OUR EXAMPLE

Hunger (google)

     In 1997, I weighed 196lbs. That may sound "chubby," but on a 5'5 frame, it was excruciating. It was hard to walk, my back hurt, all sorts of physical ailments emerged. I had to do something. My friend, Barbara, told me that her church was doing "The Weigh Down Workshop," by Gwen Shamblin. I got the book thinking, here we go again. But, as I began reading her story, I couldn't put it down. She was active in high school, but didn't realize that it was that activity level that prevented her from showing the "fat conscious." She tried all sorts of things. How absurd for a nutritionist to be fat. She felt ashamed, and decided to find out the secret of her "skinny friends."
      She accompanied one of her skinny friends for a full day. She found out that her friend didn't eat 3 times a day with snacks in between. She found out that her friend cut a Big Mac sandwich in half, consumed half the sandwich and a small drink. Gwen, on the other hand, consumed a super sized value meal within the same time and protested when her friend tried to throw away the other half of her sandwich. That was an eye opener for me. I used to work at McDonald's and could consume a full value meal with desert in less than 15 minutes. Hmmm! She had me hooked.
     As I journeyed throughout the book, I discovered that God made our bodies to function outside of anything emotional. Emotions are foreign to physiological hunger. The first thing you have to do is "Find Your Hunger." Since the stomach is a muscle, if we make a habit of stretching it beyond satiation, it may take several days to get to your "real hunger." It took me two days, and I thought I was going to die. The book touched on so many areas, like how to listen to your body, respond to it appropriately, and make peace with yourself.
     On one particular day, when I worked at D.H.S., I had to go pick up a teenager who had spent the evening in the hospital with alcohol poisoning. She wasn't talking, so I said, "Ya know, me and you are the same." That got her attention. "How so, you are a Miss Goody who never does anything wrong (sux to find out you have a bad reputation)?" I answered, "Well, you see here, I have a dollar in my pocket, and if I don't go buy my Snickers candy bar right now, and eat it while I have to have it, then all of the Snickers candy bars are going to be gone, and I won't get what I think I have to have." She laughed, and said, "Wow! That's messed up! That's how I am with Vodka. I don't want anybody touching my stuff...so when I open a bottle, I have to finish it." I bet you can see how "crazy" that thinking is since it belongs to someone else.
     When I got back to the office, I did what Gwen said to do. I offered up my need to Jesus. I said, "Jesus, if you don't show up with something better than this Snickers candy bar, I'm going to eat it." Immediately, one of the supervisors showed up with a task that took all day long. On my way home, the Holy Spirit said, "Trudy, where's your candy bar." I burst out laughing when I realized it was still in my drawer at work. I lost 30 lbs, but I gained something vital to my growth...ears to hear.

(google)

     I was sitting in a church service with a friend the other day for an early Easter service. As the pastor began to talk, key words within the sermon got lodged catywampus in my craw. The Holy Spirit said, "If the Body of Christ doesn't know the definitions to these words, how can they embrace the gospel?" The one word that is essential to KNOWING Jesus is the "IT" in "IT is finished." I hope that you have gotten to the point in your journey where you have at least pondered what the "IT" is. There is a word that I had never heard of until now. I just knew it as "the emptying of Christ," or "the pouring out as a drink offering." As the man was talking, the Holy Spirit reminded me of a time when I just felt stagnate, stuck, hindered. Lee went on to church and I stayed home. I put on some worship music and began to seek God....nothing, nada, blah, blah,blah. I changed the tape, and immediately, I saw, in the spirit, a banquet table, full with all sorts of food and drink. Jesus was sitting at the table. I touched the chair, but with my head bowed. My spirit said, "When do I come?" He answered, "Whenever you are hungry or thirsty." The moment I sat down, I was face down in the Throne room of God, repenting for a sin I had "repented" of before. I protested. "The Holy Spirit said, "You come to Jesus when you are hungry or thirsty, then, if there is sin in your life, He brings to to repentance." Well, it's always a wonderful blessing to be corrected by the Holy Spirit.

(google)

     From there, I began to notice that there are Universal Laws that can't be altered, that exemplify the process of hunger (empty/full). For example, Condensation and Evaporation, Sowing and Reaping, Death and Resurrection...do you see, a circle? God's system is forever "Fear of God (awe)" chasing mercy. Jesus literally took God's system to the center of the enemy's system (a pyramid) and laid down on the line. If we know that Jesus "emptied" Himself, then what was full at the exact moment? So many people want God to be fair, but the word suggests that the standard is movable based on the author's whim. No, no, my friend, God is not fair; He is just! So it is Justice that is full at the exact same instant that Jesus was fully empty. His death and resurrection set us an example that we are to follow in our walk with Him.
       In today's world, our god is our stomach. In America, people avoid feeling the physiological hunger that comes with need because we feel we are entitled to be full at all times. Did you know that if you wait for physiological hunger, your tongue will tell you exactly what your body needs? It's a different way of living. Walking in harmony with Jesus is the same way. Every time you allow yourself to be poured out on Jesus, He will reveal an ever deepening need for Him. Here at the end of the end of days, the Body of Christ is going to find that the same Universal Spiritual Law is in operation. When the World has Propagated Iniquity to fullness, then, God will empty His Justice. He can't change what has already been spoken from Eternity. Eternal Word is Life, and it is good.