That which feeds, fuels, strengthens.
They recognize the toxicity of junk food, junk teaching.
They crave holy order, opposite of lawlessness.
No wonder the world is going crazy.
Distanced from God, from all that is truly good.
Eat junk food, get junk results.
Grazing for greasy grace, ‘hand-me-down holiness, microwave miracle meals.
The Hungering ones Hunger and thirst for the essence of all that is God, all that is right and true, all that stands firm. There they find contentment. Satisfaction. Peace. Fullness.
Conformity to all that He commands, all that He appoints, all that He is.
Rightness of relationship, not religion.
Hungering and thirsting for a depth of relationship that embraces, endures, nurtures freedom of fellowship.
Looking away from ritualistic religious activity that ensnares, creating puppets.
Don’t miss the perpetual action of the hunger.
The body is not fed once, then satisfied indefinitely.
The hungering ones are perpetually hungry.
Consistently choosing to be fed, to be filled, with the Bread of Life Himself.
Ironically, this hungering satisfies so deeply it causes a perpetual hunger for more of the same.
Are you among the Hungering Ones?
Many others have already left.
Truth is best taken straight, not diluted.
Most desire a quick fix, no commitment, no inconvenience to their shallow selfish shortsighted selves.
True disciples crave all that the Teacher has to offer, recognizing He is pure and they are pointless without Him.
He speaks of meekness, surrender.
Killing pride at the door, tossing ‘self’ out the window, coming in empty.
Deepest corners of our heart embracing the Father and all His ways without disputing or resisting.
Doesn’t mean we like it all; means we honestly believe He is smarter than we are.
Free to express; more free to obey.
It is only when we completely accept His Lordship, fully acknowledge His holiness, with sincerity say “though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”……only then will we be free from the entanglement of entitlement.
We do not deserve Grace, yet He freely gives it.
He has no reason to give us mercy, yet it is new every morning.
Here, surrendered to Him, is Blessing.
Deceptive ‘high’ of earth’s temporal pleasure cannot distract.
Grievous grip of depression’s loss cannot entwine.
When one fully embraces being totally and completely enveloped into the Father, nothing of earth can touch us.
When we have released all into Him, we are positioned to receive all from Him and through Him.
Want to be untouchable, unshakable, immovable?
Live so closely united to Him, know everything passes through Him, acknowledge you are nothing without Him.
Turn your eyes on the Teacher, and inherit His strength, character, courage, and resolve.
Nothing else can ever compare.
Nowhere else will you be so blessed.
You’ve chosen to stay, to discover the fullness of what it means to be blessed.
Wrapped tightly in impenetrable comfort.
Covered, cared for, protected from the reach of any who seek to destroy.
Your Teacher explains the key to finding that comfort: be ready to grieve more deeply than you have ever grieved before.
Prepare for loss of something, or someone, you’ve been convinced you could not possibly live without.
Nearest and dearest to your heart.
When in that grief, be strong enough to wait for your Healer.
Resist the temptation to grasp for quick-fix bandages that leave shallow emotions.
We just don’t all come out the same on the other side.
Contrary to the flawed accusation of some, it isn’t your Father who intentionally, haphazardly takes them away.
Most often it is simply life happening.
As it does to all of us.
Life can break us, wound us, cause deep, penetrating grief.
It is in this broken moment, deep point of grieving we make the choice between blessed comfort and temporary relief.
It is only in our times of deepest grief that the Ultimate Healer, the God of all comfort, walks in with a peace that passes understanding.
It is in that moment that His nearness, tenderness, strength, and peace display so powerfully to us that He is the only One we cannot survive without.
In fact, He is the only One we will never have to survive without.
In our grief, He comforts.
Most of your world’s teachers and preachers who focus on blessing have similar sounding messages, follow consistent themes.
Just believe it, and you’ll become it.
You are more awesome and incredible than you know.
Everything can be good, kind, profitable, peaceful if you just keep saying good, kind, profitable, peaceful words.
Focus only on what is good, comfortable, congenial.
Your Teacher says something different.
