A Hunger for God Post 1 of 7 | A Homesickness for God
This is a special City Notes for Emmaus City Church in relation to fasting from the book, A Hunger for God. Here are some previous reflections. This is new to me. Maybe it's new to you, too. If so, let's see what new wine God wants to put into these new wineskins.
When God is the supreme hunger of our hearts, He will be supreme in everything.
At the end of 2014, I felt the Holy Spirit calling Emmaus City to enter into a fast, for our hearts before Jesus as well as for those we are beginning to desperately desire that He would meet and reveal Himself to as their Redeemer, Savior, and King. We need to collectively focus our prayers for each and for those we know that we would all grown in our hunger and thirst for the righteousness only Jesus can provide.
To help me better understand what He was calling us into, I found on my shelf the book, A Hunger for God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer by John Piper, which has been sitting there waiting for me to read for years. It was written in 1997, but God knew I greatly needed to read its words in 2015. This nearly twenty-year-old book has been a Godsend in stirring my heart for Jesus' great purposes for His church. When He humbles us to fast, may we find Him turning us to seek His glory and His Kingdom first to fill our lives in the places where we've lost a hunger for the things of God.
For the next seven days, I will be providing quick quotes from this book for a 5-minute reflection each day on how and why God calls us in Worcester, Massachusetts to fast, and why this fully embodied posture of prayer reveals just how much we need Him.
5-Minute Reflection
"Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever." – Psalm 73:25-26, RSV
"The weakness of our hunger for God is not because he is unsavory, but because we keep ourselves stuffed with 'other things.' Perhaps, then, the denial of our stomach's appetite for food might express, or even increase, our soul's appetite for God. ... God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. The fight of faith is a fight to feast on all that God is for us in Christ. What we hunger for most, we worship. ... Between the dangers of self-denial and self-indulgence there is a ... passion of a lover's quest: 'I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ' (Philippians 3:8). ... When God is the supreme hunger of our hearts, he will be supreme in everything." – pgs. 10-11
"The birthplace of Christian fasting is homesickness for God. ... Half of Christian fasting is that our physical appetite is lost because our homesickness for God is so intense. The other half is that our homesickness for God is threatened because our physical appetites are so intense. In the first half, appetite is lost. In the second half, appetite is resisted. In the first, we yield to the higher hunger that is. In the second, we fight for the higher hunger that isn't. Christian fasting is not only the spontaneous effect of a superior satisfaction in God; it is also a chosen weapon against every force in the world that would take that satisfaction away." – pgs. 13-14
"The issue is anything and everything that is, or can be, a substitute for God. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London said, 'Fasting if we conceive of it truly, must not ... be confined to the question of food and drink; fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose.' ... Jesus says, 'No one of you can be my disciple who does not bid farewell to all his own possessions' (Luke 14:33, author's translation). Anything can stand in the way of true discipleship – not just evil, and not just food, but anything. Nor should it be surprising that the greatest competitors for our devotion and affection for God would be some of his most precious gifts." – pgs. 16-17
"St. Augustine said, 'For the most part, the human mind cannot attain to self-knowledge otherwise than by making trial of its powers through temptation, by some kind of experimental and not merely verbal self-interrogation." In other words, we easily deceive ourselves that we love God unless our love is frequently put to the test, and we must show our preferences not merely with words but with sacrifice. ... many small acts of preferring fellowship with God above food can form a habit of communion that makes one ready for the ultimate sacrifice. This is one way that fasting serves all our acts of love to God. It keeps the preferring faculty on alert and sharp. It does not let the issue rest. It forces us to ask repeatedly: do I really hunger for God? Do I miss him? Do I long for him? Or have I begun to be content with his gifts? Christian fasting is a test to see what desires control us. What are our bottom-line passions? In his chapter on fasting in The Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster says, 'More than any other discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. We cover up what is inside of us with food and other things.' ... We all ease our discomfort using food and cover our unhappiness by setting our eyes on dinnertime. Which is why fasting exposes all of us – our pain, our pride, our anger. Foster continues, 'If pride controls us, it will be revealed almost immediately. David said, 'I humbled my soul with fasting' (Psalm 35:13). Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear – if they are within us, they will surface during fasting. ... We can rejoice in this knowledge because we know that healing is available through the power of Christ.'" – pgs. 18-19
"Will I find spiritual communion with God sweet enough, and hope in his promises deep enough, not just to cope, but to flourish and rejoice in him? Or will I rationalize away my need to fast and retreat to the medication of food? The apostle Paul said, 'I will not be mastered by anything' (1 Corinthians 6:12). Fasting reveals the measure of food's mastery over us – or television or computers or whatever we submit to again and again to conceal the weakness of our hunger of God." – pg. 20
" ... why did God create bread and design human beings to need it for life? He could have created life that has no need of food. He is God. He could have done it any way he pleased. Why bread? My answer is very simple: He created bread so that we would have some idea of what the Son of God is like when he says, 'I am the bread of life' (John 6:35). And he created the rhythm of thirst and satisfaction so that we would have some idea of what faith in Christ is like when Jesus said, 'He who believes in me shall never thirst' (John 6:35). God did not have to create beings who need food and water and who have capacities for pleasant tastes. But man is not the center of the universe, God is. And everything, as Paul says, is 'from him and through him and to him' (Romans 11:36). 'To him' means everything exists to call attention to hi and to bring admiration to him. In Colossians 1:16, Paul says more specifically that 'all things were created by (Christ) and for (Christ).' Therefore bread was created for the glory of Christ. Hunger and thirst were created for the glory of Christ. And fasting was created for the glory of Christ. Which means that bread magnifies Christ in two ways: by being eaten with gratitude for his goodness, and by being forfeited out of hunger for God himself. When we eat, we taste the emblem of our heavenly food – the Bread of Life. And when we fast we say, 'I love the Reality above the emblem.' In the heart of the saint both eating and fasting are worship. Both magnify Christ. Both send the heart – grateful and yearning – to the Giver. Each has its appointed place, and each has its danger. The danger of eating is that we fall in love with the gift; the danger of fasting is that we belittle the gift and glory in our willpower." – pg. 21
