Let Me Feed You!

Jesus fed 5000 people on the mountainside when they had no means of feeding themselves.  God fed the multitude in the desert when they had no means of feeding themselves.  When we are hungry and have no way to feed ourselves, God will feed us.

I am convinced that the reason so many people cannot or do not read the Bible is that either they are not yet hungry enough for spiritual truth, or they are trying to feed themselves instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to feed them what they need.  So many of us determine we will "read the Bible," and so we begin -- at the first page of Genesis.  Undoubtedly, the more persistent of us will get further on, but sooner or later, all of us will bog down somewhere before we get very far. 

The Bible is not a "book," even though it does have a beginning, a middle, and an end.  Rather, it is a library, written over a period of roughly a thousand years by multiple authors with multiple viewpoints -- yet all used by the Holy Spirit to tell one story.  If we walked into a library and selected the first book nearest the door, determined to read our way around the shelves, we would soon give up.  When we come to God's library, we need a Divine Guide -- someone to show us where to begin and what to read.  We need to begin with worship, with acknowledging that we ourselves are incapable of feeding ourselves with divine truth.  We need to acknowledge our helplessness to read, to understand, to digest the living Word of God.  We need humility to ask the Holy Spirit to feed us the "pure milk of the Word of God" until we grow up into full maturity.  We need to believe that God will feed us with the "finest of wheat." 

A few times in my life, I have been in a restaurant where the owner says, "Let me feed you."  After that, I simply put myself in his capable hands and relax, knowing that he will bring me only the best he has to offer.  And I know that I will be satisfied, not only physically, but "spiritually," or aesthetically.  Our relationship with God is no different.  If we put ourselves in His hands, saying, "Feed my hunger for You, for Truth," will He refuse our prayer?  Only He knows the deepest hunger of our souls; only He knows where our minds need understanding.  And He is more than able to do what we ask.  We need only sit with our bibles on our laps and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Faith is believing what God has said -- to US!  Most of us struggle to believe what God has said to others, but we do not realize that He has given us the same food.  It is hard to believe something that has not fed our own hunger.  Our faith begins with an encounter with the Risen Jesus -- He is alive!  How do we know that, except that we have 'met' Him on the way, as did the disciples going to Emmaeus?  If we allow Him to feed us where we are, we will recognize Him in the breaking of the bread.  Our gratitude for having been fed at the point of our hunger is the catalyst for our belief. 

Years ago, when I first began reading the Bible, I was devouring it day by day, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  I simply could not get enough.  After I had read it through twice, I began studying the geography, the history, the meaning of words, etc.  All of this reading and study, however, was nothing I was doing on my own -- it was the result of someone praying for me to receive "the baptism of the Holy Spirit."  And it came like a fire, unexpectedly.  I began reading the Acts of the Apostles, but only because that's where the book literally fell open.  When I realized I was reading about what had just happened to me personally, I couldn't stop reading. 

The day came, however, when I could no longer read the Bible for months at a time.  I would just sit and hold it on my lap, loving it, but not being able to read it.  Finally, Jesus spoke to me:  Let Me feed you!  I realized then that I had been 'feeding myself' with all the study -- study that was necessary for a time.  But now, I had to let go and let the Spirit of God lead me through the Scriptures most necessary for the moment and the situation.  One cannot go to school forever, as necessary as it is to begin there.  Sooner or later, we must begin to apply the knowledge we receive to the life we are living. 

I would challenge anyone who wants to know the Word of God to do an experiment:  begin with acknowledging Who God is and worshipping the One Who put the Word together for our benefit.  Allow Him to lead you to the section and the passage you need to read.  Because we read in order to meet the living God, the Word of God.  Only then will our reading lead to faith.

Is One Religion as Good as Another?

It sounds very liberal and open-minded to acknowledge all religions as equal and good.  But if we are realistic and even scientific in our investigation, we begin to discover that not all religions produce the same results.  We might begin by asking, "What is the purpose of religion?"  Even with this question, we begin to find huge differences in religions.  And then, once we have defined for ourselves the purpose of religion, we find great differences in the results.

One good place to begin a search for the Truth is to read Iran: Desperate for God --An oppressive Islamic state drives its people into the arms of Christ, a book published by the Living Sacrifice Book Company in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.  This book is told or written by Islamic believers who all devotedly practiced Islam, to the point of depression and suicide.  They did all and more that their religion required of them, and became more and more oppressed and depressed.  Some even attempted suicide, for they had no hope at all.  All of their constant prayers and penances and self-denials led to despair. 

It seems that the point or purpose of Islam is to control people, not to release them into the freedom of the Children of God.  They are so fearful of Allah and his displeasure.  One girl reported her fear that if any of her hair would show, she would be hanged by her hair in "heaven," or if she did not cover her hands and wrists, she would hang by her hands for all eternity.  Fear is the over-riding emotion of faithful Islamic practice in Iran.  (I cannot report about the Islamic experience in America or other countries, for I know nothing about that, except for the students I taught who were Muslim men and women, and I know only a very little about their experience.)

