Friday afternoon I have fellowship and prayer with an elder brother I knew in the seminary. He asked for my prayer. He said that recently his serving was very dry, his church is middle-class but the location is in Shamshiupoo and has been there for 9 years and has 500 people. Church property has finished pay off, there is no other challenge. He shared with me that he has a spiritual dissatisfaction. I shared with him and prayed with him. We made a point to get together to pray once a week.
This elder brother is successful in his serving, the church is not small, but he is dry in the inside and dissatisfied so he found me. Certainly I cannot satisfy him, but he is humble and eager to seek, God must be pleased with him and will use him in the future.
There is such a story in the bible. There was a tax collector, he was a rich man. He corrupted and got a lot of money. When Jesus passed through, he had a great desire to see Jesus. Because he was small, he has climbed up the tree to look, as a result, he got jesus’ attention and stayed in his home. Finally Zacchaeus made a surprising decision-“I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
In this story, Zacchaeus had made a big change in his life because he met Jesus, and Jesus stayed in his home. Because he had Jesus in his life, material bondage was loosed. He even sacrificially gave up. I believe in his side, his heart was satisfied so he could make those sacrifice.
Today in Hong Kong this prosperous city and modernized communication, it is not difficult for us to find a good church, a good translated book, a good teacher for us to explain Bible truth. Jesus and Zacchaeus or certain people did not met by accident. Zacchaeus had prepared and met certain requirement, attracted Jesus and stayed in his home. Finally it met his spiritual need in his heart. Zacchaeus was hunger. It was so embarrassing to climb up a tree, there were people in front to block his view, but they could not block his hunger for Jesus. Because of this reason, Jesus satisfied him.
If you are hunger for Jesus, Jesus must satisfy you and give you abundant life far more than material can give you. Therefore, revival is not from God, it is from us. We have to seek back our first love for God and hunger for him. God will greatly satisfy us so that we can be more committed to serve God and finish His work.
