Where Is Your Spiritual Hunger?
8.3.2025

Introduction

Hunger is a sign of health.

When we lose our hunger, it’s an indication that something is off.

Paul mentions our need to give ourselves a spiritual checkup regularly…

2 Corinthians 13:5 (HCSB)
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless you fail the test.

Years ago the Lord spoke to me:

You are filled with what you’re hungry for…

Jesus said that those who hunger and thirst after Him would be filled…

Matthew 5:6 (NKJV)
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.

Hunger here is in the present durative tense – a longing that is not satisfied. It continues after it is fulfilled. You eat but you’re just not satisfied.

Hunger is a tremendous motivator…

Eating garbage
Shoplifting food
Prostitution
Eating junk food

I just don’t eat fast food…but there have been times that I was so hungry that for me McDonald’s looked tempting!

What are you hungry for?

Our hunger defines us!

Hunger
To have an appetite, to crave, to demand, to yearn, to be famished, or to be starved for…

John 7:37-38
On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He that believes on Me as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Psalm 107:9
For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness

Psalm 63:1-2
O God, you are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for you in the Sanctuary, to see you power and your glory.

Psalm 42: 1-2
As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Psalm 84:1-2
How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Psalm 84:10
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in tents of wickedness.

Jeremiah 29:13
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

1 Peter 2:2
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby.

Smith Wigglesworth:

He had a hunger for God that was contagious.

He said:
I’d rather have a man on my platform that is not Spirit Filled but hungry, than a man who is Spirit Filled and satisfied.

Smith Wigglesworth’s passion for God is revealed in a letter to a friend, W. Hacking,
(The Quest for Revival by Ron McIntosh, P. 156)

Pleased to receive the news of much blessing in your ministry, especially in souls being saved and God keeping you in a very hungry and needy place.

W Hacking said of Smith Wigglesworth:
Wisdom, brokenness, purity, and spiritual hunger characterized his ministry.

Isaiah 55:1-2
Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; and you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

3 Things that Hinder Hunger for God:

1. Excessive Entertainment.

It’s like candy to the spiritual appetite!

Movies, computer games, technology …can take so much of your time that spiritual life gets a back seat

Seek God first and then relax…fill up spiritually first!

2. Excessive Activity.

Recreational activity is necessary in modern life…but don’t put it first!

Going to the lake or beach…hunting…fishing…working out…your favorite hobby.

All are ok …in their place…just put spiritual things first!

3. Anger and Disappointment.

Anger at God because things didn’t go the way you thought they would.

Disappointment in yourself or others.

Hunger for God does 3 things

1. It produces a desire to see the Lord minister to people. Hunger helps us see the needs in our culture.

2. Hunger produces a desire for godly living.

Psalms 37:4 (NKJV)
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

3. Opens you up for the Lord to renew your spiritual life.

3 things that keep us from being spiritually passionate and hungry:

1. Stepping away from your first Love:

Revelation 2: 1-5 (NLT)
But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! (5) Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.

There are so many time distractions today…when I first came to Jesus, I read constantly…

Smith Wigglesworth:
Spiritual hunger is when nothing fascinates you as much as being near to God.

2. Allowing yourself to become lukewarm:

Rev 3:15-19 (NLT)
I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! (16) But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! (17) You say, “I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!” And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. (18) So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. (19) I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

Perhaps a good synonym for lukewarm would be half-hearted…

They were no longer “hot” enough spiritually to recognize or respond to the Holy Spirit’s guidance; and they were not quite “cold” enough to realize their need to repent and return to dependence on God…

Revelation 3:20
Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.

3. Allowing yourself to become complacent.

Some words that are cousins:

Complacency
Quiet satisfaction, contentment, the quality or state of being satisfied: a calm sense of well-being and security; self-satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies

Complacent
Marked by satisfaction and pleasure at one’s own personality, accomplishments, or situation; satisfaction about the security of one’s own position; careless acceptance of events around one; disinclined to act, to change, or to guard.

