel, well, I don't know what to say. Pray that you will recognize your own condition before the impending threshing. It's not that God will reject you, but will you stand when being a Christian is no longer comfortable, and all of the authorized teachers are telling to go ahead and do what feels right to you?

Why does it have to come to that? Shouldn't we already want a deeper and deeper relationship to the One we claim to love?

Red above, I understand what you're saying, but technically incorrect, according to the text. There are about 7 "in Him" verses in chapter 2, Paul is showing how in Him, all is complete.

Col 2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

 

[jiminpa]

Red above, I understand what you're saying, but technically incorrect, according to the text. There are about 7 "in Him" verses in chapter 2, Paul is showing how in Him, all is complete.

Col 2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

All the fullness of God dwells in Jesus, yes. In Him we are made complete, yes. The two are not the same. All of God dwells in Jesus. It doesn't say all of infinity dwells in us. Reading the text for what it actually says is important, and comparing one text to the rest of the Bible is equally important. Since you want to attempt to refute a call to want more of God. But those who have ears to hear, hear, not my call, but the call from God that I merely echo a little sometimes.

But good point that God sees our completion as already having been accomplished. It is good to have a Father who knows all things, and already sees the end product.

 

[Gideons300]

If you are still hungering and thirsting for righteousness then you may not be saved yet, but are still a "seeker" after God. When a person is converted to Christ, his sin is laid on Jesus and God clothes the converted person with the righteousness of Christ. This means that the person is totally righteous before God. Note this Scripture:

"He who did not sin was made sin for us that we may become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). At conversion there is an exchange of sin and righteousness. Jesus takes our sin, paying the price and taking the punishment of it, and we are gifted with His righteousness. Therefore, there is no further hungering for righteousness. The words of Jesus that He spoke to the unconverted Jews of His time that those who hunger for righteousness will be filled. is totally fulfilled and completed the moment a person receives Christ and is born again. Then there is no more hungering. Why continue to hunger when you are made completely righteous before God in Christ?

A converted Christian is filled with the godhead bodily. He is filled with the Spirit, God lives inside of Him. How much more of God do we need? Do you fit that profile, or are you still a "seeker" after God with Christian conversion still in your future? (just stirring the pot to encourage you to search the scriptures more closely about these issues).

Red above, I understand what you're saying, but technically incorrect, according to the text. There are about 7 "in Him" verses in chapter 2, Paul is showing how in Him, all is complete.

Col 2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

My dear brother and friend, how are you? I hope well. I think your understanding is incomplete. Yes, we are complete in Him and that is precisely why we are called to hunger for more and more of Him, and long to be free of any vestiges of the old man we walked in for so long. Thank God there are acid tests left to us by our Father to point us in the right directionand insure that we are not led into error by the enemy of our souls. Here is one, and it is a biggie.

"He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous."

When it crushes us that we still love the world, that self still ultimately rules over our choices, that we do not love others as we love ourselves, that we who are supposed to be dead to sin continue to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season while we have no real driving hunger for Jesus to live through us, keeping us from falling, delivering us from evil, only then we will see the stone rolled away from our hearts and begin to experience the fullness of the new life Christ bought for us as overcomers of the world, the flesh and the devil himself. Like Lazurus, we too have been raised from the dead, yet find ourselves still trapped in the grave, bound tightly by our grave clothes. But praise God. a voice from heaven is saying "Come forth!". And we WILL respond.

Jim is spot on target here, and the target is our conscience, long ago hardened by the sins we think have no bearing on us now that we are saved. Yes, Frog, we are indeed in Him, but that truth will become a testimonial against us lest we find repentance and begin to hunger for what Jesus clearly promised us..... to walk FREE INDEED with sin under our feet.

Like Samson, we who once were mighty men of valor have had our spiritual eyes burnt out, while we remain content to blindly grind out religious corn to the amusement of the enemy. But thank God, a deep longing is beginning to well up within the hearts of His children, a desperation to be REALLY free as Jesus intended, saying "Let not the enemy rule over thy people any longer to bring them to reproach." Awake, children of God, to how good our God really is. The old nature we have long believed is who we are is not us at all, but our unbelief has allowed the enemy to fool us. That time is coming to a close, and quickly. We are about to mount up with wings as eagles, and soon thereafter, we will all fly away. Then.... praise God for all eternity...we will hunger and thirst no more.

Blessings,

Gideon

 

[ToBeLoved]

..

 

[ToBeLoved]

Red above, I understand what you're saying, but technically incorrect, according to the text. There are about 7 "in Him" verses in chapter 2, Paul is showing how in Him, all is complete.

Col 2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

Don't you think that this is talking about our positional, justification in Christ?

