The spiritual hunger, for Jesus Christ, only comes, after you have decided to accept Jesus Christ, into your life. Then God gives you, this deep hunger, to know Jesus, and about Him.
The hunger, to read the Bible, only comes from God. You can read the Bible intellectually, but you will never be able to understand it spiritually, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with your head and brain only.
You must have Faith, from the heart.
There are too many mysteries, in Christianity, to be able to understand it all, by intellectual thinking alone.
We must go on Faith, and believe, and accept Jesus, for who He said He was, and is today!
So as a lay speaker, in church or a Pastor, Priest, Bishop or even the Pope, we can tell you, that you need to read the Bible, you need to pray, you need to fast, you need to serve the poor, feed the hungry, and all the other things, Christians, are suppose to do.
But if you have not accepted Jesus, in your life, and had a conversion experience, all that bible reading, praying, and fasting, doesn’t have the same meaning, if you are not grafted in to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
One of the things, I left off that list of things, to do as a Christian, was evangelization.
I think the lack of evangelization, in all churches today, in every denomination, is part of the problem, of why some people, have stopped going to church.
At church, we now hear pleas for money. We hear of all kind of projects, we should be involved in. We hear we should just love everyone. We hear political talk. We hear about, Sunday school classes, and Bible studies we should get in.
We don’t hear conversion stories, of lay people. We don’t hear, how God, has performed a miracle in someone’s life. We don’t hear, the words repent.
Where, is the Good News proclaimed? Where, is the call to conversion? Where, is the talk of Saints, of the past, and of how they became converted, and how many of them died, spreading the Gospel story.
So if you have not, had a conversion experience, it is easy, to check out of church, and not go back. There are many, other things to do, on Sunday morning.
What was, Jesus last words, before rising into the heavens?
Acts 1:8 But you, shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you, shall be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Do you feel, as though you have the Power, of The Holy Spirit, in your life right now?
In my experience, the Power of The Holy Spirit, comes at that conversion experience, when you decide, “I am going, to believe, in Jesus the Christ!”
That scripture, also says, “And you, will be my witnesses, to the end of the earth!”
Are you a witness, for Jesus Christ?
One of our daughters, was going to be in a wedding. She asked us to come help, watch her two kids, with her husband, during the wedding festivities. Both children, were young, and one was still pretty much a baby.
So we go to the wedding. After the wedding, we are waiting on supper, to be served.
Our table, is right next to the table, of the Pastor, who did the wedding. His wife and kids, were with him.
He was holding a baby, and so was I. We were standing next to each other, so we started a conversation.
I said, “Are you from here, or from out of town?”
The Pastor said, “I pastor a church, here in town, but originally, I am from out of town.”
I said, “Where you from,” and he told me. So I said, “Did you play football in high school?” He said, “Yes, and my football coach, is who lead me, to a conversion experience, to know Jesus Christ.”
I said, the football coach’s name, and the Pastor asked, if I knew the coach?
I said,”I started the Kansas Pregame Magazine and the website Kansasprepfootball.com and it was my job, to talk to all head football coaches, in every high school, in the state of Kansas, to get their team information, for the magazine. So yes, I talked to your football coach, several times.”
I told the Pastor, “That after the third year of owning the magazine, I sold my share of the magazine, to my partner. He did not want the website.”
I told the Pastor, “That God, impressed on me, to write stories about Faith, Family and Football and put them on the website.”
“And hopefully, it would be a Christian witness, to coaches and players, in the state of Kansas, and draw men, to conversion to Christ.”
The Pastor’s eyes, were wide open, and he said, “You, may be one of the reasons, my Coach, lead me to Christ?” And he said, “I have a shiver, running up and down my spine, right now!”
I said, “So do I.”
I told the Pastor, that several years ago, I was thinking about stopping, the website, because it cost 600.00 or 700.00 dollars, every so many years, to keep it online.
One night, after thinking about stopping the website, God gave me a dream. I had died, and was going through the Pearly Gates of Heaven, and all these young men were standing there, telling me, “I am here, because of you. I am here, because of you.”
I said, “What do you mean, ‘I am here, because of you?’”
Several said, “You convinced, my football coach, to witness, to our football team, and I am here, because of you.”
I told that Pastor, “You, are a confirmation, of that dream!”
If you have not, opened the door, a crack, for Jesus, to come into your life, let me encourage you, to do so. The following scriptures, should lead you, into opening a door, for Jesus, to come, into your life.
Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me, and find me; when you seek me, with all your heart.
James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw, near to you.
There are many conversion prayers, but I happen to like this one the best:
Jesus, I don’t believe in you, but if you are real, come and let me know, some how, some way, that you are real. I am a sinful person, but want to change. Help me.
A long obedience to God, begins, with a single step, towards Jesus.