It is built into us - this aching for more. We dream of many things that might satisfy us. We paint a picture in our mind of the future we’d like to have. And yet we wonder, Will the things we work for, the relationships we live for, the prayers we pray ever be enough? Is happiness really out there? Or should we settle for less?”

Are you confused by the longings that stir inside of you? As you walk through the forest or along the seashore, do you feel lonesome and empty? As you make great life decisions, do you wonder where to turn for wisdom? Are you so busy reaching your goals that you never really live?

“The great mass of mankind are engrossed in the things of this life, and divine truth can find no abiding-place in their hearts. And yet all the blessings which the world can give fail to satisfy the wants of the soul. There is a nameless longing for something which they have not, a peace and rest that is not born of earth.”

That’s it! A nameless longing! We reach for all the things that do have a name – earthly possessions and human relationships - and still there’s an aching emptiness, a nameless longing, that haunts us. It speaks to us when we pause to reflect on the meaning of life – who we are, where we came from, and where we’re headed. It troubles us when we try to find meaning and purpose in the blur of our daily lives.

So we go to school, get a job, get married, have kids, go to church, live a normal life, and then what? What does one do when they have everything and still want more?

It seems that C S Lewis had the same questions and he gives us something very powerful to think about:

"Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. …

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation was that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.” C S Lewis

Wow! The things of this life were never meant to fully satisfy us?!

You see, we have three great needs. First we need things – food, water, shelter, transportation, and clothing. Secondly, we need people, meaningful human relationships – a father and mother, friends, a life partner, children, an employer, and the list continues. Yet there is a final and all important need that we often overlook. By our very nature, we need someone to worship. We need someone to say thank you to for the privilege of being alive. We need to know that we’re on this earth because Someone wanted us and He has a plan for us. We need an all powerful, all loving God who can walk and talk with us. We need someone to talk to when we enjoy the blessings of this life. We need a constant Companion who will never leave us or forsake us, even when the road is hard to bear. Yes, we need God. Not just religion, but daily friendship with God.

The Bible says, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me (Jesus Christ) and drink."

And when we drink deeply of a rich spiritual experience with our Creator, Jesus Christ, we will understand what it is that we’ve been searching for all these years. We will know what it is to be satisfied by God. We will know the name for the nameless longing. We will understand the Bible when it says that:

"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

“Christ alone can satisfy that sense of want in the human soul. His gracious invitation reaches down even to our time. From the Fountain of life the cry still goes forth to a lost world, ‘Come unto me and drink.’ “ A Messenger

“You who in heart long for something better than this world can give, recognize this longing as the voice of God to your soul. Ask Him to give you repentance, to reveal Christ to you in His infinite love, in His perfect purity.” A Messenger

FISHING TIPS.  When we go fishing for souls, we must first see them as Jesus sees them - on the inside, not the outside. People have a nameless longing and they are looking for happiness in all the wrong places. Many have never seen a true Christian and they don’t know what’s missing. God is stirring their minds to ask questions. Just as the wind blows in the trees, so God’s Holy Spirit is working on the minds of those who live around us, awakening unutterable cravings.

If you’d like to learn more, please order The Gospel Net DVD, entitled, The Nameless Longing.

 

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A dear friend donated a kidney. I stayed with her in the hospital and couldn’t help but admire her courage. She truly gave of herself as she gave the gift of life to another person. It wasn’t easy. Of course she was unconscious during the surgery, but when she woke up, her pain medicine didn’t kick in like it was supposed to. I still remember the sheer panic on her face as the anesthesia wore of and she began to wake up to the most excruciating pain one could imagine.

Sometimes that’s how life is. Anesthesia takes the edge off of reality for days, months and even years. You know – staying busy, watching movies, the news, internet surfing, games, music, addictions, work, school, drugs, a glass of wine, food, friends, church – the forms of anesthesia are almost endless. Anesthesia helps us survive. Then one day, it doesn’t work anymore. It wears off and nothing takes the pain away. Nothing quiets the anxious mind. Nothing fills the void. Instead, we wake up to questions that only God can answer. We feel a pain that only God can soothe.

This moment of awakening – as frightening as it may seem – can be the greatest turning point of our life! Why? Because we can never find God until we see our need for Him.

So what is it that opens our eyes, like a lightning bolt in a dark stormy night? How is it that truth dawns upon us like the morning light opens a new day? What is it that wakes us up?