You will be abundantly blessed, deeply satisfied, receive the totality of the royal dominion of heaven itself…….when you are poor, broken, destitute, in abject poverty, having absolutely nothing.
Recognize that your Teacher isn’t talking primarily about surface stuff. While possessions and positions might come into play, He isn’t starting with what is around you.
He’s interested in what’s inside you.
If you truly want to be satisfied and blessed from the deepest core of your being, start by recognizing that in you, within your flesh, attitudes, emotions, skills…..in you, dwells no positive thing.
In you dwells no ability to survive or succeed.
Don’t understand what’s going on.
If there was a rope to grab the end of, its frayed strands passed through your hands long ago.
The greatest foundational key to living a life of faith is total, complete, thorough understanding of our own personal inability to accomplish the task. If we allow anything within us to remain of self-sufficiency, it will undermine our ability to grow in faith. Like the roots of a weed inevitably produce more weeds, any root of pride that is allowed to remain will choke out the seed of faith He desires to plant deeply within us.
He calls us to trust Him, completely.
Our intellect understands the words, can repeat the concept.
Do we truly live like we believe it?
Before you’re tempted to say “well, no not really, but then nobody does…” realize that some, in fact, do.
The ones who are truly satisfied.
The ones truly blessed….because they have chosen to be.
Still want to stay on the hillside?
This learning journey is populated with travelers seeking to be blessed by the Teacher, seeking fulfillment where their world has left a gaping void.
First item on the Teacher’s agenda: correct the wrong thinking of what being blessed truly looks like.
Countless millions step onto the rodent wheel of ‘want’ and begin to spin.
Does the stuff possess your mind as much as it possesses your time to attain and maintain it?
If our spirit is not satisfied from the inside, our mind and flesh will never be satisfied with the things we pile on the surface.
When we learn the truth about satisfying the deepest hunger and thirst of the deepest core of our being, we finally find balance to appropriately approach the stuff that screams for our attention on the surface.
Most of it falsely advertises itself as satisfying a need; in reality it is a sugar-coated poison that slowly kills us with its addictive entanglement.
The deepest form of life satisfaction, the one that empowers all seekers to truly have clear eyes to see what the mirage is made from, is the one that allows the Creator of the heart to fill it, renew it, and dwell within it. All other decisions, then, are filtered by if they help or hinder that core connection.
True blessing is found in knowing the Creator desires to dwell within the creation. The Greater voluntarily draws near to the lesser, the Strong chooses to empower the weak. Ultimate Wisdom is pleased when invited to inform and educate the foolish.
Life’s circumstances cannot touch that core; they are either conquered by its strength, or more fully enjoyed by its approval.
In the same way a great oak tree does not cave under the weight of a bird in its limbs, nor crumble at the loss of a leaf, external circumstances of gain or loss do not affect the depth of blessed satisfaction, for nothing on the outside can come anywhere near the center.
When that core is strong you, and your fellow travelers, will find yourselves truly blessed.
You will have learned true blessing and satisfaction have nothing to do with what is outside us or around us, and everything to do with what is within.
On this hillside of learning, the Teacher will tell us – one by one – what strands make up the core of the blessed heart.
For some, returning and renewal.
Others, a first-time awareness deep within of a hunger that nothing earthly can satisfy.
And then we find it: an invitation to be satisfied.
The Teacher Himself casts the net of invitation.
Step aside from the rush, the push, the crush of your unsatisfactory lifestyle that leaves you perpetually hungry, thirsty, longing for something more.
Something that goes beyond the temporary style, fad, craze, confusion.
Inhale…..let your lungs be filled with pure, fresh air.
Quiet your mind…let the Teacher’s words of wisdom and peace brush away the clutter, fill your hear and spirit with small, powerful bites of life-giving Food.
We are at the beginning of a learning journey, a journey where our Teacher has deep foundational truths to tell us. Truths that will satisfy, truths that will guide, truths that will cut away anything that He knows to be more poison than power.
Prepare for the journey, make way for the Teacher’s lessons.
Your Teacher has climbed a hillside.
If you are one who is committed to hearing from Him, climb with Him.