Im Hungry

“Draw me, we will run after You. The King has brought me into His chambers.” Song of Solomon 1:4a.

This verse expresses in two words, a prayer that is vital to our spiritual well being. These words are easily remembered and may therefore be prayed often, “Draw me.”

Following our prayer of desire is a commitment to the Lord that we will indeed respond to Him, as He creates within us a spiritual hunger - “We will run after You.”

Finally, the marvelous result of the outworking of our prayer of desire and of the expression of our determination to respond to Him follows - “The King has brought me into His chambers.”

This essential prayer, “Draw me,” relates to the spiritual hunger that in varying degrees is resident within each of us. This hunger drive, a powerful basic “urge” at the foundation of all life, seeks its satisfaction in many ways.

In the physical realm, a baby is born hungry. The mother cannot produce this hunger within her child, she can only nourish it. The spiritual hunger within each of us is a creative act of God that comes from Him alone. It cannot be produced or imparted by man; but only by the Lord.

The Lord will enlarge our spiritual capacity, as in faith we look to Him to cause us to become spiritually hungry. A primary means to accomplish this is to present ourselves before the Lord and then actively “wait upon Him.” As we wait, the Lord will work in our behalf, and He will respond to our desire for increased spiritual hunger and capacity.

“And unto one He gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took His journey.” Matthew 25:15.

These “talents” relate to our spiritual capacity. Once we become spiritually hungry, we must be careful to separate this newly acquired spiritual capacity from other desires and not allow some substitute to seemingly satisfy it. Nor should we seek some other means than the Lord Himself to satisfy our spiritual hunger.

As we actively look to the Lord and prayerfully ask Him to “draw us,” this hunger within us will intensify, causing us to cry out for its satisfaction. The Lord will respond, and He will come to “sup” with us. As we welcome His presence, and then “feed Him” with our worship, and with the expression of our commitment to “run after Him,” He in turn will “feed us,” fully satisfying our hunger with Himself.

“For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who partakes of My flesh and drinks My blood dwells in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live through the Father, so he who partakes of Me, even he shall live by Me.” John 6:55‑57.

Our Lord is a seeking God who is both desirous and anxious for our fellowship. He will, as we seek to better know Him, create within us the spiritual hunger that will lead us into His presence, that we might intimately, personally, sup with Him.

Pruning

When God takes His pruning knife in hand and begins to strip the unnecessary twigs and branches from His
chosen ones, the result of it all appears to be total devastation. We are always happy, of course, when He cuts
away something we know is harmful to our well being... some carnal habit or worldly desire that we know is
hindering the joy of Christian living. Or even some religious enterprise that we thought was for His glory... but
which turned out to be empty and void and unsatisfying. But generally our Gardener will cut much deeper than
we expected. I am not the judge as to how much of your work for God was carnal to begin with. But God will
often dissolve certain religious activities even if it was right for a season. And the reason we are troubled about
it is because we do not understand what God considers to be vital for bearing good fruit. We must come to the
renewed mind, and love Him more, before we will understand what is well pleasing in His sight. With the carnal
mind we are quick to presume that if the church is thriving and the crowds are straining the facilities... God
wants us to expand in order to keep up with it. He may allow you to do that, but His desire may be that you
separate it into smaller groups... that He might discover more and better fruit in harvest time. The apple tree
and the pear, and the peach... are much more beautiful before the pruning, than they are after. But the fruit
farmer is looking only for the fruit; and the beautiful tree in his eyes is the tree that has been trimmed down in a
way that will cause it to produce more and better fruit in harvest time.
Are we afraid to ask the Lord to prune us down to the shape and size that He has in mind? Or will we continue
to go our own way, hoping some how that He might spare the knife because of our achievements, or because
of our ambition to be successful in the work of the Master? Once we catch sight of the “more excellent way” we
will sincerely ask Him to strip away every little twig and branch, every carnal desire, every bit of high
mindedness and selfish ambition... if so be He might come and make His habitation in His inheritance that He
has redeemed for His own pleasure. We need much pruning in our lives, to bring us to the place where we
sincerely, and out from hearts of love and gratitude, are desirous of one thing, and one thing only... that God
alone might be glorified in all that we are doing.

Surprise Surprise Surprise

Do not be surprised if the Lord begins to move you from a circumstance in which you have been blessed, perhaps for months or even years. Because sometimes we are content and not seeking more and since He is very particular of our relationship to Him, He will desire to refine us some more.

