I need coffee.

Every morning.  Dark and black.  Several cups…then I start my day.

Our bodies crave what we have taught to be important.

Our bodies crave nourishment,  caffeine, maybe sugar.  Whatever we have placed in our bodies over time we “teach” our bodies to crave it.  Some foods and drinks we crave may not be the best for healthy growth.  But we crave it anyway.  After it is eaten we feel like it was a bad choice but we were unable to resist the cravings.

Changing what you crave is WAR

If we are convinced to become healthier, we must confront the cravings about this new goal.  It is WAR.  Ever been on a diet?  Maybe you are one of those who can eat anything without gaining weight. ( I am repenting of jealousy right now. )

Changing a craving is war!  Our bodies want what it wants.  It is not a fair fight.  The cravings are like a huge elephant and our desire to change it is like us riding the huge elephant trying to guide it. It takes time and patience to train the cravings (elephant) to accept something new.

What does your soul crave? 

In reality, your soul hungers for hope and peace.  However, for many we have taught our souls we can find hope and peace through sugary and exciting substitutes through entertainment, emails, texts, news, social media, other people’s lives.  This covers for a while the real carving of our souls for “heaven’s manna”, food from God’s word and His presence.  

Craving God’s Word and Talking to Christ.

I need coffee in the morning.  I also need God’s word and prayer time.  I crave both.  Coffee stimulates my body,  God’s Word and prayer stimulates my spirit and His word challenges me and glorifies Christ.

If you want more of God in your life and Holy Spirit direction you may need to deal with your cravings.  It will be a battle to change the direction of your craving.  It will take time and focused effort. But it will become a great craving as you experience Truth and Fellowship with Christ.  There are many tools to help.  I use YouVersion and a prayer guide.

Don’t let your soul live on sugary input.

Decide to teach your soul to crave the truth and power of God’s Word.  Let it work on your heart and life.  Allow time with Christ to give you strength, comfort, and direction as you feel the presence of God with you.  Consider the following verses:

Psalms  5:3  In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.

 

Psalms 42:1  As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.

Psalms 119:105  Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

 

What are your cravings?  Turn them toward God and your lightnside will glow brightly as you feed your craving for God.

…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  Philippians  4:11  (NIV)

*Normally I would write from my own heart.  This devotion was shared by our Teen Challenge President Gary Blackard from a YouDevotion.

Contentment is not Natural

These words show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of man. “Ill weeds grow quickly.” Covetousness, discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man—as weeds are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and weeds; they come up naturally enough because they are indigenous to earth. Just so, we need not teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without any education.

“Precious things must be Cultivated”

    But the precious things of the earth must be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must plow and sow; if we want flowers, there must be a garden and all the gardener’s care. Now, contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated, as it will not grow in us by nature. It is the new nature alone which can produce contentment, and even then we must be especially careful and watchful, that we maintain and cultivate the grace which God has sown in us.

    Paul says, “I have learned… to be content,” as much as to say, that he did not know how at one time. It cost him some pains to attain the mastery of that great truth. No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke down. And when at last he had attained unto it, and could say, “I have learned in whatever state I am, therewith to be content,” he was an old, grey-headed man, upon the borders of the grave—a poor prisoner shut up in Nero’s dungeon at Rome.

Hush the murmur – acquire the grace of Contentment.

    We might well be willing to endure Paul’s infirmities and share the cold dungeon with him—if we too might by any means attain unto his high degree of contentment. Do not indulge the notion that you learn without discipline. It is not a power that may be exercised naturally but a grace to be acquired gradually. We know this from experience. Brother, hush that murmur, natural though it is, and continue a diligent pupil in the College of Contentment.

 

Contentment in a trial is a grace that makes your lightnside bright.

 

Exodus 29:37b Then the altar will be most holy, and whatever touches it will be holy.

 

 

Where are the altars? 

 

In today’s world, many churches have no altars.  I am afraid we are losing something very important in the scriptures.  The relationship of God, the alter and us bringing ourselves to the place where God works in our lives and heart to make us holy.

 

MOST HOLY

 

In Exodus 29:36-37 God instructs the priest to consecrate the altar by placing the blood of bulls over it as a sin offering for seven days.  God said the altar will become MOST HOLY.