It is crisis. Hard times. Dark days. Questions without answers. Pain that won’t go away. Disappointments. Or just plain loneliness.

There are four crisis people go through along the journey of life.

First, we may lose the things that are most important to us. We might lose a dream, someone we love, a job, a home, a car, our health, our reputation, a pet, a friendship, our marriage, or something we had faith in. The experience shakes us. We ask questions and our thoughts turn to God. Where is God anyway? And, Why is this happening to me? Suddenly we see our need for God.

The second crisis that can wake us up is that of “getting everything”. How could that be a crisis? you ask. Well, there are times when we won’t see our need for God as long as we believe there is something else out there that could make us happy. So we spend our energies seeking for the things and human relationships that we believe will satisfy us. Often, it’s not until we get all we’ve ever wanted that we realize it’s actually empty. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, learned this the hard way. After he got everything he wanted, he said it was like chasing the wind. He kept reaching for more.  And the more he got, the less he had. So, for many of us, we don’t wake up to see our need for God until we get everything else and then ask the all important question, “Is there more to life than this?” YES, there is more – there is GOD!

The third crisis is that of seeing someone who has what we want. There are very few true Christians in the world to day. And, unfortunately, we often look at religion and religious people and quickly come to the conclusion that “we’re not interested.” We may even go in the front door of a church only to leave through the back door just as empty as when we came in. Yet, to meet a true Christian - a man, woman, or child who walks with God, - is to awaken to a great need and desire for what they have. It is one of those life changing events. It stirs the nameless longing and tell us, “That’s it! That’s it! That’s what I’m looking for!” Suddenly we realize, I want God! I need God!

The fourth crisis is to hear God’s voice through His word. There’s something unsettling about the voice of God. It cuts through all the excuses. It stops us in our tracks. It brings us to our knees, and if we look up, we will see the eyes of One who has all the answers and all the love we’ve ever wanted. Yes, the voice of God – whether heard on the radio, in the whisper of the wind through the trees, in the rolling waves of the sea, in a simple song, in the pages of the Bible, or through the testimony of a true Christian – can give us a new life. It can open our eyes to see our great need.

No matter what crisis it is that brings you to the truth of your need for God, it is normal to be afraid. Let’s face it, no one likes to come to the end of their rope and admit that they don’t have what it takes. At such moments, we can feel very helpless and alone, but if we’ll stop searching in all the wrong places, we’ll hear the whisper of our name and feel Someone tap us on the shoulder and whisper, “Slow down. Pray. Open your Bible. Stop blaming others. God is here. You can have a better life.”

This whisper is the voice of God. He’s been quite close to us through all our wanderings, but not until we see our need for Him, do we recognize His presence. He’s been knocking all along, but not until we listen can we hear Him speaking as if for the first time.

We can resist God, but eventually we’ll grow tired -  too tired to fight anymore. And Jesus invites us: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” If you’ve ever surrendered to God, you know what this is like. It’s the most peaceful experience ever known to man. It is a place of rest. It’s a place where you don’t need to be strong anymore. A place where keeping up appearances doesn’t matter anymore. It’s a place of belonging, in the arms of God.

After surrender, one great longing takes over all others – to abide in the heart of God, to find ourselves in His love, to fight for His honor, to die for His cause, and finally to live for eternity in His presence.

Instead of running from Him, we can run to Him. He is the One we’ve searched for all these lonely years. He is the Name to the nameless longing.

FISHING TIPS.  When we go fishing for souls, they will not respond until they see their need for God. So we must watch what God is doing in their lives. Pray for them and watch the crises they are going through – losing and getting. Notice when they grow weary and begin to ask spiritual questions. Walk closely with Jesus so that God can speak to people through your life of peace and deep joy in Jesus. Let your friendship with God be a living testimony to show others what they are missing when they put all their hopes and dream in the things and relationships of this life. Faithfully share God’s word in every way possible – through your words, through the gift of a book or tape, and most of all by living the word of God in your daily actions. Watch for the awakening of need in those you love. Pray earnestly for God’s Holy Spirit to guide you. Never fear. Go when God sends you. Wait when He says to wait.

If you’d like to learn more, please order The Gospel Net DVDs, entitled, Awakening Spiritual Interest, parts 1-3.

