anybody hungry?

[Shmanu YAH]

shalom mishpacha, ALL praises to the most high YAHWAH and "baruk haba beh' ha'shem YAHWAH", "blessed is he that comes in the name YAHWAH" >>> Yahushua. I pray all is well with you and yours and will soon be even better. In this condensed blog I like to expound on our spiritual vs. carnal consumption. I'm not again dealing with the dietary laws as located in Leviticus 11th chapter vs. 2-46, but more toward our basic appetite to consume. In our lives from childhood to adulthood we all have experienced some type of "hunger pangs" commonly called "hunger pains" to let us know our flesh desires nutrition, but have we ever really listened to our spirit when it desires to be fed as well? Very few of us have a problem with going grocery shopping to stock up on what we will need to survive physically (and understandibly so) but do we spend as much time shopping though "the word" to stock up on what we need to survive eternally? Seeing that each and every one of us knows that our attempt to live forever by our food consumption will not work then shouldn't we should be setting our focus of higher things than satisfying the moans and groans of a stomach? Most of us at one time or another have fasted for a purpose but do we really understand the proceedure? The point of fasting is to deny ones self the carnal / fleshly desires and habits so we can connect to the creator and that MUST be done at a higher level. One example out of many in the scriptures is when YAHushua was preparing himself to go heads up with the "GOD of this world", We read in Matthew 4:1-4, "Then was YAHushua led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of Elohym, command that these stones be made bread. 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of Elohym". - here YAHushua although he himself was extremly hungry , first shoved some real food (the word) down the throat of the tempter that he drew from torah Deut. 8:3, proving that real food is the word of YAHWAH. The skillful communicator, writer and ex-pharasee Paul wrote in Colossians 3:1-2, "If ye then be risen with Mashiach, seek those things which are above, where Mashiach sitteth on the right hand of Elohym. 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth". and he goes on to say in 3:5, "Mortify (put to death) therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry". he is instructing the listeners to put to death the fleshly body and then list the desires of the fleshly body citing them as idolatry, but how do we perform this without accidental suicide? Well the most effective way to kill our flesh non-violently is to starve it to death. In 1st Corithians 15:31 Paul was not bragging when he stated ".... I die daily" , citing a continual struggle and battle. If we whole heartedly deny ourselves carnal and destructive fleshly pleasures... that desire will pine away. If we instead feed our ruach / spirit with the word of the most high we will definately blossom into a fruit bearing entity. If you noticed that when you or others came into the truth there was a hunger and thirst for more and more - but for some, somehow for some reason that hunger wained away... why? did we eat too fast and get too full? I notice if we eat too fast or consume too much food for our stomach it makes us stuffy so we sleep it off and the next day we right back at it (now thats what I call dilligence!) , but how come we dont have the same due dilligence when it comes to comsuming "the word"? ..... I guess our spirit's not as wanting as our flesh! Maybe we need to really ask ourselves whats with the BIG concern of the flesh and it's desires but the the lesser concern of our spirits. Lets look at what YAHushua had to say about the priority we let slip out of order, in John 6:63 he stated, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life". he's not saying the flesh / body doesn't have a purpose.... he's stating there is NO profit in focusing on it. Later in the "brit chadsha" aka new testament apostle Paul articulated to those in Rome through his letter to them - Romans 8:5-6, "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace". so what are we minding? ..... oh oh! Also in we read in Romans 13:14, "But put ye on the Master YAHushua ha'mashiach, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof". If we are willing to cover ourselves with the work of YAHushau and feed ourselves with the word of the most high we should be well clothed and well fed but this can only be accomplished if we hunger spiritually. I'm sure we have all read what in written by Kepha / Peter in Acts 2:17, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith YAHWAH, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams": this is a fulfillment of the prophecy given to Yo'el / Joel 2:28, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions": - now the point I'm gettin to here is notice how the most high's word states he will "pour out his spirit on all flesh" not "I will pour out flesh on all spirit!" So we realize we should be seeking his spirit by all possible means and keeping our concerns of the flesh to a absolute minimum. In the last book of the "brit h'chadesha" aka "new covenant" he that sat upon the throne told John in Revelation 21:6, "... and he said unto me, It is done. I am aleph and taw, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely". - so how thirsty are you today? Ever notice no matter how hungry we are we all still insist when we sit down to eat at the table that the plates, bowls etc. are clean before we fill them with food... how about your vessel that has to be filled with the spirit, it is clean enough to receive? Do you have the same hunger or thirst for the word that would cause you to get up in the middle of the night and consume like you do when your stomach tells you to "hit the fridge"? Does your carnal hunger exceed your spiritual hunger and if so, why? You may not have to think back too far to remember when your stomach growled, but when was the last time your spirit hollared FEED ME! .... selah, shalom

[Sharath]

Todah for the timely message. HalleluYah! May Yah and Yahshua bless you ahki Shamanu Yah.