A mental desire to see the spectacular is not spiritual hunger but rather a soulish desire. A mental desire will not get you to the place where you will be led by the Holy Spirit, nor will it help you flow with the Holy Spirit. Operating from a mental desire is not being led by the Holy Spirit. You must make yourself “eat” righteousness until your appetite desires more righteousness. Grandma made me “eat” righteousness. She made me “eat” John 3:16. She made me read my Bible from cover to cover every year that she had charge of me. If I was not reading the Word, I was hearing the Word. She continually played cassette tapes of spiritual teaching and preaching. Television was monitored. Music was monitored. The Word of God prevailed in our home to the point where there was nothing else to see or hear but the things of righteousness.
We fellowshipped with people who possessed spiritual hunger, and we were not allowed to associate with people who did not desire the things of God. I did not realize the forces of evil that Grandma kept off me until she finally turned me loose. Once she released me from her protective authority, those forces hit me hard. I thought, Grandma, let me get back under your control. It’s easier there.
She said, “No. Now you must grow up and be a man.”
Grandma had wisdom regarding spiritual training. Now that I am older, I have not departed from the way of righteousness. Because Grandma loved me, she trained me to hunger and thirst after righteousness, not after the things of the world. The desire for righteousness got into my blood and now I desire the things of the Spirit.
Television was monitored. Music was monitored. Our home was like a military academy in some ways; however, divine love flowed freely, causing everything to function properly. Problems arise when you do not have love in the home. Love has the same effect as oil in an engine.
Many people try to do what Grandma did, but they use the power of the rod without the oil of love. You will experience problems with teenagers, whether there is discipline or a lack of discipline, if there is no real love and caring involved. Some teenagers rebel at the things of God when they must read the Bible or attend church, because there is plenty of discipline but not enough love in their home. Those parents need to ask God for a greater dimension of His love and express it to their children.
Done in love, the rod means correction. Otherwise, spanking is punishment. All of the Bible verses dealing with bringing up children mean correction or instruction—not punishment.
The natural man has a built-in desire for truth and reality. We are created that way. Most of the time, however, we are “programmed” by the world’s thinking and the world’s system into accepting a counterfeit so that the world’s “truth and reality” are really falsehood and unreality.
Because of Grandma’s correction and instruction, I enjoyed the Bible by the time she placed me on my own. I enjoyed hearing about the deep things of God. I hungered for the things of the Spirit. She had fed my natural desire for truth and kept me from the world s counterfeit.
Many parents say, “What is wrong with our children? We’ve trained them, but somewhere something went wrong.” You cannot say you have trained your children if you have been setting a wrong example in front of them. You cannot simply /*//children what to do. You must show them by example. Much of Grandmas instruction found a home in me because she showed me in her life the truths she taught.
It is time for the body of Christ to wake up and walk in God’s truth. Too many Christians are playing games with God, not hungering or thirsting for His righteousness. Then they wonder why their children throw off their training.
I saw people in Africa die because they were physically hungry. But even those Africans who were not starving had a hunger for sweets because they have little of that sort of food. We took candy into Mozambique to give to the children. Some of them had never seen a piece of candy, but once they heard about it or tasted it, they developed a hunger for it. They wanted it!
The man who took us into the little village in Mozambique warned us, “Be careful with that candy because the children will jump you for it.”
Not heeding his words of wisdom, I pulled the bag of candy out of my pocket and asked the children, “Do you want a piece?”
There were only three pieces of candy in my hand, but they knew I had more. The children could not understand a word I said, but one of the people with me yelled, “Roberts, be careful!”
I thought, What can these little kids do to me?
Holding my hand down to the children, I looked at the candy to see how fast it would go—but I did not know my fingers would go with it! They began hitting my hand and pulling on my fingers for more. Those children hungered after that candy! They wanted it! I began to pray, “Lord, help me get loose from these children.” Finally, I managed to get back in the truck, get the door closed, and get someone to join me on the other side of the seat. I said, “Here is the bag of candy. Count to three, grab as much as you can, and throw it out the door. That way, we’ll be safe.”
Your hunger for God should be no different. If you do not hunger after the things of God as those children hungered for candy, when the things of God come to you, you will not recognize them.
Why are people missing the moves of God that are happening in their midst right now? Not hungering or thirsting for the things of God makes it easy to miss what God is doing. The African children hungered after that candy. That is how we need to be with the things of God—enjoying what we now have but constantly hungering for more. We need to want more of God, His presence, His glory, and His power. We need to want to talk with Him as a friend. We need to want more of Him in every part of our lives!
There came a day when Grandma said, “Now, it’s up to you.” She was firm and determined with me, so the only thing I knew to do was what she did—press on in for more of the things of God.
I would walk the floor, saying, “I want more of You, God. Holy Spirit, flow through me. Holy Spirit, lead me, teach me, and guide me. I want more of You. I want all I can get, and then I want some more.”
How long do you have to walk the floor and say that until you start desiring the things of God? Sometimes it takes months. Set your mind on the things of God. Make your mouth declare your hunger for God. I made myself do this. I did not want to at first, but I did it anyway. Now, I have more of God. I have Him all over me, in me, out of me, and around me.
I spoke these things until I developed a hunger for God. He will answer you when He sees that you have a true hunger for Him. As I walked the floor in prayer, I was developing my inner man—my spirit man.
By the Holy Spirit in my spirit, I began calling those things which were not as though they were. I received more of God. The gifts of the Holy Spirit began to flow through me. I began to see visions. My spiritual hunger increased continually, and I still want more of God.
In the spirit realm, I sometimes notice a stench about some believers and Christian leaders. It is a stench that comes from people who have not died to themselves. They are the ones who are not concerned about lifting up Jesus. Instead, they are thinking, What about me? Where do I fit in? What is in this for me? If I cannot be in the limelight, I do not want to be a part of it.
