A Starved Spirit: Hungering for God Again

“My daughter, you’re becoming so busy and concerned about the things of this world that you’re hardening your heart against me. Being overwhelmed and worried hardens your heart against My presence in your life because you take your eyes off of me and you put them on your situation. You take your eyes off of me and your allow for worry to consume your heart. I long to flow in and out of you but I need you to stop holding onto your ways and thinking. 

So, that was a very real conversation that I had with God at one point in my life. I never thought that I was hardening my heart against Him! I mean, I’m helping people, I’m writing books, I’m praying for others, laying hands, blogging, I’m serving my family! I mean, come on God! He said, but Heather, you are doing it out of an empty, overwhelmed spirit. You are rushing from here to there and even in your prayer time with me, you are rushing through it and running off to the next thing on your to-do list all while thinking about your schedule in my presence. It’s almost like, God was whispering to my heart & I screamed back through my actions, “GOD, I don’t have time for that right now, I’m too busy praying.” God is JEALOUS for my schedule. He is JEALOUS for the time I give all of things things & people.

At times, we can be doing all of these God things and then we feel overwhelmed and weary. We cry out to Him and we still feel the same way. You see, you’re doing what you’re doing out of an empty spirit. Your spirit man is STARVED. The crazy thing is this, when we are hungry, our body tells us and we run and eat some food. It’s it crazy that when our Spirit man is hungry, we don’t pick up the word of God, don’t spend time with God, don’t meditate on scripture, too busy to go to church, or whatever else! No wonder why you’re distracted & overwhelmed! Now, you’re stubborned & you’re not longer sensitive to God like you used to be.

It’s time to get back to your FIRST love. 

Do you remember when you first got saved? You were SO excited about God! You would sit before Him & read your bible daily. You would apply it throughout the day! You wouldn’t dare take your phone with you for quiet time because it was a precious time between you & God. You would wake up thinking about God and go to sleep thinking about God. You would listen to sermons 24-7. You talked about God all the time. You guarded your heart. You would write out scriptures and meditate on them daily. You were VERY intentional about spending time with God!

THEN, you got saved and passed a few tests, which is great! And now, you serve in a few ministries at church. You’ve been saved for a few years and instead of that hunger & reverence for God, it becomes this:

1. I know that scripture, I don’t need to study it.
2. WHO is this minister? What are they talking about? (granted, we should test every spirit, but this isn’t a testing that you’re doing– it’s “I know more than you, so how did you get up there?”
3. I don’t have time to go to church today or the small group. I know what they’re going to teach and I already know it.
4. I don’t feel like spending time with God today.. (as you spend 3 hours on Facebook or shopping online.)
5. I mean, I can still live like this, God will forgive me. You lost your standards & you took your eyes off of Him & put them on you.

John 8:31 tells us “If you will continue in my word, you are truly my disciples.“

There’s a CONTINUING in this WALK! You have to KEEP staying hungry & thirsty for God! You don’t know everything! You never will! There’s a CONSTANT growing and learning and if you study one scripture one day, God can give you a brand new revelation of the same scripture if you stay in EXPECTATION. If you no longer hunger for God, you have to ask God to HELP you to hunger for Him again. 

Then, the test will come your way. A opportunity to get distracted & to move in another direction. But who will you choose? Will you choose that ungodly music? Will you choose that pornography? Will you choose that man? Will you choose that friend? Will you choose to meditate on social media instead of sitting before Him?

As I was studying this, I saw a boat. The boat had no power and it was just drifting in the direction of the current. It was just floating away, further and further from it’s direction. This is exactly what happens to you when you’re distracted and starved. You’re drifting in the direction of the world’s current and you’re moving further and further away from the direction because you don’t have the HOLY SPIRITS POWER to go BACK to where you’re supposed to be. You have no power. You’re drifting away from God. You’re empty. It’s time to turn your boats power back ON & sit before the Lord quietly until He shows you what to do.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Have I drifted away from God?
2. Why am I no longer hungry for Him?
3. What has taken the power from my boat?
4. Who or what has separated me from God?
5. Why am I no longer thirsting for God?

Most likely, you’ve started in the spirit and now, you’ve taken your life into your own hands. (Galatians 3:3). You’re self sufficient and you tell God what He needs to do vs. you sitting at the feet of our Lord and letting HIM lead your life.

Stop drifting. It’s time to return back to Him. Start today.

God loves you like crazy,

Heather Lindsey

(Me & my hubby at the 2014 Pinky Promise Conference)