Are You Hungry and Thirsty This Morning?

In the 40’s Automats were the rage in big cities. Automats were cafetrias where rotating vending machines of fresh food and beverages were purchased. Slip in a nickel and you’d get a fresh slice of delicious pie. Slip in a dime and you could buy macaroni and cheese.

I remember watching a movie about a young woman who came to make her fortune in New York. She had no money and she would come to the automat and make soup of hot water and tomato ketchup! She’s stir and fix and add salt and pepper and drink that stuff.

All that food rotating around, being replaced behind the machine with fresh food. It was kept full and literally the machines would never run out. But here was this woman drinking ketchup and hot water! The ketchup and hot water was free but not really tasty and not at all nutritious. Food everywhere but because she was without change in her purse, it was all she could do.

I am reminded this morning of the Word of God. It is an ever rotating completely full Automat of the Soul Body and Spirit. Everything needed for a healthy meal from the Lord is contained there.  Unlike the plight of the young woman in the movie, it’s all free! Our benefactor, the Owner of Heaven and Earth, has paid it all so that we, who are hungry, thirsty and empty can be filled! Every Word displayed on the pages of God’s Word is tasty and healthy and perfect for us.

Are you sitting at the cafeteria table of life and content to make ketchup soup when you could have the whole buffet? Maybe no one ever told you that you could partake of it all – without money, without any credentials other than the mark of Christ on your heart.  You’re hungry and thirsty and beginning to show signs of malnutrition.  Yet it’s all there, waiting for you to pick it up and partake of it.

Oh beloved,   today is your day! Run to the Word of God and partake of it all! Read it from page to page, cover to cover, chapter to chapter and verse to verse! It’s all about God’s love for His people, His bountiful supplies freely laid out for the taking! He’s wooing you and calling you to come and dine. Don’t stay content to sip on that which has no nourishment.  Don’t let the enemy tell you that this is all there is!

God’s Word is all yours because He loves you completely and He paid the ultimate price to give it all to you! God’s Word will sustain you, strengthen you, nourish you and give you the stamina to go the distance – all the way to heaven! God is for you, so He made a way for you to have everything you need for your life now and your life to come! Go ahead, reach out and enjoy!

Proverbs 4:20-22 My child, pay attention to what I say.  Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.

Isaiah 55:1 Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink--even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk--it's all free!

John 4:14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.

Jeremiah 15:16 When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven's Armies.

God's Word is the Best Medicine!

Several times lately I’ve been reminded of how much fun it is to give medicine to children! What we did to our own to get the medicine down now prompts feelings of sympathy for the grandchildren. Regardless of the reaction kids have, the medicine must give administered so that they get well and feel good again. Kids will beg not to take it, they will insist they’re going to die, they’ll run, they’ll hold their mouths, they’ll hide and more! We as parents must at times resort to holding them down and while we don’t want to cause pain we ultimately must be the grown-ups and take things in hand.


We are God’s children and we have a vast and awesome realm to enjoy as His children. All the gifts He gives so richly are ours. All the fruit of the Holy Spirit are ours to exhibit. All the promises in Him are yea and amen! All the realities of the faith are ours to walk in. All the joys and triumphs and honor are for us. We are most blessed!

There are times when we as believers get sick. We may be down and out or just reeling from life’s problems and trials. Sometimes we just walk away from little things we know God is leading us to do or we keep doing those things we know He is encouraging us not to do. We find ourselves at the end of our self-made rope and wonder how we got there and if we can hang on. Our strength gets sapped and our heart gets heavy.

Lovingly, our Father in heaven administered the balm of Gilead to our wounded hearts and spirits. He also applies the Word to our errant ways so we can get back to where we need to be. He may even use circumstances that we try to run from or avoid – all the while He’s simply lovingly trying to get our attention, so that we can remain safe in His arms and in fellowship with Him always.

Oh beloved, are you running from God? Have you gone your own way and found it to be a dead end? Maybe you’ve reached the end of your rope and you don’t know how you’ll make it back. Being out of fellowship with God is a hard pill to swallow. Maybe you’re dealing with mourning or loneliness or rejection. You feel sick at heart and in your spirit. God’s medicine is worth taking for it always makes you better. Don’t remain heartsick! Let God administer His loving touch! You don’t have to go another moment with fear of your mistakes, worry about your future or regrets for your life – God is holding out His Grace Medicine for you today! It is full of the best ingredients and will bring health back to your heart and mind and spirit.

God’s medicine is composed of the finest spiritual ingredients - His wonderful grace, His unfailing love, His infinite care and His perfect will. Oh how He loves you! Oh how He is for you! Never oh never do you have to worry that God’s medicine is hurtful or won’t make you better for His Word is all you need beloved for a healthy life in Christ.

Proverbs 4:20-22 My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.

Psalm 107:20 He sent out His word and healed them, snatching them from the door of death.

Jeremiah 15:16 When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven's Armies.

Psalm 19:7-8 The instructions of the LORD are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are clear, giving insight for living.

Feed Your Faith, Starve Your Problems

One of our daughter’s family has had one after another with different kinds of sickness since Christmas. Grandchildren with ear infections, stomach bugs, strep throat and more.  Even the adults have had bad colds and stomach bugs. Although none of the sicknesses in themselves have been more than anyone could handle, it’s been a drawn out affair. With the colds come runny noses, hacking coughs and high fevers. One of the old sayings my mother lived by was “feed a cold, starve a fever”. 

The idea of feeding one thing and starving another had some real merit. As believers, we have daily onslaughts of wrong thinking. If that weren't bad enough, if that’s not checked, we’ll find ourselves with wrong responses.  Things can literally go from bad to worse if we don’t do something about it.  What we feed is what where we grow. Unlike colds and viruses, which must run their course, our attitudes and feelings can be checked and the fever of hurts, anger, animosity and worry can be done away with as we feed ourselves on the Word of God. Taking in the Word of God as our daily dosage not only feeds the Spirit within us to make us grow and thrive, it starves the sicknesses that want to take us over and put us to bed every day.

Oh beloved, God knows your situation! He has seen you battling the same problem over and over. He knows you don’t know how much longer you can survive, for the hurts and the sorrows keep coming in wave after wave.  He has the cure! The Lord Who loves you has not left you without medicine for your heart and soul and spirit. He has everything you need to not only survive but thrive! He says to you this morning, Come to Me! I will show you in My Word how much I can care for you, how much I can get you through this temporary light affliction and how much your testimony of My Victorious living in spiritual health can be revealed!

Run to the Medicine Cabinet of God’s Word this morning. Each dose of His Word not only combats the sickness of heart and mind you are going through; it is the vaccination against another onslaught.  What a wonderful Savior is this: He heals us of our sicknesses and gives us a fresh healthy life every single morning! He doesn't just save us, He gives us overcoming victory so that even when the world slings it’s worst at us, we will overcome! Oh how He loves you beloved, oh how He cares for you and oh how He will walk with you, feeding you the Truth which heals all the way to heaven!

Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

Psalm 121:8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.

Proverbs 4:20-22 My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.