Grow In Grace (Part 3): The Satisfied Soul
Photo Courtesy of Tommi Saltiola
ultimate fulfillment
“Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy grain and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost [simply accept it as a gift from God]. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, And your earnings for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight in abundance.”
What do you do when you’re hungry? You get something to eat. What do you do when you’re thirsty? You get something to drink. But where do you go to meet a need that money cannot possibly buy? How do you meet your deepest & most important need of all?
The Need To Satisfy Your Soul.
In this passage from Isaiah, God Himself answers that very question. His answer begins by highlighting the reality that every single one of us are in need. But we see that it’s not the deficit that defines us, but rather, it’s the direction we go that makes the difference. It’s not about what we lack but where we look. Which is why we’re directed to—
Look no further than god.
And what do we see? We see God challenging us to reconsider the way we’re spending the treasure of our life. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be” (Matthew 6:21). We find a God who invites us to trade our deficit for His never-ending delight. We discover that—
Ultimate fulfillment is found in the father.
This is why Jesus, after fasting for 40 days & 40 nights (and in the midst of satan’s temptation), taught us that “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that departs from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). This is why we’re invited to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). This is why-
God invites you to “listen carefully” to Him.
If you will lean in & listen, you will find a deeper delight in the Lord. You’ll find that His table is open, your spot is secure, and His Provision is sure. As you go God’s Way, you will find the Bread of today. In increasing measure, you’ll partake freely in the Goodness of God. And in the abundance of His Presence-
Your Soul Will be satisfied.
*Life is a marathon & God wants you to run your race well. One of the most important aspects of your success comes down to your intake. As the old saying goes, “you are what you eat”. Spiritually speaking, this is unquestionably true.
On some level, we all settle for “low-hanging fruit”—the nonspiritual, lower offerings of this world. But our God has called us so much higher. It’s time to quit undercutting your calling. To take an honest look at what you’re taking in compared to what the Lord has to offer, and to be filled with every good thing He has prepared for you.
Shameless satisfaction
A guilty conscience is one of the greatest deterrents to growing deeper in faith. And yet, our spiritual enemy has conditioned so many of us to habitually feed on the bread of shame. We’ve become so well-fed on a steady diet of guilt that it’s become our guide.
Guiding Us Away from God’s Best.
Guilt will take healthy moments of conviction & distort them into faith-killing condemnation. Guilt will lead you to appease people instead of prioritizing God’s leading in your life. You will compromise & apologize, even for the good things in your life, if you refuse to part ways with guilt. Which is why we have to understand that God didn’t send Christ so we would live guilt-ridden, but as people who’ve been freely forgiven. Therefore:
“…go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”
Because of the blood of Jesus, God has given us right-standing with Himself. God has given us Grace that removes the grip of guilt on our life, so that we can live boldly & sincerely in His Presence. It’s time to recognize that our calling has never been to “guilt” our lives away.
our calling is to give our lives away.
Just as Jesus has freely given to us, we have the freedom to give our entire lives back to Him. Not from a place of guilt or compulsion, but from a place of loving devotion. God wants you to trade your guilt for His Goodness.
God wants you to live a Life of shameless satisfaction.
Out with the old
Even to our own detriment, we operate as creatures of habit. We often cling to what’s common & comfortable instead of embracing what’s clearly best. Jesus witnessed this time & again, especially with the religious groups of His time, and illustrated the ultimate reality of this condition.
“…he gave them this illustration: “No one rips up a new garment to make patches for an old, worn-out one. If you tear up the new to make a patch for the old, it would not match the old garment. And who pours new wine into an old wineskin? If someone did, the old wineskin would burst and the new wine would be lost.
New wine must always be poured into new wineskins. Yet you say, ‘The old ways are better’, and you refuse to even taste the new wine that I bring.”
—Jesus (Luke 5:36-39, TPT)
So often, we want the new & blessed realities of Christ’s Kingdom to be revealed through our “old ways” of doing things. But as Jesus clearly stated, you cannot mix & match the old & New. His Presence is too great & His Kingdom is too vast to pour into our old, outdated systems. The only way to make due is to—
taste the new.
“Now, I tell you this, my brothers and sisters, flesh and blood are not able to inherit God’s kingdom realm, and neither will that which is decaying be able to inherit what is incorruptible.”
1 Corinthians 15:50 (TPT)
How many more opportunities & days will be forfeited before we embrace this truth? What will it take for us to recognize that the “natural self”, even with all its’ good intentions, is a completely insufficient vessel for carrying the life of Christ? Jesus wants you to live with power, but it will never be realized in what you can do. His Power is only released by—
The Holy Spirit within you.
