Hungering and Thirsting for the Lord

Years ago, I was involved with a ministry where we would fast and pray for certain periods of time together. One particular time, we all spent a week fasting on just liquids leading up a big ministry event we were attending. By the time we got to the event, I was so hungry and tired that I knew I needed to sleep or eat if I was going to have any energy to make it through that weekend. We all chose to break the fast together after seven days with a large meal together that satisfied my deep hunger. Next up for me was a long nap before we made our way eight-hour drive back home. I don’t remember ever feeling that weak in my body and mind. If my body wasn’t longing for rest or a meal after not eating for a week or getting much sleep because of travel, we would think there was something seriously wrong going on with my health. It is healthy for your body to hunger and desire rest; This means your body is working properly. 

This type of desperation for physical sustenance is a reflection of what our spiritual hunger for the things of God should look like. When we can go days, weeks, or God-forbid, even months without reading the Bible or praying, and we don’t find ourselves desiring to seek the Lord and His righteousness, we need to pause and ask ourselves why. As a believer, this should concern us. 

Jesus gives us a promise in what is called “The Beatitudes” in the Sermon on the Mount regarding those who hunger for the things of God. When we pursue the Lord and His righteousness, we will never starve; God will fill us with His sustaining life:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6, NIV). 

If we find ourselves no longer hungry for spiritual things, our spiritual health may be in great danger. We need to find out why we have stopped being hungry for pursing God’s Word and Kingdom pursuits. Have you stopped attending church or fellowshipping with other believers regularly? Is your prayer routine on life support? If you are malnourished spiritually, it will begin to affect other areas of your life. We must abide in the Vine if we are going to bear fruit for Christ. Apart from Him, we cannot do anything (John 15:5). We must become desperate to remain connected to Christ and His Word; His Word are Spirit and life. Jesus says that those who are hungry for Kingdom pursuits are blessed and promises to fill us and sustain us. This type of hunger cannot be conjured up in our own strength. We cannot make ourselves hungry; We need God’s help and supernatural grace. We need to ask the Lord to stir our hearts to make us hungry and thirsty again for Him so that we can mature in the Lord and be filled up with His abundant life that can over-flow to reach others for His glory. 

Father God,

I must admit that I have a reached a point in my spiritual journey with You where I may have grown complacent. I find myself not longing to pray or read my Bible. I have not been very consistent with fellowshipping with other believers. Help me get rid of distractions in my life that may have kept me from Kingdom pursuits. Social media and other entertainment can very quickly become spiritual junk food that does not truly nourish my soul. Will you help me prioritize these things in my life so that You are primary? Help me to see the things or people in my life that may be keeping me from growing in my relationship with You, Lord. Strip away my comfort, my pleasure, and my pride and make me hungry for You and Your righteousness. Fill me up with Your abundant life. I want to pursue You, praise You, read Your Word consistently, stay committed to my local church, learn of Your ways, and learn more about You and I know I need Your help to stay on the narrow path. Thank You for leading me in Your righteousness and maturing me. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

Ex-Psychic Saved Podcast with Jenn Nizza | “Manifesting is Infiltrating the Church” (Ep. 5)

I was able to sit down and chat with my dear friend Jenn Nizza again, but this time for her podcast that just launched in January 2023! In this episode, we continued our conversation about how manifesting/Law of Attraction has become a common practice in evangelicalism. Check out more details about the episode below!


Ex-psychic Jenn Nizza, who regularly speaks on the spiritual dangers of the occult, is warning about the growing prevalence of “manifesting” within the church. 

“It’s infiltrating the church,” Jenn Nizza proclaims on this episode of the “Ex-Psychic Saved Podcast,” noting she embraced manifesting when she worked as a medium. “I fell into it and started believing it, and then I taught it as well.” 

Manifesting, which the New Age movement calls the law of attraction, is essentially the belief people can will or make certain things happen in their lives. As Crosswalk notes, “It is the belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into your life. It says that thoughts are energy; and energy can attract similar energies to itself because there is an attractive magnetic pattern to the universe.”

Nizza sat down with Emily Massey of WeWouldRatherHaveJesus.com, to discuss this issue and its presence within Christian circles and to warn that the “name it and claim it” mentality amounts to “idolatry.” 

Massey noted culture is dominated by crystals and other tools that mainstream this type of spiritual practice. As for her own experience in the Word of Faith movement, she said there was an intense focus on the power of words.

“For me, as far as the practice was concerned, everything came back to not only the positive thinking … but it goes beyond that to where it affects your speech,” she explained of her own past experience with manifesting. “You have to guard your speech … you must … speak out these positive, what they would call confessions.”

It all came down to not “sowing” negative words, believing these words would have a certain power after being spoken.

“It’s that whole — ‘Don’t, don’t, don’t speak it, don’t claim it … we have to be careful with our words because they can be manifest into reality,’” Massey said.

She took aim at these ideologies, noting the idea people could “manifest” something into reality “is not biblical faith.”

“Biblical faith is solely trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ,” Massey said. “We believe in the Gospel, we believe in the finished work of the cross, and we believe the words of Christ and the word of God, and that is what we put our faith in Christ.”

But she said others in these movements “distort the definition of faith to mean ‘a force.’”

Listen to the conversation HERE

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Tidal Waves of Grief

Several years ago, I watched my husband, his parents, and my sister-in-law experience the deepest pain imaginable – pain so difficult that it physically hurt. The night my husband, Paul, received the news that his brother was in a tragic drowning accident, I held him as we both cried, huddled on the couch. He kept grabbing his chest and saying, “I miss him so much. This hurts so bad.” Each day after that moment, we continued to put one foot in front of the other as we walked through the pain with Jesus, trusting that He would continue to heal our broken hearts and believing we will see our precious brother (was also a believer) again in heaven someday.

Not only did I sense the nearness of God after we lost our dear brother, but the scriptures flooded my heart with hope. This passage from 1 Thessalonians reminded me to keep my mind fixed on eternity: 

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, ESV).

What a beautiful reminder to all of us who might be experiencing pain and grief right now! We may feel pain and sorrow, but that does not mean that we have no hope! Our life is only a vapor (James 4:14), and this place is not our home. We have a promise that one day every tear will be wiped away and pain will be no more (Revelation 21:4).

The Bible is full of truth about eternity and wisdom on how we should live our lives while we are still here on earth. Jesus doesn’t promise that we will escape pain here on earth, but He does promise that He will be with us always (Matthew 28:20).

In your pain and sorrow, cry out to the Lord and walk with the Holy Spirit. Allow Him to bring you true comfort and peace, all while guiding you into truth about the Kingdom to come. Soon and very soon we will be with Him forever where His perfect love will be all we ever experience. Until then, keep drawing near to Him and He will faithfully draw near to you, just as His Word promises us.

Heavenly Father, 

As the waves of grief come crashing in on me, please remind my heart of the hope that I have in Christ. Holy Spirit, help me to fix my gaze upon heaven where the promise of eternal life awaits me. Give me a voice to share my story of Your goodness and faithfulness during this difficult time of grief and pain. Thank You for bringing a peace that passes all understanding and healing broken hearts in Your timing. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

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