Hungry for His Word, Thirsty for His Spirit| Ep. 113

We trace the thread from ancient commandments to the teachings of Jesus, unraveling the profound promise: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled". We navigate through scriptures, laying bare the profound insights hidden in the words of the Old and New Covenant.

Metaphorically speaking, we break bread with Jesus by dissecting His teachings about the Bread of Life, offering a refreshing take on the spiritual sustenance He promises beyond mere physical needs. Unravel His metaphoric use of bread, wine, and eternal life, and understand how trusting in Him transcends miracles of the past. We also quench our spiritual thirst with the Living Water, the Spirit of God, exploring the poignant encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well. 

We conclude by coming to the understanding of the scriptures' message about the vital importance of hungering and thirsting for righteousness found through the Spirit of Jesus and confirmed by God's own Word. Discover the life-giving waters that never run dry and the transformative power of God's Spirit.

Transcript

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 0:03

The vision received was that of blood cells traveling throughout the body, supplying the much needed oxygen and other nutrients to the differing members of the body to fulfill their purpose. Once the blood cells are spent, they must return back to the heart to be refilled before being sent out again and fulfill their purpose.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 0:26

Praise the Lord. Professor Murray had a nice ring to it. It had a good sound. I'm always honored to be before you, to be allowed to minister the word unto you, and I hope that it is a blessing. I hope that it's encouraging, I hope that it fills up any gaps that may be in your life. I hope it brings light to any of the places of darkness or confusion or just uncertainty that you have. I pray that the Lord would use me as a vessel to help everyone to come to the fullness of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:09

The word that I want to focus on today is actually two words hunger and thirst. Matthew 5, 6, jesus said blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. I think, on a very basic level, we have the knowledge of what that means hunger, you want some to eat. Thirst, you want something to drink. But Jesus uses these words and he wants us to understand, as he's always done when he's taught. He's always taught the spiritual through the things in the natural that natural men understand, so that he can get them to the point where they can receive things that are spiritual. So, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. I don't think that the people that heard him speak these words understood that he was giving them a promise, and I want to look at those words in their context, especially as they were used in the Old Covenant, and see how they came to fruition in the New Covenant. For many teachers of the Bible have said that the Old Covenant is the New Covenant concealed and the New Covenant is the Old Covenant revealed, and so I want to go through the passages of the Old and into the New to see how this comes about and how this comes into play in our life. These words hunger and thirst. So I'm going to take after my brother, elder Luther, who always likes to start with a Psalm. So we're going to read Psalm 34, starting in verse eight oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. I noticed the word taste and see.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 3:14

Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. Now we just read how Jesus said blessed are they which do hunger and thirst, and they shall be filled. And here in the Old Covenant we know that through the Psalms, through the prophecies that were, given that they were the Spirit of Christ, on the prophets. He says blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. And there is no want, in other words, there is no desire for them that fear him. They don't have other desires because they are fully satisfied in the Lord himself. They fear him. It says the young lions they do lack and they do suffer hunger, but it says they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing because they are fully, completely satisfied in the Lord himself. And he says come ye children, harken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. So we look at this domino effect Blessed is the man that trusted in him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 4:33

And those that trust in him there is no want of them that fear him. There's this element that they need to fear the Lord, those that trust in him. And there's this characteristic, there's this attribute that they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. And when they come to him, when they seek after him, he says I will teach them the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life? What man is he that loveth many good days that they would see good, what man is that? It's that man, that man that has been blessed for trusting in Him, that man that has been blessed because they fear Him, that man that has been blessed because they seek the Lord and they don't want any other thing but him. They're the ones that will be taught the fear of the Lord, and some of those attributes of being taught the fear of the Lord is that they keep their tongue from evil. Their lips don't speak guile. They depart from evil. They do good, they seek peace, they pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry. I want to get a good picture of this word hunger, and I want to use the scriptures to show that those that hunger after him are those that are trusting him. They fear him, they seek him, they are taught the fear of the Lord, and it is the Lord, whose eyes are to and fro throughout the earth, that is looking for this type of man, the righteous man whose ears are open to his word. His ears are open to their cry. It says In Proverbs.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 6:29

Even when you read Proverbs, there's a lot of contrasting verses. One verse says this, and then it contrasts it with another idea, in contrast to what was just said. So let's look at Proverbs 19, verse 15. The wisdom of the Lord says slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. The slothful, the lazy, the one that doesn't want to work, that doesn't want to labor, he's the one that's going to hunger because he's not working for anything. But then you read the next verse and there's a contrast here. It says but he that keepeth the commandments keepeth his own soul, but he that despises his way shall die. So we here see a man that is contrasted with the slothful, with the idle, with the one who is lazy. The one who is not idle, the one who is not lazy, the one who is not slothful, is the man that keepeth the commandment and in doing so he keeps his own soul, he rescues himself, he saves himself, but it's because he's keeping the commandment, the commandment of God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 7:44

