Lately, I’ve been feeling this weight of responsibility.
Truthfully, it’s difficult for me to put into words what I feel resting upon me.
It’s certainly not a bad thing and it’s nothing that has caused me to feel like a failure in any way.
By no means do I feel like I’ve dropped the ball, but I will say that the weight of what I’m feeling feels heavy.
There’s a depth to it.
And to be honest all the more, I’m having a hard time delineating between what feels like
responsibility and what feels like hunger.
It’s like the lines are blurred.
There seems to be an overlap of some sort.
The weight of what I’m feeling is causing me to hunger and the hunger is causing me to see the weight of responsibility with greater clarity.
The more I see it, the hungrier I become.
We ought to pay attention to what we are hungering for.
Hunger prophesies.
It could be the very thing God is calling us into.
I can’t help but to feel like I owe it to the world and those around me to demonstrate God in a greater way.
I feel like I owe it to people that they’d see signs and wonders and have encounters with God.
I feel like I owe it to people to know God more than I do currently and to reflect His heart.
It’s the hunger pangs of humility.
These pangs recognize their need for God and the necessity to be fully dependent upon Him.
They understand that without Him, they are nothing.
The backdrop for all that I’m feeling is contained in Luke 11:5-13.
In this parable, there’s a person who has a friend that comes to visit late at night.
Because it was cultural to feed a guest, this person goes to another friend and asks for three loaves of bread.
Dear reader, these three loaves represent God Himself in the persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
If we do not have Him, we have nothing to offer anyone.
The greatest need today, in all of our lives, is God.
Because of the lateness of the hour, the friend says to the person seeking bread that he and his family are already in bed and that he has no plans to give him what he needs.
This, however, does not discourage the person who wants to be a good host for his guest.
In fact, he becomes all the more persistent in his asking and knocking.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting.
The bible goes out of its way to say that it’s not because of the purpose or motive of friendship that the man from within gets up to give his friend what he needs. Rather, it’s because of his friend’s persistence.
Friendship with God certainly causes Him to treat us and look upon us with favor, but there are times when friendship isn’t enough. Persistence is required.
The persistent believes that they will receive what they ask for, that they will find what they are looking for, and that what they knock on will be opened.
That’s faith.
And faith pleases God.
My question, dear friend, is this: Do we have what we need right now?
Does what we are currently walking in and able to demonstrate match the need of what’s happening in the world today?
If not, we need the Lord.
We need bread.
Jesus ends this parable by stating that if imperfect parents know how to give good gifts to
their children, how much more does the Father want to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.
And it’s that statement that ultimately reveals the purpose and symbolism behind the parable.
We need more of the Holy Spirit and we need to ask for Him.
When was the last time you did this?
When was the last time you persistently sought more of God until you received it?
Dear reader, I believe with all of my heart that the world is going to be coming to us and will be expecting to be fed.
I believe our family, our friends, and our neighbors will do the same.
In Jesus’ day, you were expected to be able to feed a visitor.
Today, we should be expected to demonstrate the kingdom of God and it’s only possible when the person of the Holy Spirit fills you with Himself.
Acts 4:8 — Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit…
Acts 4:33 — And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.
Acts 5:12 — At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people.
Acts 6:8 — And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people
Acts 19:11 — God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul.
- Brian Connolly, Faith Like Bird Ministries
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