Hosanna Restoration Church

Scripture tells us that those who endure to the end will experience the victory. A relationship with God does require some endurance, so we must be determined to be in this for the long run and not just a little jog now and then.

The root referred to in this scripture speaks to me of hunger. Without a hunger for the things of God and a never give up attitude, we will never experience all the fullness that God has for us. As we all know, some foods require that we acquire a taste for them. We can all probably remember a time when we would not touch some the very foods that we love to eat now. We try to get our children to sample things that we know are good for them and they taste them and gag. Sometimes the truth of God’s word is little hard to swallow as well. There are also those foods that the first bite seems pretty good but then the after taste ends our desire for them. There are times when God’s word seems this way too, however it is always worth the effort to acquire a taste for His food!

We could say that our fist bite of the kingdom is one to die for because in order to enter the kingdom of heaven we must be born again. I never really intended to even get in this race, but my first revelation of the kingdom scared me into the realization that I was in trouble. I realized that nearly everything in my life that I thought was good was in fact unacceptable. When I could not shake that feeling something else took root in me. I wanted to get out of trouble! When I discovered that Jesus was more than willing to take care of this problem, I was glad and grateful. This grew into a hunger to understand and to know Him more. The more I got to know Him, the more I fell in love, and praise and worship were the natural result. All of this helps to develop a root system with the potential to grow something, but even then we must maintain our focus for the long run.

In the natural we know that we need to eat in order to stay healthy. The healthier our diet the healthier we are. There are many things in life that can spoil our appetite, but even when we do not feel well it is necessary to eat and drink if we are going to recover.

No one can stay healthy spiritually if they do not maintain a steady diet of the written and spoken word of God. We must hunger for His voice in our personal time with Him in prayer and reading His word, as well as when we fellowship together with others.

Just as no one starts a race intending to quit, no one comes to the Lord with the intention of turning away, but it happens. How we prepare has a lot to do with how we finish. What we are prepared for has a lot to do with how we handle what comes. Whether it is the victory we need today or the ultimate victory in eternity, if we will commit for the long run and sink our roots deep by staying hungry, we will experience the glory of God in Christ Jesus.