Now Nehemiah said something very interesting because he was referring back to what he knew. He knew of his ancestors, he knew of the testimony of Moses and the Israelites and Nehemiah, it says in nine, verse 15, it says and gave us them bread from heaven for their hunger. Talking about the Israelites God gave them bread for their hunger. Actually it wasn't bread, it was manna, and it says he brought it forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and he promised them that they should go in to possess the land which thou had sworn to give them. Nehemiah brings up the fact that God was faithful to give manna to his hungry people. He was faithful to give water to his thirsty people, but didn't it say that blessed are they would do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled? There's a promise there that God is looking out for his people, looking out for those that are crying out to him, that are seeking him, that are fearing him, and he answers with giving them food for their hunger and drink for their thirst. Now, that's an old covenant picture and there's a lot more to what Nehemiah was referring to than just simply God giving manna unto his people and giving drink to his people.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 9:12

So I want to now look at, through the new covenant, something that Jesus was trying to teach through hungering and thirst, and if you remember, I won't read all of it, I'm going to kind of give you the synopsis. He had just fed the multitude. What did he feed the multitude? Anybody remember Bread and fish? Fed them through the loaves and the fish. And the very next day it says in verse 25, they found him on the other side of the sea.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 9:44

In John, chapter 6. They were looking for him. They just got fed by him. Five thousand people were fed by him and the very next day they're looking for him. They want to know where's this Jesus Who! He gave us bread. He gave us fish. Where is he? And they're looking and they're looking. And they sent him to him. When they find him on the other side of the sea, rabbi, how'd you get here? When came, is thou hither? And Jesus answered them and said because he knew why they were looking for him. He says truly, truly, verily, verily, I say unto you ye seek me, not because you saw miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. Naturally speaking, they were hungry and they wanted more, but they wanted more naturally, and that's the only reason why they were following him. But he says he uses this as a teachable moment. Anybody involved in education there's those teachable moments where something comes up that maybe you weren't expecting, but you recognize. Oh, I can teach something right here, right now. That's so important and Jesus uses this moment, knowing their hearts that they're only really seeking him for some bread and for some fish.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 11:01

He says labor, not for the meat which perishes. Now you might read that and you read those four letters meat. And let me tell you something, it wasn't about meat like red meat or chicken meat or fish meat. He was talking about food. He says labor, work not for food which perishes. In other words, naturally, don't labor for that, don't seek after that. But he says labor for the meat which endures unto everlasting life. There's two types of food. There is a food which perishes and there's a food which endures to everlasting life. And Jesus is using their hunger, their natural hunger, and they seek after him to teach them this one main thing labor for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you. Not only says this is what you need to be seeking after, this is what you need to be looking for or working for, but I'm going to tell you exactly who's going to give it to you. It's the Son of man. For him have God, the Father, sealed.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 12:23

And then they said unto him well, what shall we do that we might work the works of God? He says labor. He says work for something. And they want to know well, what do we work at? What do we do to do the works of God, the things that God wants us to do? How do we go about doing it? And Jesus answered and said unto them this is the work of God. In other words, this could be said this is the will of God, this is what God wants you to do, that ye believe on him, whom he hath sent. Wow, that's simple. Believe on him, whom he hath sent. That's what God wants you to do. And they said, therefore, unto him well, what sign shueth thou, then, that we may see and that we may believe thee? What does that work? Give us a sign of what you're talking about. Help us see what it is that you are doing.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 13:28

Because they said, our fathers did eat manna in the desert. They go back to the food. They go back to well way back in Moses, in the Israelites, and God was giving our ancestors food, manna, every day, as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Now I want you to notice something. They said our fathers did eat manna in the desert. Their fathers did eat manna in the desert, but Jesus said to them, barely, barely, I say unto you Moses gave you not that bread from heaven. Why did he bring up Moses? Anybody have any idea? Why did Jesus bring up Moses? Because they didn't. They just said our fathers ate the manna from heaven. But Jesus pegged them, just put the nail right in the middle of the red dot and said Moses did not give them bread from heaven Because Jesus knew that that was their idol. That's who they trusted in. They trusted in the law and through Moses and all of that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 14:36

And Jesus is saying Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father given you the true bread from heaven. He's trying to get them to understand. No, no, your faith is misplaced. And if you read all the other gospels, you would know why Jesus was saying what he said. Because many of the people and many of the Pharisees kept coming back to Moses what, what, what, what, what, what Moses said.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 15:09