Commonplace
Anything common or ordinary; neither new nor interesting; obvious or trite

10 complacency symptoms:

1. Lack of spiritual hunger
2. Lack of concern for the unsaved
3. Little close fellowship with believers
4. Prayerlessness
5. Slack attendance and involvement in a local church
6. Legitimate activities consume time needed for spiritual nourishment
7. Stinginess
8. Little spiritual growth in the last 6 months
9. A general feeling of self-satisfaction
10. Nonchalant and tolerant attitude toward personal sin

10 signs of spiritual hunger and passion:

1. You can’t wait to have some time to read the word.
2. You long for a place to pray alone during the day.
3. Worship is a passion.
4. Church services are crucial to your walk with God.
5. You long for fellowship with other believers.
6. You look for opportunities to witness to others about Jesus.
7. You draw back from anything that would compromise your closeness with Jesus.
8. Nothing is more important to you than spending time with the Lord
9. Joy is a daily response to the Father.
10. Personal sin breaks your heart.

3 Ways to restore your personal hunger and passion for Jesus:

1. Fast time-stealers.

Ephesians 5:16 (NKJV)
…redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

2. Feast on spiritual things.

James 4:8 (NKJV)
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

3. Make lifestyle changes.

If you want to experience something you’ve never experienced before, you must do something you’ve never done before!

One time, way back in 1982, I fried myself spiritually. I lost my passion. I got disappointed in myself and in others….

Desire follows attention…

Action Points:

1. Are you hungry for spiritual things?
2. Are you as passionate for Jesus now as you were at the beginning?
3. What do you need to do to put Jesus first again in your life?

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Additional Resource:

Here’s a couple of great examples for us from the past..

The following quotes are from the book How Saved Are We? By Michael Brown.

p. 108
George Whitfield burned red hot for God. From the ages of 26 to 56, he delivered 30,000 sermons, often preaching 40 to 60 hours a week. He preached to crowds of up to 40,000 – without amplification and with hardly any advertising. During his 34 years of ministry, he preached in virtually every town in England, Scotland and Wales, visiting Ireland as well. He sailed the Atlantic 7 times, won thousands of souls to the Lord in both northern and southern America – all while using 18th century means of transportation.

Who…would think it possible that a person a little above the age of manhood could speak in a single week and that for years – in general 40 hours, and in very many weeks 60 – and that to thousands; and after this labor, instead of taking any rest, should be offering up prayers and intercessions, with hymns and spiritual songs, as his manner was, in every house to which he was invited? The truth is, that in point of labor this extraordinary servant of God did as much in a few weeks as most of those who exert themselves are able to do in the space of a year. (Henry Venn).

p. 109
He used to pray, Lord, give me souls or take my soul! But he also knew how to redeem the time for the Lord. Each night he would judge his actions for the day, using a carefully thought out list of 15 criteria:

1. Been fervent in private prayer?
2. Used stated hours of prayer?
3. Used [spontaneous vocal prayer] each hour?
4. After or before every deliberate conversation or action, considered how it might
tend to God’s Glory?
5. After each pleasure, immediately given thanks?
6. Planned business for the day?
7. Been simple and self-controlled in everything?
8. Been zealous in undertaking and active in doing what good I could?
9. Been meek, cheerful, and affable in everything I said or did?
10. Been proud, vain, unchaste, or enviable of others?
11. Been self-controlled in eating or drinking? Thankful? Temperate in sleep?
12. Taken time for giving thanks according to William Law’s rules?
13. Been diligent in studies?
14. Thought or spoken unkindly of anyone?
15. Confessed all sins?

Is it any wonder that he was a leading figure in the great 18th century revival in England and America?

But Whitfield did not sit idly on his laurels. At one point he noted: My constant work now is preaching about 15 times a week…and my greatest grief is that I can do no more for Him who hath done and suffered so much for me.

p.109-110
In 1753, at age 39 he wrote, Let none of my friends cry to such a sluggish, lukewarm, unprofitable worm. Spare thyself. Rather spurn me on, I pray you, with an Awake thou sleeper, and begin to do something for thy God. And in 1754, having recovered from some serious illness, he wrote to Charles Wesley from America, My health is wonderful…though I ride whole nights, and have been frequently exposed to thunders, violent lightnings and heavy rains, yet I am rather better than usual, and as far as I am to judge am not yet to die. O that I might at length begin to live. I am ashamed of my sloth and lukewarmness, and long to be on the stretch for God.

John Wesley’s rules of conduct:

Do all you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.