What idiot said, "Knowing is half the battle?"

We think we have it licked if we know it! "I know. Oh, I know.Yeah, I know. You know?" I wonder how many times this gets said in a day? ...I'm guessing a lot! But God says, blessed are the hungry, not the knowing. To be spiritually hungry, you have to realize in the deepest part of who you are, that knowing something does absolutely nothing for you. I can see it more and more in me everyday. Knowing has become my greatest struggle in my desire to be hungry for God. I can glide so beautifully though this life and all it throws at me when I am confident in my knowledge...so I think. When I KNOW what needs to be done, I can win the battle, surrender it all, and influence many...right? WRONG! Misty Edwards says it so well in one of her new songs when she sings, "Blessed are the hungry. You said it I believe it. Hunger is an escort to the deeper things of you." Hunger is the escort. Being hungry is the escort to the deeper things of God. I have "known" this, but in my desire to go deeper I found the enemy of hunger: it's knowledge! I pondered on that for a while and came to the conclusion that many times I think that KNOWING I need to be hungry, is being hungry. That is simply not true in so many ways. Now - don't shut me out just yet, with the thoughts of already knowing this! :) You see, I believe we all live in that place of "I know" way too much. I do! Being in the place of "I know" blinds us and speaks deceiving lies to us that says, "knowing is half the battle." Since when is knowing half the battle? Let's think a moment on how stupid that phrase really is. Just ask the soldiers over seas if knowing is half the battle. Ask a woman, like me, who has struggled with her weight all her life if knowing is half the battle. Ask a mother who's child is dying of cancer if knowing is half the battle. Ask the deeply wounded who have daily thoughts of suicide if knowing is half the battle. Ask the doctor who just told a family to say goodbye to their father if knowing is half the battle. Ask a runner, or the poor if knowing is half the battle. Ask a new graduate nurse if knowing is half the battle. Ask a man behind bars, never to see the ocean with his eyes if knowing is half the battle. Ask the lonely, the sick, the dying, the poor, the rich, the famous, ask anyone really, if knowing is really half the battle. I believe the answer is still the same. There is no way that knowing is half the battle. If that were the case, we would have all reached our goals, dreams and well thought of plans by now. Knowing gets us nowhere. In fact, the bible clearly states that, "some are always learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth." ...But, I know, I know, Oh yeah, I know! Here is what I say: Let's stop knowing and start to hunger. Let's take the little knowledge this human brain can contain and let hunger escort us to the deeper things. Am I hungry for the deeper things? It's so hard for Americans to understand the word hunger to it fullest meaning. I believe we "Americanize" it with our experience of skipping a meal. Hunger means having a compelling desire or need for, having a painful sensation in your need for something, or being in a state of weakness caused by the need for something. To starve, ache, yearn or crave for something. To be in a place that you will do whatever it takes to be satisfied. After looking at it like that, it makes knowing a cheap imitation doesn't it? Hunger is an action word that requires absolutely no knowledge. A baby fresh from the womb can be hungry....and what does he know? Knowing we need to do something, change something, create something, fight something, build something, stand firm in something, trust for something, hope in Him, grow bigger in faith, become humble more often, die to self, stop talking, talk more, speak the truth, shut up for a minute, let patience be in charge, fight for a cause, not fight for a cause, letting it be about someone else, letting it be about you, pouring out your life with absolutely nothing in return, receiving something in return, hearing the hard truth, speaking the hard truth, dying to self, taking the heat, being uncomfortable, loving with a force that presses through the obvious reasons you should give up....you see, knowing we need to do these things, in no way makes them happen. In no way does knowledge move mountains. In no way does knowledge accomplish His will on earth. In no way does knowledge escort us into the deeper things. Oh, but hunger, my beautiful friend will take you there faster than the fastest man made transportation ever will. Hunger, my sister and my brother, will take you straight to the deeper, real, purposeful source quicker than any form of knowledge ever could. Hunger is the escort. Being desperate for the things of God, the will of God, the heart of God, the presence of God. Being hungry. Not being filled with knowledge. Who cares if you KNOW you need to love your brother when he is stabbing you in the back. Who cares. The whole world knows we need to love the unlovely. My question is: Do I hunger enough to be escorted into the deeper things, that in loving my brother, the enemy is defeated and God is glorified. Only when we hunger, will we go deeper, see deeper, feel deeper, pray deeper, persevere deeper, cry out deeper, hope deeper, pray deeper, think deeper, laugh deeper, sing deeper, love deeper, touch others deeper, change deeper, unite deeper, live deeper, and grow deeper. Only when we hunger. Not when we know. So my friend, my question to you and to me is this: Do you KNOW, or do you HUNGER? Do you just know you need to hunger, or do you hunger? Knowing will never escort us to the deeper things. Only hunger can do that. Hunger will always be the action that takes us to the deeper things of God. And in that place of hunger He promises to satisfy. Hunger brings us deeper and satisfies. He said it, I believe it. Who needs knowledge anyway?

