“Kill hungry thirsty dead”
There was an advertisement on TV about a flavoured milk drink called Oak. The way they advertised it was that if you are hungry and thirsty then this drink will ‘Kill that feeling dead’. Do you remember the ad? It was very effective in getting its message across. The slogan, ‘Kill hungry thirsty dead’ remains with me, and yet I have never purchased a carton of Oak!
We know that in order to be healthy we need to feed our body with healthy and nourishing food that provides all that our body needs. We know that to feed it junk will make our body sick and can cause considerable harm to our immunity and our vital organs. We know that if we don’t feed our body it starts to break down. At first gaining what energy and nutrients it can get from the muscles, causing our skin to sag and the bones to be more prominent, it then starts on any fat stores and finally the organs start to shut down. We know this and so we look after our bodies. There is another type of hungry thirsty other than that of the body; that of the soul. How often do we neglect the feeding health ‘food’ for our soul? Sometimes we feed it on books and magazines that are not of a godly nature, especially if they are the type that gossip about celebrities, or contain occultist practices of divination such as horoscopes and palmistry. Or they glorify a body type that is unattainable and tell us that is the norm, or the exploit the body of women and men. I am not saying that secular magazines are bad, but we need discernment on what we feed our soul. What about television, movies, internet, and music? Again these things in and of themselves are not bad, but we need to be diligent about what we are reading, watching, feeding ourselves. If it is junk, it will cause our soul to become sick and weak.
What about when we starve our soul, forget to spend time with Him in prayer, reading His word? His word is the most nutrient rich source for our soul, to neglect it is to harm our soul. In my music collection there is a CD by the band Eternal Decision who have a song called ‘Hunger’. I would like to share with you some of the lyrics to this song which illustrate my point.
Hunger pains in my soul
Telling me I’m empty.
Well I can see what I need
Your word can complete me.
Cannot move, cannot think
Without You with me.
What I need, You freely give.
Renew my thinking.
Hunger, a hunger in my soul
I hunger for your word
I hunger, only you can make
Me whole.
You satisfy my thirst, I hunger
Do you have hunger pains, is your soul thirsty? If we don’t feed our soul it will shrivel and die, we will become weak willed and ineffective in our faith. The enemy will take advantage of this; I have seen it happen many times in others. It has happened to me where I have neglected reading His word, have filled my soul with things that do not glorify Him, things that glorify the world and its ways. Let us satisfy those pangs of hunger and the parched throat of our soul with His word. It will refresh your soul. Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4:13-14a “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.’
I want to challenge you today. I am throwing down the gauntlet as a challenge, are you willing? Here is the challenge: On your mobile device download the ‘YouVersion’ bible app if you haven’t already. It’s free. Go to ‘plans’ and start a reading plan. Do it every day, use the SOAP devotional method to meditate on what you read (I have previously written a blog on the SOAP method if you are unfamiliar with it) until that plan is done. I can guarantee that if you do this, you will notice a difference in your soul, not just because of the app but because you are spending time in God’s word and feeding your soul with the best food available. You will be stronger in your faith; will have become more mature in your faith. Are you willing to take up the challenge? Are you willing to kill hungry, thirsty; dead? Leave a comment below if you are willing.
In Christ our redeemer Ps Jeff