Another reason is to broaden us in our sympathy and understanding of each other. The one who has had but little trouble in life is not a particularly helpful person. But one who has gone through many trials, shattered hopes, and tragedies, has learned a valuable lesson. Those who have learned through experience are of great value.

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” II Corinthians 1:3-4

Then you can enter into perfect fellowship with a person who is in unspoken agony of spirit and pressure of trial, and pray with compassion and understanding. Then you are able to look beyond the frailty of flesh, and remembering that we are all but dust, are able to trust the Lord with a sublime faith for change and victory in the lives of those that The Lord would have you minister too.

Prayer or Intercession

Our spiritual life must be established and abide upon a firm foundation. This “foundation” is our daily time of worship and prayer, which flows out from our innermost being to the Lord. It is not the amount of time (quantity) that we spend in worship and prayer that is important, but rather, the quality of this time.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For it is always he who asks that receives, he who seeks that finds, and he who knocks that has the door opened to him.”

“What man is there among you, who if his son shall ask him for bread will offer him a stone? Or if the son shall ask him for a fish will offer him a snake? If you then, imperfect as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him.” Mathew 7:7-11 Weymouth
There are three primary words in the above; ask, seek, and knock. The outworking of each of these produces a very different result.
Ask and “it” will be given. This “it” is that for which we are asking. It will be given to the one who asks. If we ask for bread, the Lord will not give us a stone. If we ask for fish, He will not give us a serpent. We can trust the Lord to rightly respond to our request.
In order to receive, this “asking” must be according to the will of the Lord, which we will come to know as we spend quality time in His presence. Faith will be imparted into our being, then we can ask in confidence, knowing that we will receive.
“Seeking” goes beyond our asking to receive something. “Seek, and you will find.” Seeking has to do with a spiritual discovery as we come to better know the Lord as a person. In the first, we are asking our Lord to provide “something” that we desire or need. In the second, we are asking the Lord to reveal Himself to us. In each of these, we receive, but very differently.
“Knocking” is distinct from either of the above. “Knock and it will be opened to you” – not given, but rather a doorway into a new realm will be opened before us. This “knocking” refers to a persistence in intercession that will lead to a birthing into a higher spiritual realm, or to an open door that had previously been closed.
I can say, “I will now pray.” I cannot say, “I will now intercede.” Prayer is initiated by the one who prays. Intercession is initiated by the Holy Spirit, to which I must respond. Intercession is very costly, because we must respond when this deep inner-knock of intercession is birthed within us. We cannot say, “I am busy now and will respond later.”
“Asking” gives release to our faith. But intercession is a process, at times painful, that results in a birthing. This intercessory birthing is very different from our asking or seeking.
A friend told me about his new car and described it in detail. When I asked if I could see it, he said he did not have it yet, but was “speaking” it into being. This will not work, but there is a Scriptural process that will work. “Asking” in itself is not sufficient. I must “seek” the Lord that He will actively move in my behalf, then I must respond to the Holy Spirit and “intercede” that it will be birthed into reality.
“Knock and it shall be opened to you.” That is, a way or process will be made available to us, and begin to open before us. Often, we may not understand this burden, but in the Lord’s time and way, it will become clear to us.

Spirit of Life

“Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.”Hebrews 7:16

The Word says that the last enemy to be defeated, or overcome, is “death.”

“For He must reign, till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”I Corinthians 15:25-26
We cannot overcome death in heaven, rather, it must be done during our present span of life. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly.

“The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”John 10:10
So we might have and enjoy this more abundant life, the Lord is seeking to take us beyond our present understanding of the Word, into the full working of the “law of the Spirit of life.”

“That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”Romans 8:4-6
For us to “walk in the Spirit” results from our heart obedience to the written Word and to the leadings of the Holy Spirit, which may seem as foolishness to many. For the Lord to accomplish this, we must present our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice.
When I “mind” the things of the Spirit, I become spiritually minded, which brings life and peace, because I have released the Lord to move in and through my life experience.No matter what my circumstances might be, I am to believe that “all things work together for my good.”This changes my attitude from becoming a victim of the “law of sin and death,” to my obtaining life and health through the “law of the Spirit of life.”
As I come under the working of the “Spirit of life,” I am healed and released from the process of death so I might live as an end-time witness of the power of God. The world will be greatly affected by this witness.
May the “law of the Spirit of life” have its full work in your life, by the grace of God