 

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There comes a breaking point in every person’s life. When we awaken to see our need for God, there are times when we’d rather run from God than run to Him. Why is this?

It is because there is a great war between Jesus Christ and Satan. Satan has misrepresented God’s character, causing people to believe that God is distant, unfair, and cruel. Satan has made it appear that God is actually the cause of our suffering, or that He stands by and lets it all happen without ever coming to our rescue. Like the disciples out on their fishing boat in the middle of a fierce storm, a person may be drowning and still running from God because He is seen as they enemy. “God, don’t you care? Where are you?” we ask.

Questions about God’s love, if left unanswered, have led many to chose atheism or agnosticism over Christianity. Others go to church, but never really trust God. Others chose Eastern religion, where all the answers are said to be within us. Still others follow after materialism and secularism where self-sufficiency is on the throne. In all these ways, we run from God.

So, where is God in the midst of human tragedy? Where is He when we break under the load?

Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel tells of an experience during the Holocaust:

 “One day when we came back from work, we saw three gallows rearing up in the assembly place. Three victims in chains – and one of them the little servant, the sad-eyed angel. Three victims were mounted together onto chairs. The three necks were placed at the same moment within nooses. At the sign, the three chairs tipped over. Total silence throughout the camp. Then the march past began. The two adults were no longer alive. But the third rope was still moving; being so light, the child was still alive. For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and dearth, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. Behind me I heard a man saying: ‘Where is God now?’ and I heard a voice within me answer him: ‘Where is God?”

Powerful words – “Where is God.”

Yet the answer is even more powerful: “Here – God is hanging here on this gallows.” He is dying on a cross, too!

As touching as this may be, few of us have hung on a gallows or on a cross for that matter. Instead, we suffer the sting of betrayal, divorce, rejection, criticism, loneliness, shame, failure, guilt, rape, abandonment, and many other kinds of abuse, neglect, and loneliness.

So where is God in all these experiences?

Good question. And the answer is even better!

You see God IS love, and love does NOT stand by and just watch another person suffer. Yes, sin was our choice and God will not take away this free choice. BUT, knowing that our choice to sin would bring terrible suffering to our life, God chose to come to this earth and go through our suffering so we would not have to carry it.

The Bible describes Jesus Christ as “Emanuel, God with us.” By His very nature, God is One who comes to be with us in our suffering.

But we may still wonder, Has Jesus Christ, the revelation of God on earth, experienced ALL human suffering? Does He suffer with us?

Yes!

Jesus Christ not only died for our sins. He also suffered for our pain. He suffered every indignity that men could devise and Satan could invent, in order to carry out the plan of salvation. Jesus suffered verbal, physical, mental, and religious abuse. He was rejected, abandoned, betrayed, and alone. Isaiah 53 says that “Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows.”

I challenge you to put your experience into words. Write it down if you can. Then study the life of Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. Search until you find where God is. Search until you find Him so close that He actually splices the nerves of your body and so deeply enters into your experiences that you no longer suffer alone. Search until you discover what it means for God to live inside of you.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

The Gospel Net would like to help you experience the healing that comes through the suffering of Jesus Christ. We invite you to order our powerful DVD presentation: The Breaking Point. It will change your life!

FISHING TIPS.  When we go fishing for souls, many will fight against the very God they crave to know.  The method of Jesus Christ is the only way to success. We must mingle with people, desire their good, sympathize with them, and meet their needs. As we gain the confidence of people, their hearts will open to us. We will find that they are asking questions that are too hard for us to answer. We will find that they carry grief that is too deep for us to comfort. In these great moments of opportunity, we must bring them to Jesus, winning their hearts by sharing the love of God. We must study the life of Jesus and seek for divine wisdom to share how Jesus has specifically suffered their pain. Then tell them, from your own experience and from God’s word, how to invite Jesus into their hearts, how to surrender their pain, and how to find the healing and answers that only God’s presence can bring.

If you’d like to learn more, please order The Gospel Net DVDs, entitled, The Breaking Point. You can also order our CD series, entitled, Healing the Heart, a Journey of Healing with the Mighty Counselor.

If you’d like to know how you can pray and find real freedom through the cross of Christ, please contact: www.straight2theheart.com and ask for their DVDs and prayer cards.

If you’re not sure how to get started with the messiness of life – either yours or that of a friend - this ministry can help you better understand the reason people suffer as they do: www.yourlri.com.

 

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