And Jesus is really addressing this point. Don't put your trust in him. What did you ask me? What was the work of God that you believe on him? Whom he had sent? And that wasn't Moses, whom God had sent from heaven. They were looking right at him For the bread Jesus says is he which comeeth down from heaven and give life unto the world. He's getting their paradigm shifted. They were encased in the law, the law, and yet no one could fulfill the law. It is taught elsewhere in scripture. It was not that the law was impure or wrong, but man was incapable of fulfilling the law because of the weakness of the flesh.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 16:10

So Jesus is there to give the answer, to give the open door, to give the different perspective, the different understanding he's transitioning into the new covenant. Then they sent unto him Lord, evermore, give us this bread, this bread that you're talking about, this bread of God that, to come it down from heaven, it's gonna give life to this world. If they're saying give it to us. And Jesus said unto them I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And there's those words hunger and thirst again. He's using this teachable moment, this natural idea of a man hungry and a man thirsting, and he say man usually hungers for the fish and the food and the natural food that they come in, and that's what you came here for. But I tell you that you should be hungry for the man ah, that comes down from heaven. But I said unto you that ye have also seen me and believe not. So Jesus says he that cometh to me shall never hunger, he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But you have seen me and you won't believe, so you're hungry and you're thirsty. He said all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, I will know why it's cast out, for I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that set me. This is the Father's will which had set me, that all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but I should raise up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that set me, that everyone which seeeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up the last day. And in those three verses, what jumps out at me is that now he changed his wording and his focus is now is the will. He said. I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the Father's will, the one who sent me there it is three times but the will of him that sent me. This is the Father's will. I'm interested in what the Father's will is, and this is the will of him that set me that everyone that seeeth and believeth on me may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 19:00

Now the Jews started murmuring. It was an offense, it was an affront to everything that they understood about the God of Israel. What is he saying? I am the bread which came down from heaven, they're saying. And they not only said that, they said is not this the Jesus, the Son of Joseph, whose Father and mother we know? How is it that is that I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said then to them murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me except the Father, which hath sent me draw him. I will raise him up at the last day. Do you understand the significance of that?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 19:43

We can go about preaching the gospel to all the world, and it really doesn't matter what we say or how we say it. God must draw them, or else they'll never see the gospel, they'll never come to Jesus. God must be the one to draw them. It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. If God is drawing them, they're going to hear. If God is drawing them, they are going to learn and they're going to come to Jesus.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 20:29

He says not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God. He hath seen the Father, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Did he not say that the bread of God is given for eternal life, up in verse 27? Never, not for the food which perishes, but for the food which endureth unto everlasting life. It says in verse 33, for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. He that believeth on me, I am the bread of life. He said. Clearly, I am the bread of life. I must be believed on and I will give eternal life. He said I am the bread of life.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 21:19

Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. Do you see that they were putting their faith in past miracles? They couldn't get out from the old. Does it not say that you can't put new wine into old wineskins? It won't hold it. You have to get out of the old paradigm. God was doing a new thing and you had to change your paradigm. You had to change your structure, your understanding, your perspective, and if you want this new wine, you have to have a new understanding.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 21:58

But even if they were to be fed manna from heaven, did they have eternal life? It says they died. They died. A whole generation of Israelites died in the wilderness because of unbelief, because they would not walk into the promised land. A whole 40 years of generations had to die in the wilderness and yet they were fed manna for the food from heaven.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 22:26

So who wants the food from heaven? It's not going to give you eternal life. Do anybody want to be fed manna today? What? Just so you can say I had the experience of having manna. Why I want the bread that's going to give me eternal life, not manna. So he says this is the bread which comes down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. There's a bread that comes down from heaven that a man is supposed to eat so that he will not die. And he said I am the living bread which comes down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Now, if I was there I would have responded like the Jews. I'm pretty sure that the Jews their force drove among themselves.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 23:14

How can this man give us flesh to eat? He's telling us to eat his body, what they didn't get it. And Jesus? He doesn't pull back. Look at what he says. Then Jesus said into them, verily, verily, I say unto you, truly, accept ye, eat of the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, and let's add that onto it and drink his blood. You have no life in you, but you see, hungering and thirsting. If you just stay on the carnal level, then you're looking for food and you're looking for a natural drink. And that's not what He's talking about. He's using those words and he's taking it to a spiritual level. So you have to understand it. On another level, it can't be carnal, it must be spiritual. So he says who so eat of my flesh and drink of my blood hath eternal life. I will raise him up at the last day. He doesn't pull back, he doesn't stop, he continues on, he pulls me even further, for my flesh is meat, indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 24:18

