Hunger for God

Hunger will take us where curiosity will not go. Hunger for God will lead us to do what we have never done before. Without real hunger for God we will lay back on the couch and let passivity steal our destiny of loving God and making Him known to a dying world. 



Friends, are you hungry for God? Have you lost your appetite for His word? His presence? His power? Is your greatest passion for the Lord Himself or something else? We can be offended that someone even asked us that question, or we can humble ourselves and admit that we need a greater hunger for God!  We must grow in what we know and move ahead of where we are!  What will take us there - HUNGER FOR GOD.  It's time for a baptism of hunger. To be immersed with an undying passion for God alone. He is our one desire and whatever we want more than Him is the very thing that is against us in our pursuit. 

In Mark chapter 6 there is a story where Jesus comes to His hometown of Nazareth for the second time. The first time Jesus came to His hometown, after coming into His ministry, the people kicked Him out of the synagogue and tried to throw Him off a cliff. Obviously they were unsuccessful, so here Jesus comes back to Nazareth after traveling around to various regions while ministering with incredible power. 

Mark 6:1-6 NASB 

Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? "Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?" And they took offense at Him. Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household." And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.

Does this passage of Scripture bother you? It has always bothered me. I understand that the people of Nazareth were struggling with the humanity of Jesus, especially since He grew up there. But what cant be denied, and shouldn't be overlooked, is the incredible miracles that Jesus had performed which had not been seen or experienced since the time of Elijah and Elisha! 

But what cant be denied, and shouldn't be overlooked, is the incredible miracles that Jesus had performed which had not been seen or experienced since the time of Elijah and Elisha! 

At this point Jesus had healed countless people, commanded demons to come out, raised the dead, and attracted crowds of thousands from all over the surrounding regions. The people of Nazareth had heard of the testimonies, and even saw the fruit of it - but instead of getting hungry for Jesus to do the same among them, instead of believing that Jesus was clearly of God despite their understanding of who they thought He was - they got OFFENDED AT HIM. WHAT? In a day where those who got an eye infection often ended up blind, a people decided to stand against Jesus and His ministry instead of welcome it. It seems unreal to me and yet I think we may be able to see similarities in us...

We must be hungry for Him. We must be hungry for ALL of Jesus.

Jesus was the same in Capernaum that He was in Nazareth so what is the difference in the effect of His ministry? The people - the recipients - US. Did you know that we can make the difference in whether or not the ministry of Jesus flows in our life, home, or church? I know we don't like to admit it, but its true. It says in Mark chapter 6 that Jesus "could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people." Jesus was astonished at their unbelief. He was amazed and surprised in how they responded to Him. Is Jesus welcome in our lives, homes or churches? I think everyone would say YES! But here is the real question, "IS ALL OF JESUS AND ALL OF HIS MINISTRY WELCOME?" Jesus doesn't JUST save, heal, deliver, speak truth, or serve - He does it all and more! When we welcome Jesus we need to welcome ALL that He is and ALL that He does. We must be hungry for ALL of Jesus. It's amazing to me how the last verse of our passage says this, "And He was going around the villages teaching." That's exactly what is going on in most churches today - teaching. Don't get me wrong. I love the teaching of God's word. But the teaching is supposed to equal fruit which is the point of the teaching. Jesus couldn't DO much in Nazareth, but He could teach in every village. That is startling to me. Have we become like Nazareth? Do we allow for, desire, prepare for and hunger mostly for good teaching? Are we welcoming the rest of His ministry? 

We must welcome all of Him and I believe, as we hunger for and welcome all of Jesus we will be the exact opposite of Nazareth - and Jesus will do great things in and among us....

