Classic Christian Writings :
In Matthew 25 Jesus tells us about talents. A man gave his three servants their assignments and then took a journey. He gave them each what he knew they could handle. When he returned, he had a business meeting with them. Two of them he was pleased with and promoted because they had doubled what he had given them. The third one was fired because he did nothing with the talent he was given.
A desire for God is like a talent. Each of us has been given a measure of desire. If we take that desire to the exchangers, it will increase. The exchangers are anything that will increase our desire for God. Things like prayer, fasting, study, praise and worship will always increase our desire for God, and the more we do them, the stronger our desire will get.
Deep in the heart of every Christian is the call of the Holy Spirit to “Rise up, my fair one, and come away” (Song of Sol. 2:10-13). With this call is the promise of spring, the bursting forth of flowers and the singing of birds, the promise of revival, if we will rise up from where we are and run after Him. It isn’t always easy but the results are exciting.
The Hunger Principle
I found a key that has really helped me. It’s what I call “the hunger principle.” Here’s how it works: in the natural, the more you eat, the less you hunger. No matter how hungry you are when you sit down to eat, as you eat your hunger fades away. But in the spiritual it’s just the opposite: the more you pray, the more you hunger! That also means the less you pray, the less you hunger.
Most people don’t understand this spiritual law. They really want the exciting life of revival and victory, but they are waiting for God to do something that He is calling them to do. So while they wait the flame dies, their desire, their hunger gets weaker and weaker and they have no power against temptation. They are soon turned aside to involvements and entanglements, and prayer becomes a burden and they have no heart to pray or seek the Lord. Without realizing it, they take the lukewarm-city exit and revival dies within them.
Paul warned Timothy of this: “Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2 Tim. 2:3-4).
We must stop thinking like cub scouts and think like soldiers, good soldiers. A good soldier isn’t focused on ease and comfort. He thinks in terms of hardships and sacrifice. Anybody can pray when it’s easy and enjoyable, but we have an enemy who does everything he can to make it hard and boring in the prayer closet, and only those who think like soldiers will keep on plowing away in prayer, knowing that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. I find that many Christians are waiting for God to make them pray and won’t pray until He does.
