Matthew 5:6

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

But someone may ask, aren't our hungers natural? Aren't they beyond our control? To some extent I think that is true. But they can also be trained or tantalized.

A child asks, “May I have some more candy?”

The parent answers, “No, it will ruin your supper.”

The parent who loves a child knows she can be trained to desire roast beef and carrots. If she only wants candy she will not find tooth decay, obesity and death rather than satisfaction.

You may not have to think too hard to remember times when you desired something desperately. But when you finally got it, you were disappointed. It may even have turned out to be horrible. Wouldn't you rather have spent all that energy and time longing for something that would have satisfied you deeply?

Real satisfaction only comes from things that are right with God. But we live in a world that is hopelessly rebellious against the will of God. One of the places you can see this most clearly is in our attitudes toward righteousness. If you think of righteousness in terms of satisfaction and joy, you have probably been a believer in Jesus Christ long enough that experience has changed your perspective.

It is more likely that you see righteousness and pleasure as opposite ends of the same scale.

You may want to ask, “Why isn't that, or he, right for me? That is why the Bible uses a word we seldom use in other contexts. The word “righteousness” is more comprehensive. It refers to the whole purpose of something being to please God.

Of course, nothing in this world can completely fulfill our lives. But we can long for and put our faith in heaven where righteousness will be complete.

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Do you pray because you hunger for God? Or do you want what you are praying for more than you want God? I recently heard someone tell about being so desperate for something she wanted, that she spent days hunting for things she was doing wrong to repent of so God would  answer her prayer. And she said God did answer.

Do you hear the theology behind that? The notion that we need to get as right with God as possible so he will give us what we really want is not Christian. It is typical religion. You can find this thinking in every religion and cult group. Pharisees would have wholeheartedly endorsed this theology. But Jesus did not teach this kind of devotion. He taught some things that might be mistaken for it. He taught us to pray for what we want and need because He loves us. And He certainly taught repentance because we need it.

But we are to be devoted to God because we love Him. We should be willing to give up what we want in order to draw nearer to our Lord, rather than trying to draw nearer to God, so He will give us what we really want.

Suppose you passed on and left an inheritance for your daughter. And she fell in love and got married. Shortly after they were married her husband discovered he couldn't get his hands on the inheritance. And he told her plainly he was leaving because he really didn't love her, he only wanted her money. Would she feel used? How would you feel in that situation?

I made one of the most important commitments of my entire life as a young person at youth camp. Several years later at the same camp a friend asked me to come off alone with him because he needed to get right with God. One of the first things he told me was if he came home from camp without making a decision for Christ, his dad wouldn't let him get his driver’s permit. Would it surprise you that that his decision didn't make any difference in his life that next year?

How might it change your prayer life if you prayed because you needed God and wanted Him more than you wanted to be healed, or needed help in trouble, or whatever you want God to give you?

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Your passionate, powerful, privilege

You are not letting your passionate, powerful, privilege go to waste are you? Please stay tuned for a minute and I will explain this question. In this brief space we will review Jesus’ passion and power in prayer. It should whet your appetite for private and public prayer participation which will in turn have a similar effect on your friends.

Jesus’ private prayer practices and his answers caused his disciples to ask their great teacher for a lesson in prayer. His pattern covered the basics so thoroughly that many millions have memorized his prayer pattern. Fewer have studied and benefited from his personal prayer in John 17, asking the Father to unite us by his Spirit as an insider, and for us to publicly wear his badge of love which identifies us as his disciples. His prayer prepared obedient disciples for Pentecost and subsequent revival and evangelism.

Jesus’ unmistakable passion for his Father’s house of prayer for all nations fuels my own passion for prayer. He did not hesitate to cleanse the house of prayer from abuses, so that it could be redeemed for kingdom uses.  How many churches do you know in McKinney that open their doors daily to host regular corporate prayer, demonstrating prayer is their foundational, first priority? I am aware of one. There is a lot of room in McKinney for regular, creative, praise and thanksgiving-based prayer venues.

Personal, public, and persistent prayers of God’s people are desperately needed in our community and world today. Your prayers will be much more enjoyable and effective when they are praise- based, Bible- fed, and Spirit- led.  Since the Word of God IS the Sword of the Spirit, lets’ read, meditate, and pray some of God’s prayers, patterns, and principles recorded in His Word!  These, including giving Him thanks, are sure fire ways of praying in His will. 