We do have the mind of Christ and can do all things THROUGH Christ who strengthens us.

However, we are both spiritual and carnal.

Jesus was perfect because He was in constant spiritual communion with the Father to achieve that.

 

[jiminpa]

I genuinely can't comprehend how anyone could be content to see as through a glass, dimly. Yes, Paul learned to be content in all things, but Paul understood his destination, and longed to be there, but he also saw those here who needed his quidance, and so he was content to wait. Yet even as he was content in God's will he hungered for his true home. I would bet all the more so because he had seen a glimpse of it.

 

[ToBeLoved]

I genuinely can't comprehend how anyone could be content to see as through a glass, dimly. Yes, Paul learned to be content in all things, but Paul understood his destination, and longed to be there, but he also saw those here who needed his quidance, and so he was content to wait. Yet even as he was content in God's will he hungered for his true home. I would bet all the more so because he had seen a glimpse of it.

Paul saw that all things could be done through Jesus Christ. The power to do all things through Christ is not seeing through a glass dimly.

I don't see most of the OP as being biblical. Nor do I agree with questioning your or anyone else's salvation.

When one thinks that they have 'mastered' faith, that one false doctrine causes them to view others differently. The whole thing is a false theory.

Somehow, Paul, an apostle and the writer of much of the New Testament epistles, was able to humbly do the will of God in an exceptional way without 'mastering' all the things of God.

How did that happen?

 

[JustHisKid]

It's Jesus's own words that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. It's important to note that we must first hunger and thirst to be satisfied. I've noticed that apathetic contentment is never a sign of abiding in God, but a contentment in the midst of the battle is. It's a contentment that still feels the pain of combat but trusts more that our Father and Commander knows what He is doing and loves us infinitely.

Some see grace as having once hungered and thirsted some time in a past so distant that they remember it only like some childhood memory. I see grace as God giving us that hunger when we recognize that we have lost it. He can't satisfy a hunger that we don't have.

So my question is...who's hungry, and are you hungry enough? Will you die from starvation and dehydration if you do not soon get relief, or are you just hungry enough to think that maybe you should get a little something to eat before too long? Are you hungry for a snack? Pray for more hunger. Are you starving for more of God? Take hope.

John 4
13Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."…

 

[JustHisKid]

If you are still hungering and thirsting for righteousness then you may not be saved yet, but are still a "seeker" after God. When a person is converted to Christ, his sin is laid on Jesus and God clothes the converted person with the righteousness of Christ. This means that the person is totally righteous before God. Note this Scripture:

"He who did not sin was made sin for us that we may become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). At conversion there is an exchange of sin and righteousness. Jesus takes our sin, paying the price and taking the punishment of it, and we are gifted with His righteousness. Therefore, there is no further hungering for righteousness. The words of Jesus that He spoke to the unconverted Jews of His time that those who hunger for righteousness will be filled. is totally fulfilled and completed the moment a person receives Christ and is born again. Then there is no more hungering. Why continue to hunger when you are made completely righteous before God in Christ?

A converted Christian is filled with the godhead bodily. He is filled with the Spirit, God lives inside of Him. How much more of God do we need? Do you fit that profile, or are you still a "seeker" after God with Christian conversion still in your future? (just stirring the pot to encourage you to search the scriptures more closely about these issues).

Amen, brother.

 

[JustHisKid]

hmm hungering and thirsting, that's what communion is for no? (Jesus is the lord our righteousness)

No, communion is for remembering.

 

[ToBeLoved]

John 4
13Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."…

That is to thirst for anything spiritually in that we have all through Christ. That is true and we do not look any further than Christ. Christ is God and God is the totality of all we need.

We do however, as Jimimpa said, thirst to learn more of Christ. Thirst to be more like Him, thirst to be closer to Him. Our thirst is only in Him.

Does that make sense?

 

[JustHisKid]

I genuinely can't comprehend how anyone could be content to see as through a glass, dimly. Yes, Paul learned to be content in all things, but Paul understood his destination, and longed to be there, but he also saw those here who needed his quidance, and so he was content to wait. Yet even as he was content in God's will he hungered for his true home. I would bet all the more so because he had seen a glimpse of it.

I don't believe any born-again believer is content to see through a glass dimly. When we finally see Him face to face, we won't. We all yearn for our true home.

 

[JustHisKid]

That is to thirst for anything spiritually in that we have all through Christ. That is true and we do not look any further than Christ. Christ is God and God is the totality of all we need.

We do however, as Jimimpa said, thirst to learn more of Christ. Thirst to be more like Him, thirst to be closer to Him. Our thirst is only in Him.

Does that make sense?

It doesn't make sense for a believer to attempt to measure the level of "hunger" in another believer.