Our craving for God doesn’t come in an instant, and our craving for God doesn’t go in an instant. Our cravings are developed, and our cravings deteriorate…And both words…developing and deteriorating…indicate a process that happens over time, not in an instant.

Here are some of the things that work toward deteriorating my craving for God. 

• Not spending time reading the Bible everyday. I make an effort to read my Bible before checking email, reading blogs, and reading the news. When I don’t, I can easily get out of the habit of starting my day depending upon Him. Our generation has become biblically illiterate. We simply don’t read our bibles. We need to turn off the TV, close the internet browser, and pick up the bible and read it! We need to hear directly from His Word, not from a blog or a book about Him. It’s like having someone tell you about a movie instead of you watching it for yourself. 

• Not having focused time in prayer. I’m not talking about shootin’ up a quickie on the way to work. I’m talking about having a time of uninterrupted prayer, where I communicate with God. I’m in awe of who He is and what He has done. I express my love, my thankfulness, my desires, my faults, my needs to Him. We need to adjust our lifestyle to pray, not pray as it fits into our lifestyle!

• Not keeping my list short before God. What I mean by that is confessing & repenting of sin in my life quickly! If I harbor junk in my life for an extended period of time, my craving for God deteriorates. Confess it to God quickly, and allow Him to restore you.
• Not taking risks and exercising my faith. When I take God-sized risks and allow Him to move in my life, my craving for Him grows. When I play it safe, the cravings dull.
• Not being around other God Cravers. Nothing stirs up my craving for God like being around someone that has a passion to follow Christ. It stirs my heart. It fires me up.

 

What are the things that you have identified that deteriorate your craving for God?

I can’t wait to be back at Elk Creek this Sunday to kick off a new sermon series.

A HUGE thanks to my friend Ryan Geiger from Fellowship Church for filling in for me last week…I appreciate it bro!

I’ve been praying a lot lately about this idea of craving after God. What is your favorite food? This week, one of mine was Thrasher fries from the boardwalk. I want to crave after God like I crave for my favorite food. I think you do too. 

There have been times in my life where I knew that I should be craving after God, but I just didn’t. There was no desire to read God’s Word…no desire to pray…nothing! Have you ever felt like that? We drift, we get sidetracked, we get distracted, we forget, we begin to lose our craving for God and we begin to crave after the world, the flesh, the things that leave us empty!

How do we get it back? One of the ways to develop a craving for God is to be around other God-cravers. Have you ever been around someone that seems to have an intense hunger for God’s Word and an intense desire to know God in a more intimate way? I always leave these people wanting to develop my own craving after God. Imagine a church filled with God-cravers… A movement of people that crave the moving of God more than anything…It can happen…it’s within our reach! I want that…Do you?

Seventeen years ago on August 10, I said “I Do” to Naomi. She was 18 years old, I was 20…yikes! I just got laid off from my job. I had no money in savings. We were BROKE! I had no plan. I just knew that Naomi was the one for me. I remember rolling quarters to put gas in our tank. I remember occasionally finding a twenty dollar bill in a jacket pocket which would come at just the right time. God has always provided…He has always been faithful! God used those early years to mold us, and shape us, and teach us to depend upon Him.

I would not dream of planting a church without Naomi by my side. She is the most stable, level-headed, caring, self-giving person that I know…seriously! I really love her…can you tell?

I can’t wait to spend this week with her and our four great kids on vacation at the beach. I won’t be posting this week at all…I’ll catch up with you next week sometime!