All types of prayer are beneficial as illustrated in the famous ACTS acronym: Adoration; Confession; Thanksgiving; Supplication.  We have the privilege to join the 2 greatest intercessors of the Godhead; Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  “Who will say they are not right? Jesus Christ died. Yes, he was raised from death. He is at the right side of God. And he talks (intercedes) to God for us.”  Romans 8:34 “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” Heb. 7:25  “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”  Rom. 8:26

As we close our thoughts together, let’s review some attitudes of prayer that attract the Holy Spirit.  These include: humility, servanthood, brokenness, honesty, holiness, desperation, hunger and thirst for God, and vulnerability.  As you allow God to work such qualities in and through your life, perhaps you will rise to seek or start a prayer venue as a leader or follower to serve, inspire, and equip other body members in experiencing the vulnerability James instructs:   ^“Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.”   James 5:16

More than 30 years ago, I received a call from an elderly man named John Hunter. Someone had given him my name, and he said he hoped I might be able to answer some of his questions about the new things God was doing in the church.

I agreed to meet with him, and after that initial meeting John and I got together often. I learned that he had already known the Lord for more than 50 years—much longer than I had even been alive at that point. He didn’t flaunt his credentials, but he also had many years of experience as a church leader and Bible teacher. John clearly knew Christ in a deep and profound way.

So why did he want to get together with me? That was something I always found puzzling. Was it that he had a fatherly concern for me as a young Christian leader? Yes, I’m sure he wanted me to succeed as a leader—but that was not why he wanted to get together.

Did he want to straighten out my theology? No, that was the furthest thing from his mind.

Still to this day, I’m shocked by John’s primary reason for wanting to spend time with me: He was so hungry for the things of God that he hoped to learn something even from a “youngster” like me.

This may not seem so remarkable to you, but it still challenges me to the very core of my being. Why? Because John Hunter was hungrier for the Lord than I was.

Let me explain…

Before I met John, I was pretty satisfied with the spiritual level I had attained. I felt knowledgeable about the Scriptures and in touch with the Holy Spirit—wasn’t that enough? But John exemplified the same kind of insatiable hunger for God that the apostle Paul wrote about:

   Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that    for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but        one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for        the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect [mature], have this      attitude (Philippians 3:12-15).

Until his dying day, John Hunter was still pressing on, not satisfied with the knowledge of God he already had. In his later years John developed Parkinson’s Disease, which made it much more difficult to “press on”—but he did nonetheless. His gait was more wobbly each time we met, as if his tall, lanky body might fall at any moment.

But he insisted on getting together anyway.

When we sat to have lunch, John’s hands shook violently if he tried to gesture or to bring a spoon to his mouth. Often his food spilled on his shirt, drawing the attention of those at neighboring tables in the restaurant.

As his final days approached, John’s words came out slowly and slurred. Sometimes he didn’t finish the sentences he started. But I could always sense the presence of the Lord during the times we shared.

It will be great to see John Hunter again someday. In heaven, I’m sure he has a fantastic new body, unaffected by anything like Parkinson’s. And I can’t wait to see how his childlike spiritual hunger is finally being satisfied as he dances in worship before God’s throne.

Let’s remind each other to follow John Hunter’s example, always yearning to go higher, toward the “upward call of God” for our lives. Let’s stay hungry until our hunger is fulfilled in eternity.

And perhaps the Lord would even have us invest ourselves in a new generation, as John Hunter did with me. Our lives will be changed when we do.

I pray that all of you are enjoying a wonderful celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the expressions of thanks to our Lord I have heard or heard about this year. One of the greatest blessings I have seen is the number of people posting daily thanksgivings on Facebook every day this month.

And with the many other expressions I would like to suggest a wonderful offering of thanks. Give thanks to God by giving to people in need. Jesus said “In as much done it for the least of these, you have done it unto me.” Many of you have been blessed by this sort of thing all your lives. Others of us will find this a new delight. And there are so many ways to give to those in need.

Living Bread Ministries, planting churches among the desperately poor http://www.livingbread.org/ When John the Baptist sent messengers from prison asking if Jesus were the Messiah, Jesus listed miraculous proofs from healing to raising the dead and climaxed the list with the statement, “And the gospel is preached the poor.” This can still be miraculous evidence of Christ in our lives.

You can give to world hunger through the IMB which also plants churches in many places around the world. http://www.imb.org/main/give/default.asp. One great advantage to giving to hunger relief through the IMB is that a dollar buys a dollar’s worth of food. They cover distribution costs through their regular mission ministries. Give online to World Hunger Fund to meet food-related needs or to General Relief to provide other aid such as shelter or clothing. Give to help victims of disasters through our SBC partner, Baptist Global Response.

You can also give to meet human needs through Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, http://www.rzim.org/  and their ministry, Wellspring International. http://wellspringinternational.org/

And you may not have thought of your local Gospel Rescue Mission. http://www.agrm.org/agrm/default.asp  My son-in-law works at our local mission. http://www.rescue-mission.org/ He told me they have collected over 1500 turkeys to prepare for hungry families this year. Rescue missions have the added advantage of allowing you to volunteer. And they will need many extra volunteers all weekend, through Christmas and all year. My son-in-law told us about a family who has volunteered to be at the family shelter at 5:00 A.M. tomorrow to prepare breakfast. Prayer warriors could pray for hundreds of people in line while serving turkey and trimmings.