Holiness is God’s work.  Only He can make something holy.  We can never become holy by our own actions.  The source of Holiness is with God. “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty”  Isaiah 6:1-3,  Revelations 4:8.  It was God who made the altar MOST HOLY after the priest obeyed his commands for its construction and consecration.

 

“Whatever touches it will become HOLY.”

 

The altar is made ready and MOST HOLY. The altar is so holy that whatever touches it, no matter how sinful the offering represents,  no matter how long the sin,  no matter how often the failure, the sacrifice becomes HOLY if placed on the altar. It is made HOLY by God’s work and not our own.

 

Walking to an altar

 

The act of us walking to an altar is to acknowledge we need something in our lives that only God can fix.  We need to lay something on an altar that is broken and dirty and allow God to make us HOLY again.  In Matthew 23:19  Jesus is talking to the church leaders and He makes a statement about the altar. “For which is more important—the gift (sacrifice) on the altar or the altar that makes the gift (sacrifice) sacred?

 

It is the act of acknowledging our need for God’s Holiness and our recognition of our sin and brokenness.  The miracle is this…what ever touches the alter becomes HOLY.  That part of us that we know is broken and messy becomes HOLY as we come to the altar of repentance and honesty before God and place our life on His altar.

I remember a time when I knew I needed to repent of jealousy about another pastor’s situation.  I was at a revival and the preacher said if you have sin in your life come down to the altar.  Pride kept me at my seat for a while but as I began to walk to the altar I felt a growing realization,  I was going to meet God and my sinful feelings would be covered by God’s Holiness as I lay my sacrifice (confession and repentance) on the alter.  I stood up from the altar Holy and free.

You can make an altar anywhere but I would hope to see more alter times in churches.  After worship and preaching the hearts of many are ready to meet with God but suddenly,  the service is dismissed.  We need more altars!

The cross became the MOST HOLY ALTAR ever and always.

Jesus died on the cross and that cross became the MOST, MOST HOLY altar.  Take your broken sacrifice to the cross and lay it down.  God will meet you there and His Holiness will be invested into your heart.

There is an altar right beside you

Right now.  There is an altar right beside you.  Place your brokenness and failures on that altar.  Confess your sins and need of Christ’s blood to cleanse your heart.  As you place your sacrifice of confession and honesty on the spiritual altar “whatever touches this altar will be made HOLY. ” In Colossians 1:20-22 “having made peace through the blood of His Cross. And you who were once alienated and enemies through your mind by wicked works He has now reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.”

Let God’s holiness brighten your lightnside.

Jesus begins to bring hope to a lost world in Matthew 5.  It is said you can give a fish to a man and feed him for a day or you can teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime.

Heal then Teach

Jesus did not come to earth just to heal the effects of sin on mankind’s body. We see him before Matthew 5 surrounded by large crowds of people who are broken physically, mentally and spiritually.  Jesus reached out and healed them all.  Then Jesus began to teach as He spoke words of life to the crowd.  He began to teach kingdom truth that would equip men to become mighty in their own spirits through Christ to overcome the chains of sin and destruction in their families.

Jesus spoke words filled with His Spirit.

Jesus began to speak with the same voice that created the universe.  Out of Christ’s heart and through His mouth holy words of truth poured forth.  The spirit of Christ spoke to those who heard him that day and their spirits began to awaken in the presence of the creator.

Jesus began to describe the process of one’s spirit as he begins to journey from the chains of sin and selfishness to one who becomes one with Christ as an overcomer of sin.  That day Jesus transitioned from healing a man to teaching him truths that would bring continued healing and health in his spirit.

Be-attitudes not Do-attitudes 

The first teachings of Christ are called the beatitudes.  It is the BE-attitudes and not the DO-attitudes.  Christ is sharing the truth that will mold us to BECOME rather than a TO-DO list.  Truths in Christ change us from glory to glory.  2 Cor. 3:18

Let us become mighty in Christ by hearing and receiving truth.  Not one who is always looking for God to heal them but rather to BECOME Christ-like with healing truths inside.  It is not easy but it is very much worth the effort.  Follow along as our spirits come alive and we BECOME Christ-like by learning Christ’s BE-ATTITUDES.

May God awaken hope in you today to receive truth from His word.  May it become Light-n-side.