In a world in which life’s battles aren’t getting any easier, it’s imperative we stop settling for spiritual stagnancy. Which means we have to deny the self & dwell in the Spirit. We have to crucify the old & cultivate the New. This is what it means to walk in the New. This is what it means—
To walk in the richness of God’s resource.
Get rid of what’s rotting
There are so many reasons to thank God for gifting us with the Presence of His Holy Spirit. Apart from His Presence, we would operate in total & complete spiritual blindness. This is what makes discernment one of the most compelling reasons to give thanks.
Without discernment, we find ourselves in fellowship with the wrong company of people. Without discernment, we compromise in ways that crush our spirit. Without discernment, we walk away from the “fresh bread” of our Spiritual Father, and instead, choose to feed on the “rotten bread” of our spiritual enemy.
“Boasting over your tolerance of sin is inappropriate. Don’t you understand that even a small compromise with sin permeates the entire fellowship, just as a little leaven permeates a batch of dough? So remove every trace of your “leaven” of compromise with sin so that you might become new and pure again. For indeed, you are clean because Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us.
So now we can celebrate our continual feast, not with the old “leaven,” the yeast of wickedness or bitterness, but we will feast on the freshly baked bread of innocence and holiness.”
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 (TPT)
When we indulge sin, we compromise the quality of life that Jesus has graciously prepared for us. What seems inconsequential, can be the very things that ruin the entire batch. Feeding on rotted bread pollutes our life, our relationships with others, and ultimately our intimacy with God. Which is why-
We have to get rid of what’s rotting.
Jesus, our Passover Lamb, has made us clean. It’s time we enjoy the immeasurable wealth of living with a clean bill of health. It’s time we stop compromising & start celebrating. Stop compromising with the bread of sin that drains you.
Celebrate the bread of the Savior Who sustains you.
brought to a boil
“Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking to me, and saying, “Go, take the book (scroll) which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the little book. And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” So I took the little book from the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey; but once I had swallowed it, my stomach was bitter.
Then they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”
Revelation 10:8-11 (AMP)
In these verses from Revelation, we see the Apostle John undergoing a powerful, revelatory experience in the Lord. This is the same John who is known in Scripture as the “one whom Jesus loved”. All of this to say, John had a special closeness with Christ. And it’s from his intimacy that we discover a deeper insight.
Looking at the text, we see there is a “sweetness” associated with receiving God’s Word. But moments later, the sweetness turns sour. Why? Well, think about it this way…
What is the natural response when your stomach is sour? Your body’s response is “to get it out”. Perhaps this sourness is an illustration of the supernatural response that God’s Word creates in us. While the sweetness of His Word brings “health to our whole body” (Proverbs 4:22), it also creates a divine burden. It stirs a desire in us to “get it out” to others. And there is no question—
God wants to get His word out.
For some of us, we’ve been holding back because we feel limited by our situation in life. But if the Apostle Paul can discover purpose while in prison, and John can receive Holy-inspiration while isolated on an island, we have no excuse. And if you feel as if you have “too little” to offer, you’re forgetting what Jesus did with the “5 loaves and 2 fish”.
If we will have eyes to see, we will find that God’s Word has been stirring a holy discontentment in us for quite some time. You may even find a specific burden has been simmering in you for years. And if you will simply draw closer to Christ, He will turn up the heat in your heart. God’s Spirit will bring things to a boil. And as a result—
The power of his Word will overflow.
The source of satisfaction
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
I Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NKJV)
Experiencing continual joy, maintaining an intimate connection with God, and giving thanks in every circumstance—this is God’s desire for the Christian life. This is what living with purpose looks like. But how can we do this? In John 6:35, Jesus provides our answer when He says:
“…I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Just as the Israelites received the “bread (manna) of heaven” in the wilderness, Jesus Christ is the True Bread that satisfies the barren wilderness of the human soul. In response to our prayer for “daily bread”, Jesus is the only answer that satisfies.
It’s only in Jesus that we partake in the feast of unending joy. It’s only in Jesus that we enjoy an uninterrupted connection to the Father. It’s only in Jesus that we never run out of a reason to give thanks. It is in Christ Jesus that we experience the good & perfectly-pleasing will of God. Jesus is—
The source of satisfaction.
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today’s Takeaways
Ultimate fulfillment is found in the father.
God invites you to “listen carefully” to him.
Jesus is the source of our soul’s satisfaction.