Beth Moore — To Hunger and Thirst for God
One of the most blatant messages, life messages that James and Betty bring into any environment they get to serve is the unity of the body of Christ regardless of -- he's not talking about uniformity, us coming together as the body of Christ knowing that we are saved by Christ alone, and we have put our trust in him, that makes us brothers and sisters.
And it is not until we come together that we even realize what God is doing because we get so isolated in all of our corners. But when we come together and the bits and pieces of what God is doing all over the world, to go to another country and go, "What is this he is doing? What is this marvel?" And it gives us courage and we come back together and we put it altogether.
We come back together and we see and know and consider and understand only the hand of the Lord could have done this. Only the holy one of Israel could create this. Only he.
Here's the thing. Did you notice with me that it says "when the poor and needy." See here is the prerequisite. This is all we've got; is that he is calling us to own our thirst and to come to him as those who are poor and needy. In his economy, it is the needy who receive, it is the way he does it. Only the barren miraculously conceive.
Do we want something that we can plan and put together with our godliest efforts with our big teams, the big players, all coming together? Let's plan a move of God. It does not work that way. It takes us saying, we're poor and needy. We're desperate for you to work. We cannot do it on our own. We are barren, Lord. And when we come to him barren, that's when we miraculously conceive over and over again.
Do we want what can be conceived by our good and godly planning? Or do we want something that can only be conceived by the Holy Spirit? I believe if we stay apart, I believe in that togetherness we see and understand and consider the hand of the Lord has done this, but apart, we will not see this downpour.
We're so spread out that a drop is falling here and a drop is falling here. Until the body of Christ unites, it will be scattered showers on planet earth. But once we unite in common purpose to see salvation to the ends of the earth, through the great name of the Lord Jesus Christ, now we're talking -- now we're talking. All we have to do is own our thirst. All we have to do is say to him, nothing else will do.
I want you to pray with me and we're going to pray it tonight that God would begin working in such a way in all sorts of streams and traditions throughout Christianity that he would pick out key people and that he would cause them to have such a hunger they cannot stand but to cry out to God to do it for them. Their people are parched with thirst.
What would happen if we began praying, "God, go throughout Christendom into every denomination, every single sector, every single part all over the world. Go in -- go in!" Because here's what I believe with all of my heart, I think there are exceptions to this but I think this is the general rule. I believe the influence often comes from the outside. But transformation comes from the inside. You can almost take that one to the biblical bank because a transformation is something that comes from within.
We need to pray that key people throughout all of these different traditions in Christianity, that it will go -- that it happens within. People still have trouble trusting someone or do not see themselves identifying with them if they're always from the outside coming in. It takes people within those moves, within those traditions, within those streams.
You and I want to pray that key people throughout every single branch of Christianity get hungry where nothing else will do but the spirit of the living God. Oh, that the honored would say, "I am poor and thirsty." I'm just going to let that fall a second. What would happen if the honored men and women said, "I'm just going to be honest with you, I'm dying of thirst.
I'm telling you, I do not know how I can manage another year of ministry if God doesn't come through afresh for me." What would happen? What would happen? I'm thirsty. I'm hungry. I want to own it.
I told him here recently, I'm desperate for it! I'm desperate for it! I'll even stop telling you how to bring a downpour. I'll stop turning in my notes to you and go, "This is how I really think it would work." I'm telling you how to do it. Just do it! Do it! But I want my eyes to see it. I want my eyes to see it. I know he can do more than this. I know he can!
But we're not poor and needy yet. All it would take is for us to own our thirst because I think we really are thirsty. And when a hungry people persist in appearing full, there exists no provision of food. When a parched people persist in appearing wet with the spirit, there exists no promise of water.
Our persistent playing, I believe is part of the spirit's delaying. We just keep playing with the thing. You and I both know it, we're starving. We want something more. We know there's something more and we want it with everything we've got in us but we will not admit it because we are afraid for people that we think are lesser spiritually than we are to see our need. When honored people will drop down and say, "I'm starving here."
I believe that out of his great mercy God is about to push this envelope with us. Now listen please test the spirit. I want you to pray about this and see if this is so but as clearly as I know how to discern, what he laid upon my heart, I feel like I am bringing it to you as I understand it.
But I think what we will see if not now, very, very soon is him pushing this point with us over and over because I think it is very possible that what has satisfied you before will no longer satisfy you now. That how you've been doing the Christian thing and the ministry thing and the -- the thing that has been working for years, decades, maybe you're pastors and teachers, or you're in evangelism, whatever it may be, that you have sought him and you have loved him and you've gone on -- I mean it's worked for years.
I want to ask you a question, is there any chance that just here lately you've kind of wanted to admit, something is not working like it used to? Would anybody own that? Something? Something?
You know what? Sometimes it's just like our lack -- like we've just gotten lack somehow. I just want to suggest to you that it may not necessarily be that. It may not be an accident at all and it may not be chalked up to just personal weakness as weak as we are. Sometimes God will stir a sense of lack when he wants to give us more. I think I can say to you, what has worked for you before may not work for you very soon. What yielded results before will not yield the same results now.
It is a new day. And yesterday's outpouring is not going to carry us today. It is not going to do it. I believe he is going to push this with us because I believe that we're seeing -- I believe that we are having sort of an angst of spirit. I truly believe that we are. And it is very, very biblical. We so desperately need -- so desperately need a fresh awakening and that's everything this weekend is about.
I believe that this will have... this thing that is not working the way it used to work will be for us, not against us, it will be a blessing and not a curse, unless we sit back with it. But if we say, "Lord, my same thing, the way I used to get up, have my same time every day, do the exact... the exact same thing is not working the exact same way because it is not the exact same day.