"The birthplace of Christian fasting is homesickness for God. ... Half of Christian fasting is that our physical appetite is lost because our homesickness for God is so intense. The other half is that our homesickness for God is threatened because our physical appetites are so intense. In the first half, appetite is lost. In the second half, appetite is resisted. In the first, we yield to the higher hunger that is. In the second, we fight for the higher hunger that isn't. Christian fasting is not only the spontaneous effect of a superior satisfaction in God; it is also a chosen weapon against every force in the world that would take that satisfaction away." – pgs. 13-14
"The issue is anything and everything that is, or can be, a substitute for God. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London said, 'Fasting if we conceive of it truly, must not ... be confined to the question of food and drink; fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose.' ... Jesus says, 'No one of you can be my disciple who does not bid farewell to all his own possessions' (Luke 14:33, author's translation). Anything can stand in the way of true discipleship – not just evil, and not just food, but anything. Nor should it be surprising that the greatest competitors for our devotion and affection for God would be some of his most precious gifts." – pgs. 16-17
"St. Augustine said, 'For the most part, the human mind cannot attain to self-knowledge otherwise than by making trial of its powers through temptation, by some kind of experimental and not merely verbal self-interrogation." In other words, we easily deceive ourselves that we love God unless our love is frequently put to the test, and we must show our preferences not merely with words but with sacrifice. ... many small acts of preferring fellowship with God above food can form a habit of communion that makes one ready for the ultimate sacrifice. This is one way that fasting serves all our acts of love to God. It keeps the preferring faculty on alert and sharp. It does not let the issue rest. It forces us to ask repeatedly: do I really hunger for God? Do I miss him? Do I long for him? Or have I begun to be content with his gifts? Christian fasting is a test to see what desires control us. What are our bottom-line passions? In his chapter on fasting in The Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster says, 'More than any other discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. We cover up what is inside of us with food and other things.' ... We all ease our discomfort using food and cover our unhappiness by setting our eyes on dinnertime. Which is why fasting exposes all of us – our pain, our pride, our anger. Foster continues, 'If pride controls us, it will be revealed almost immediately. David said, 'I humbled my soul with fasting' (Psalm 35:13). Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear – if they are within us, they will surface during fasting. ... We can rejoice in this knowledge because we know that healing is available through the power of Christ.'" – pgs. 18-19
"Will I find spiritual communion with God sweet enough, and hope in his promises deep enough, not just to cope, but to flourish and rejoice in him? Or will I rationalize away my need to fast and retreat to the medication of food? The apostle Paul said, 'I will not be mastered by anything' (1 Corinthians 6:12). Fasting reveals the measure of food's mastery over us – or television or computers or whatever we submit to again and again to conceal the weakness of our hunger of God." – pg. 20
" ... why did God create bread and design human beings to need it for life? He could have created life that has no need of food. He is God. He could have done it any way he pleased. Why bread? My answer is very simple: He created bread so that we would have some idea of what the Son of God is like when he says, 'I am the bread of life' (John 6:35). And he created the rhythm of thirst and satisfaction so that we would have some idea of what faith in Christ is like when Jesus said, 'He who believes in me shall never thirst' (John 6:35). God did not have to create beings who need food and water and who have capacities for pleasant tastes. But man is not the center of the universe, God is. And everything, as Paul says, is 'from him and through him and to him' (Romans 11:36). 'To him' means everything exists to call attention to hi and to bring admiration to him. In Colossians 1:16, Paul says more specifically that 'all things were created by (Christ) and for (Christ).' Therefore bread was created for the glory of Christ. Hunger and thirst were created for the glory of Christ. And fasting was created for the glory of Christ. Which means that bread magnifies Christ in two ways: by being eaten with gratitude for his goodness, and by being forfeited out of hunger for God himself. When we eat, we taste the emblem of our heavenly food – the Bread of Life. And when we fast we say, 'I love the Reality above the emblem.' In the heart of the saint both eating and fasting are worship. Both magnify Christ. Both send the heart – grateful and yearning – to the Giver. Each has its appointed place, and each has its danger. The danger of eating is that we fall in love with the gift; the danger of fasting is that we belittle the gift and glory in our willpower." – pg. 21
"The strongest, most mature Christians I have ever met are the hungriest for God. It might seem that those who eat most would be least hungry. But that's not the way it works with an inexhaustible fountain, and an infinite feast, and a glorious Lord. ... The more satisfaction you experience from God, while still in this world, the greater your desire for the next. For, as C.S. Lewis said, 'Our best havings are wantings.' The more deeply you walk with Christ, the hungrier you get for Christ ... the more homesick you get for heaven ... the more you want 'all the fullness of God' ... the more you want to be done with sin ... the more you want the Bridegroom to come again ... the more you want the Church revived and purified with the beauty of Jesus ... the more you want a great awakening to God's reality in cities ... the more you want to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ penetrate the darkness of all the unreached peoples of the world ... the more you want to see false worldviews yield to Jesus' Truth ... the more you want to see pain relieved and tears wiped away and death destroyed ... the more you long for every wrong to be made right and the justice and grace of God to fill the earth like the waters cover the sea. If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. God did not create you for this. There is an appetite for God. And it can be awakened. I invite you to turn from the dulling effects of food and the dangers of idolatry, and to say with some simple fast: 'This much, O God, I want you.'" – pgs. 22-23
Next post: Fasting | New Fasting for the New Wine
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