Sunlight Making Me Laugh

I wanted to repost this on EASTER because it reminds me of what was purchased for us on the cross...sweet freedom.

The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted. Isaiah 30:26

There are amazing things in the Word of God, I mean, are you kidding me right now??!! Think about it, He is making a point to show us how much power and strong energy He will put into healing our wounds, our bruises! You know those days that the sun is super hot and bright, so powerful that to even look at it, it hurts your eyes. Well, this warm feeling I am thinking of, is like this: Being in a very cold building, or house, and then walking in the sunlight and literally feeling the heat soak into your skin. It's so hard to describe this feeling of warmth that almost melts away the tense feelings of cold and of chills. As a soon to be nurse I know that it's our blood vessels opening and allowing the heat and warm blood bring life to every organ and inch of our body. Where our vessels have been constricted by cold, by shivering, by a tense, rigid guarding, it is now open, relaxed, ready to distribute the oxygen, healing cells, and warmth that flows in our blood. It is an amazing feeling of warmth and healing. I know you know what I mean so go there for a moment and read that scripture again. SEVEN TIMES BRIGHTER, LIKE THE LIGHT OF SEVEN DAYS...all in one....WOW! The healing he brings to us will be like the power, heat, and brightness of seven days of full sunshine. If you feel like you have nothing to laugh about today, my friend - LET THIS BE IT!!! But wait, it gets better... He says it's the bruises and wounds that He has inflicted. So, after some study, I have realized that it is the wounds we have allowed to come into our lives because of the choices we have made. It's the bruises we have felt on our own skin, in our own life, due to the consequences of our willful acts of sin we commit against our loving Father, against the ones we love, and against ourselves. He has allowed these inflictions, these wounds, these bruises. We have given Him no other choice; For the wonderful gift of free will and the choosing of relationship with the Father also comes with mistakes, sin, and wrong choices. So with that being said, it comes to this: The sins, the hurt, the past, the mistakes, the willful acts of hurt to others, the thoughts of choices that bring pain to lives around us, the words of death spoken through us, the unforgiveness we hold to protect our brokenness, the wishing of broken dreams on another because of jealousy and envy, the willful act of withholding love because we are uncomfortable with the vulnerability it brings, the feelings of rage directed to those who hurt us, the wishful thinking of getting even to those who injure the ones we love, the words we don't speak because it shows weakness and a need for another...all this, and so much more, He speaks to. He speaks to the sins WE have committed. He speaks to the consequences he has allowed to come because of His great love for us. He speaks to those things and says:

"The moon will shine like the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days when the Lord binds up the bruises of His people and heals the

wounds he inflicted."

So what is the moral of this long story? He not only binds the wounds and the pain caused by another, but He also brings healing to the bruises we cause and bring to ourselves. That, my friend, is sweet freedom, sweet freedom always waiting to be felt. Always waiting to soak into our skin and be felt by a warmth that comes with the brightness of a seven day sunlight and the strength equaling seven days of SUNSHINE ALL AT ONCE!! Heat, light, brightness - they all allow us to feel again. It's like a newness that brings a power to acomplish good things, love those around us, be a minister of peace. He knows that guilt brings the opposite. Guilt traps us, holds us back, speaks lies to our souls that says we will never move beyond this point. Guilt tells us we don't deserve to move, change, or heal. Guilt reminds us what others see, so we feel parpalized and stuck. Guilt always has a plan. His plan is to keep us in the dark, to keep the good hidden and out of reach. But today, remember this: Guilt is exposed. It is brought to the surface of our journey with the sunshine of seven days. Guilt is found guilty with a sunlight that is seven times brighter. HA! That makes me laugh!