The Hungry Christ
By T. F. Tenney
Jesus, the incarnate God, was hungry. In the story of the fig tree, it says, “And He hungered.” His response in cursing the fruitless fig tree, when he was hungry and “found nothing” was perhaps the only destructive act recorded in his entire ministry. On the other hand, when He sent the disciples to town for food and lingered by the well in order to interact with the Samaritan woman, he said to the disciples, “I have meat to eat ye know not of.” I think if we pay attention here we can see that God does indeed get hungry. He craves prayer and hungers for worship. He is anxious for the fruit of the Spirit. What disappoints Him the most? When He comes expecting it - and it is not there.
God not interested in just a few mumbles called prayer - but an incessant and enormous and insatiable hunger for change. God is never drawn to full. He is drawn to empty.
We read in Proverbs 30:15-16: “The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.”
As the thirsty ocean swallows rivers and is not quenched - as hungry as the fire that eats up everything and still looks for more fuel - as unsatisfied as the grave is to take in millions and yet cry daily for more - that’s how insistent a barren woman is that God give her children or she will die - That’s how much we must desire to see the promises of God fulfilled in our lifetime.
This passionate prayer will only be birthed in us when we experience true communion with Him. It is never borne of a shallow experience. Power comes out of passion. God doesn’t lend Himself to casual relationships. He is not for rent; He is not for lease; He is not for sale. He is absolutely available to those who will passionately seek Him.
The word “travail” associates with prayer - and also with birth. Just as ocean desires water - fire, fuel - the grave hungers for bones - God’s people must crave something that will bear souls and bring revival. When God gets ready to birth a promise, He looks for a barren soul that will cry “Give! Give! Give! Give!” God is looking for people who will cling to Him and desperately cry until power comes out of Him.
Rachel cried, “Give me children or I die!” In that desperation, the Bible said, God remembered Rachel and God listened to her and opened her womb. Before the womb was opened, there was a crying and a listening. God is not listening for political cries. Or for the cries of “Have my way, Lord!” He is longing for the cries of those who will do anything to bring birth to new children.
The apostles were torn between the work of the ministry and time spent in prayer. Ultimately they made their choice: “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Notice the order: first to prayer, then to the ministry of the Word.
This was the first administrative decision of the New Testament. In every collective meeting of the saints and the elders they gave themselves first to prayer because they needed power.
In Luke 18 we see an example of the power of persistent prayer. This woman made herself a spiritual pest. Every time the judge looked up, she was there crying out, “Avenge me of my adversary.” Finally, the judge relented. Jesus made the application of the parable for them. “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.”
Every time God looks up let Him see us crying, “Give! Give!”
The question is, “Will whatever I’m praying for - whatever I’m doing - enhance anybody’s ability to see Jesus and to know Him and to come to truth?” Anything that leads to soul-winning and outreach must be utilized. Any method that distracts from that - any conversation that is negative about that - must go. The first thing we lay on our altar is our pride. It is not about us. It is about Him and His hunger. It is about the lost and their hunger for salvation.
In Acts 15 the preacher was in jail and the church was having a closed-door prayer meeting. Peter, freed from the prison by divine intervention, knocked at the door. “No, it can’t be him!” Sometimes we get locked into believing it is our job to pray for revival, not have one. People pray and pray and no answers come. Why? They’re not in a position to open the door.
I cannot live knowing that there is more available and I didn’t access it. Praying about it - wanting it - but not enough faith to believe it into being.
The true value of a thing is the price it will bring in eternity. History making prayers come when there is corporate unity and agreement with God and one another. God does not reveal Himself in a casual manner. When they corporately prayed the house and place was shaken. An unshaken church cannot shake the world.
The disciples didn’t pray to Jesus; they prayed with Him. Find out what He prayed about and adjust your prayer list. Find out what He is hungry for and put it on your life’s menu. Commit yourself to feed the One who hungers for your praise and craves your worship. He alone is worthy!