I am hungry for Jesus to do what Jesus has always done. I want all of Jesus. Everything I read about in the Bible that Jesus did is what we are truly called to do as well. We must welcome all of Him and I believe, as we hunger for and welcome all of Jesus we will be the exact opposite of Nazareth - and Jesus will do great things in and among us - that the world will see the living Christ in us, our homes and our churches! I encourage you to pray this simple prayer as often as you pray which will bring about a greater hunger for all that Jesus is and all that Jesus does. Lord, make me hungry for all of you! I welcome all of you in my life and ask that you give me a greater hunger for Your word, Your presence and Your power.  In Jesus' name. Amen!

Ben Dixon, Director of Ignite Global Ministries

www.igniteglobalministries.org

igniteglobalmin@gmail.com

The Answer to Addiction

We all have addictive tendencies because we all have the temptation to avoid pain, problems, and difficulty. What happens when we push off looking reality in the face and walking through it honestly? We cope! We gravitate toward things that make us feel better, help us avoid reality, or at minimum numb our thoughts and feelings for a temporary amount of time. For me, I was made fun of when I was young so when I started using drugs as a teenager it made me feel good. At least for a little while. Never mind the dangers, I thought, "I feel good". Why did I need to feel good? That's right, because I felt horrible about myself. Seriously horrible. It was all great until I came down from my high because I had to feel horrible again. So what did I do? I went back to the drugs to feel better. But now, it's no longer about avoiding anything, because the addiction sets in and your body wants it because it's getting use to life with this new substance.

We gravitate toward things that make us feel better, help us avoid reality, or at minimum numb our thoughts and feelings for a temporary amount of time.

When I turned 19 my drug use no longer made me feel good. I was worse than when I started and I didn't even know how I felt or what I thought, and quite frankly I didn't care. I got sick of it. I was sick of life as I knew it. One night I talked to God. I didn't know God or believe in Jesus, but I talked to Him that night. That night He touched my heart. It was so powerful that I cried for an hour or more. That's right, I cried like a kid which is how old I was when I started drowning all my thoughts and feelings with drugs, alcohol, and sex outside of marriage. Jesus touched my heart and gave me the courage to face the pain that I had received and caused for the last several years. He changed my inward appetite from drugs and alcohol to truth, real relationships, love, and helping others. He even gave me power over the addictions and my body didn't want them anymore. 

Jesus did for me what I could never do for myself!

Our world is filled with painful moments and circumstances. Right alongside these experiences we will find ways to cope that lead us down paths that can begin to change the course of our future. Addictions just suck! But I think if we were all honest, many of us have them. Sex, food, television, drugs, alcohol, and even Facebook. Not all of these things are evil in themselves of course, but almost anything can become an addiction if we are not careful.

Jesus has an answer for our addictions. 

"...almost anything can become an addiction if we are not careful."

In fact, Jesus is the answer. His Church is the place and people that walk out relationship to become whole together. We follow the healer and become healed. We follow the Deliverer and we are delivered. He is calling us night and day out of our addictions and into his freedom. Sometimes it's just one step at a time. And for some strange reason I believe the first step for someone reading this is to wake up in the morning, go to a church, and ask someone who looks friendly to pray with you. You don't need to wait until tomorrow, you can ask Jesus tonight, but I feel that someone reading this needed to hear it and I didn't plan to write it. But if you made it this far, I encourage you to ask Jesus for his help and go to a church tomorrow and ask someone that loves Him to help you as well. If you can't find anyone to help you, I WILL!  Just send me a message or give me a phone call. My number is 425-967-7710!

One step toward Christ is another step out of our addictions because Jesus is always the answer.

I remember a guy came to our church one night and listened to me preach.  After I was finished he waited for me as I prayed for several people.  He then approached me and said "you know, God doesn't want you to forget where you come from. People need to hear about it." That was all he said and then he walked away. I never saw him again but I never forgot what he said.

God loves us and He has more for us than coping through our addictions. He has a real life worth living waiting for us as we learn to follow Him. One step toward Christ is another step out of our addictions because Jesus is always the answer.

Sincerely,

A guy who hasn't forgotten where he comes from.