In every story in Iran: Desperate for God, the writer tells of an experience of Jesus Christ, either from having been given a book, a New Testament, or of seeing a movie about Jesus.  Here is a quotation from a young boy who had begun in 5th grade earnestly searching and reading all about Islam.  But someone had given him a booklet about Jesus:

From the moment I read that Jesus booklet, I started to search for this God they're all talking about.  First of all, I read the Communist books again.  But now all I found was a lot of emptiness in them.  I discovered that when Lenin wanted to swear, he said, "To God, I swear."  Then I went to the other religions to search, starting with historical beliefs in the books of Iran, Japan, India, Lebanon, China, and Brazil.  I read all about the religions so I could compare them.  then I started studying space and stars, hypnotism, spirits, and telepathy......I tried to write these down in a notebook.  I wrote notes especially about Islam during the heat of this religious revolution ....Nobody was able to answer the questions I recorded to ask them.  There are so many problems even ayatollahs cannot give an answer.

Finally, this 13-year old boy was able to get his hands on a Bible that an old man lent him, even though it was forbidden to own a Bible in Iran at the time.  The Bible was in English, but the boy struggled to read it, and he decided to go directly to the mullahs with his questions.  The first question he asked was from the Koran, chapter 3, verse 3:  If anyone wants to have salvation and enter heaven, they have to believe in Torah and also in the Bible and in the New Testament..  Then the boy quoted other passages regarding Jesus Christ from the Koran, as well as passages from the Bible.  The mullah got red in the face and said, "Your ideas are not interesting; I can't talk to you." 

The boy continued his search for the truth:  I always believed the real God should have noble characteristics.  The God I wanted couldn't like bad things for His children.  He should know everything and know how that person wants to live in the future.  This God in my mind would always care for His children.

In every one of these stories, when the searcher discovers Christianity, they also find freedom, joy, peace.  Their experience is such that they immediately want to share their joy with members of their families and with their friends, even though doing so might bring imprisonment and death.  I downloaded this book on my Kindle for $1.99, I think, and I have read it through more than one time.  Experiences like these prove to anyone who thinks about it the truth of Jesus Christ:  You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free. 

The purpose of religion is not a rule, but a relationship.  If we look at the relationship of believers to their 'gods,' we will inevitably discover the real God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  His brothers and sisters will come into the same relationship with the Father that Jesus Christ Himself had, for this is His purpose for us -- to make us sons and daughters of the Living God.

The Fifth Dimension

Bring Me your mind for rest and renewal.  Let Me infuse My Presence into your thoughts.  As your mind stops racing, your body relaxes and you regain awareness of Me.  This awareness is vital to your spiritual well-being; it is your lifeline, spiritually speaking.

There are actually more than four dimensions in the world.  In addition to the three dimensions of space and the one of time, there is the dimension of openness to My Presence.  This dimension transcends the others, giving you glimpses of heaven while you still reside on earth.  This was part of My original design for mankind.  Adam and Eve used to walk with Me in the garden, before their expulsion from Eden.  I want you to walk with Me in the garden of your heart, where I have taken up permanent residence.  --- Jesus Calling, May 24

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In all thy ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths (Proverbs 3:6)

The common condition of mankind seems to be belief that God is not interested -- or that He is interested, but unable to communicate with us.  Even if we say that He is "able" to direct us, we do not really believe that He will.  We believe that He is occupied daily with ".more important things" than our affairs; even if He were waiting to direct our ways, we seriously doubt that we have the capacity to hear His direction. 

"I never hear anything; God does not speak to me," we say.  "I have never heard the Voice of God."  And yet Jesus said, "My sheep know My voice."  Surely that must mean that we have heard Him and that we recognize His Voice.  I think the common experience is that we indeed have heard God speaking to us, but we just cannot believe the experience; we imagine that we have "made it up," that we are talking to ourselves.  And we are afraid to believe.

I heard a priest on the radio telling that his people always say that God does not speak to them.  One day while he was praying, the Lord said to him:  If you have a mother and father who speak only to one another and never to their children, what kind of parents would they be?  They would be terrible parents.  What kind of God do you think I am that I never speak to my children?

The Bible is filled, filled with stories of those who heard God's voice and obeyed:  Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Gideon, all the prophets, John the Baptist, Mary, Paul, and so on.  The "fifth dimension" of openness to the Divine Presence changes our world on a daily basis.  All we have to do to be convinced is to read a publication like Guideposts, stories of ordinary men and women whose lives are directed by an inner Voice, often saving their lives from a great danger.

One man, who has learned to be directed from within, told the story about his wife saying that God never speaks to her.  So one morning, while lying in bed praying before getting up, he asked God to direct her to wake up, put her arms around him, and tell him that she loved him very much.  Then, as he said, "I folded my arms behind my head and just waited."  Of course, she did exactly what he had asked in prayer.  Laughing, he pointed out to her that she had indeed "heard the voice of God," though there were no words involved.

The passage from Proverbs above says to "acknowledge" God in all our ways, and He will direct our paths.  But in the Hebrew, the word is "Know" God, and "knowing" in Hebrew means to be intimate with, to know from the inside out, the way we know our spouses.  If we know Him in all our ways, if we are open to His direction, we can be very sure that He will not disappoint us.  One of the Psalms says, "Direct my feet into the way of peace."  We do not have to hear a voice; we do not have to understand with our minds, to know that we are being directed. 

Psalm 23 says, He leads me in right paths for His Name's sake."  And Is. 30:  Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way; walk in it."  Is. 33: He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure (v.6).

I wish we could all believe that God will direct our paths; when the fifth dimension becomes a reality to us, our small worlds will change forever, and those worlds will impact the whole world.