Spirit Hunger Recap - Week 1

This past week, I started a Bible study called Spirit Hunger, what are you really longing for?, written and taught by Gari Meachum. It's going to be incredible. I would love for you to join us on Tuesdays at 9:30 am at the Second Baptist West location. You can email me at jlcsmith@hotmail.com if you are interested in registering.

Here is the recap:

Spirit Hunger – Week 1 Recap

Study Overview

Week 1: Longings (signs of a hungry spirit)

Week 2: Numbing (stuffing, ignoring and mocha lattes)

Week 3: Engaging (whispers and screams: how do we pray?)

Week 4: Travailing (panting and petition)

Week 5: Believing (more than bathrobe belief)

Week 6: Positioning (invited to listen)

Week 7: Questioning (the caress of wondering)

Week 8: Moving (living off more than fumes)

Introduction

Psalm 63:1

“O God, You are my God. I shall seek you earnestly, my soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you

In a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

Are you desperate for God?

Created to Long

We were built for Spirit Hunger. We were designed to thirst after a God that quenches.

We long for a romance with God. God is constantly wooing us, and inviting us to a pleasure, a thrill and safety and a covering.

We were created to long (desire) for something. There are universal desires that we all have and there are the counterfeits that we replace these longings with:

LONGINGS	CONTERFEITS
Nurturing, attention and affirmation	Control
Intimacy (to hear and be heard)	Prostitute / Guard
Purpose	Bland insecurity
Discipline (our lives don’t work without it)	Compulsion/Laziness
Treasured	Trampled and fearful

Everyone longs for God Himself.

How did the longings get messed up? (Genesis 2-3)

Women were created to bring a beauty to life that man couldn’t.

At the fall Eve:

- Chose to believe that God was tricking her

- Felt like she had to figure it all out (control)

- Felt that her husband needed to now listen to and follow her

Adam’s response was the most dangerous thing, he chose silence. Their initial way of living and functioning in a Spirit Hunger was now broken. The coward/control cycle began.

From Genesis 3: the dance that Adam and Eve did is the dance of Humanity and became the dance of Christ.

Vs 7: We cover

Vs 8: We hid

Vs 9: God pursues

Vs 10: We excuse

Vs 21: God covers

The longings that stay in “self” mode typically end in fear. Longings that bend towards God turn to faith. Fear is the most powerful human emotion, except for faith. Faith plays itself out in our spirit (see John 3, John 4:23-24, and 1 Cor 2: 10-14).

When you determine to understand your Spirit Hunger, your life will have a certain charm about it, which is a treasured satisfaction to Jesus.