Ben Dixon, Ministry Director

Igniteglobalmin@gmail.com

www.igniteglobalministries.org

Fighting for The Promise

¹ Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan;

² only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly).

³ These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.

⁴ They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses.

⁵ The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites;

⁶ and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. 

Judges 3:1-6 (NASB) 

Judges is a book I have always found interesting because of the back and forth relationship Israel has with the Lord. It seems as though the people never fully decided to follow the ways of God during this time in history. As you read it, you can see how the people are oppressed to the point where all they can do is cry out for God or suffer to the point of death. God, in His great mercy reaches out to them and raises up a leader (judge), who will deliver them from oppression and focus them on following God once again. Then, the leader dies and the people go right back to following their own ways or that of the leading influence of their day and context. God allows the people to go their own way and thus consequence sets in as a result. 

God wanted to teach His people how to fight for what He has promised them rather than just handing it over to them and hoping they would steward or occupy this great blessing appropriately. 

The above scripture stood out to me as I was pondering all that Israel was promised and had to go through prior to coming to this point in their history. It says that the Lord left some of the nations to "test" Israel as to whether or not they would obey God and what they knew He wanted them to do. God wanted to teach His people how to fight for what He has promised them rather than just handing it over to them and hoping they would steward or occupy this great blessing appropriately. The sad part of the story is that Israel did not fight (for the most part) for what God wanted to give them. They gave themselves over to the path of pleasure and deception - thinking that this life would somehow be better for them than the hard road of war.

He was (and is) developing me into someone who can fight through the difficulties to obtain His desired outcome.

There are times where I have prayed, "God, take me out of this situation" or "God, move this out of the way." or even, "God, please take this out of me right now." - with seemingly no answer. Looking back on those moments I now realize that God had a much bigger plan than just making everything easy for me. He was (and is) developing me into someone who can fight through the difficulties to obtain His desired outcome. Sometimes my only desired outcome is to get out of this situation quickly. But that would not help me to learn how to be like Jesus and to develop into a person who can trust God in all things and show my kids that this is the true way of life.

I can hear a call to fight in my heart - a call to fight for the real faith that Jesus died for, the true Gospel. 

I see that we are living in a time where there are many things seeking to conquer our soul and reduce the people of Jesus to those who look like everyone else. No more love, kindness, power or anything else different from the rest of the world. This is something I am not willing to allow in my generation or the one following. I can hear a call to fight in my heart - a call to fight for the real faith that Jesus died for, the true Gospel. God has allowed things in our life (not taking them away), to teach us to call on Him and to see His promise realized. It is within us to choose not to give up. This may be our only part to play in our journey with God, to choose Him. 

What God allows in our life is usable for our development, if we trust God and walk with Him to His promise for us.

When we are going through life and difficulties arise, I wonder if instead of asking God, "Why?", it would show more trust and devotion to His plan by asking, "What would You have me do Lord?" 
In the middle of my difficulties I think, "I am not learning to ask the right question. The one that has Jesus as the center, not me." The right way to think is not always how do I feel about this, or I dont think this is right or fair. But rather, "God, how do you see this?", "Lord, what do You want me to do?" 
I have not always lived a life with Jesus at the center, but as I fight through all that is in the way, I am seeing things with new eyes. God could have wiped every nation out of the promised land, but He chose to put that responsibility into the hands of those to whom it was promised. He would have caused them to win every war at every battle front, for He was with them. Their call was to trust that God was with them as they pursued what He has spoken to them about. Sadly, they did not do this. They could not trust the Lord and did not heed His way. What was meant to teach them war and become their stepping stones to victory became their oppressors. I am sure that spiritually this is the same for us. What God allows in our life is usable for our development, if we trust God and walk with Him to His promise for us.

Behold the King and fight the battle! 

Ben Dixon, Ministry Director 
www.igniteglobalministries.org
igniteglobalmin@gmail.org