Now we can kind of look back and see it at a new covenant perspective. It was his flesh that was put on the cross. It was the blood that he was shed, and what did he say was the only work that God wanted you to do that you would believe on him, who he had sent, believe in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for you, believe in the body that was broken, in the blood that was shed for your sins, because he didn't go for his sins, he went for the sins of the whole world, and all they wanted you to do is believe on that act, that act of salvation, that act of deliverance. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him, as the living father has sent me and I live by the father. So he that eateth me, even he, shall live by me. This is the bread which came down from heaven. What I just said. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not, as your fathers did, eat manna and are dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. He that believeth on him that he has sent shall live forever. He that believeth on my words, he that believeth on my words. You want to take it to a spiritual level. He that believeth on my words shall have eternal life.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 25:51

And I started in John 6 because I wanted you to understand why. The Jews were just in total confusion and they did understand this hungering and this thirsting, and to not hunger and thirst for natural things that perisheth, but for the things that give eternal life. What may help us understand what did he mean by hungering and thirsting for the bread or for the meat is to look at what he said to the Samaritan woman when he went to get some water. Do you remember the woman at the well? He said unto her Jesus said my meat is to do the will of him. That sent me and finished his work. My food is to do the will of him. Now you understand why he was talking about. It is not my will, it is his will, it is my father's will. I will to do what he wills. That's what's feeding me, that is what my desire is. I want to do the will of God. That is what nourishes me, that is what strengthens me to do the will of God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 26:59

It says, when he was at the well, that his disciples went out because they went to go buy meat. And they came back after he spoke with this woman and said did you feed anything? What are you hungry for? No, my meat is to do the will. I was already being fed. I'm not hungry for this, I'm hungry to do the will of God. So when you get a whole picture of that, hungering is not about hungering for the man that came down from heaven. Hungering is hung for the food that came down from heaven, which is the will of God. You hunger to do the will of God. Now notice, how do you hunger, how do you get fed, in order to do the will of God. Watch what he says in Deuteronomy 8.3.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 27:48

Now I'm going to take you back to the actual happening, the actual scenario in Deuteronomy 8.3. It says and he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger. God did this to his own people and fed them with manna which thou knewest not. You didn't know anything about it, neither did your fathers know. They didn't know anything about no manna that he. But listen to the reason why.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 28:13

The second half of verse 3 tells you the reason why he humbled them. He caused them to suffer hunger and he gave them manna, and this is the reason that man understands and knows that they don't live by bread alone, but by what? Every word, every word, every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. It wasn't about manna. He was trying to teach man live by my word. I suffered you to be in hunger for 40 years and I gave you manna every day and I fed you because you needed to be used as a type, as a shadow, as an example of what I want my people to do, which is to live by my word. So we go back to what Jesus said. I didn't come to do my own will. I came to do the will of him that sent me the father's will. That is what I'm living by. So, when we live by the word of God, we are hungry and being fed by the word of God for our life. We are eating of that bread that came down from heaven. Every word that proceeded out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 29:44

There's something that Jesus said in Luke. He said woe unto them that are full, in Luke 6:25. Woe unto them that are full. What are they full of? They're full of the world. They're full of the pleasures of this life, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. If you remember the thorns and the parable of the sower, it was the things of this world that were cramping out the seed, didn't allow it to grow. So he says woe unto you that are full, you guys that are here that do not hunger.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 30:22

And now we understand what hungry really meant to the Lord. You will be hungry, you're full, you're satisfied with what this world is offering you and what this world is giving you. You shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh. Now You're enjoying the pleasures of this life, laughing and persecuting those. You shall mourn and weep, He says. So we need to beware, we need to consider what is it that we're filling ourselves with that is not allowing us to hunger spiritually, like Jesus wants us to hunger for him, hunger for his word. So we need to be hungry for his word. But then I told you the other word was thirst, and he talked a little bit about thirsting then.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 31:14

But we're going to focus now on thirst, and so, as if I was in the beginning of this lesson, I would start with a Psalm again, and in Psalm 63, one through eight this was a Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. It begins oh God, thou art, my God, early will I seek thee. You see this, these characteristics keep following along with those that are hungry and those that are thirsting. Spiritually is as my soul thirsteth for thee, flesh longeth for thee. In a dry and thirsty land where no water is. Have you ever watched, like the Discovery Channel or the National Geographic, where it talks about the area, that during the dry season it's just it's sand, and they take this satellite image of it, and it's just it's red with sand. And then, when the rainy season comes, oh my God, it just changes color. It becomes green, it becomes lush and there's animals that were never there before. But what's? In a desert only you might find a snake. Think about that. But man, when the rains come, the green just abounds. It brings forth fruit, it brings forth life, life and animals. And see, he's being described right here, he's describing himself.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 32:33

Early, I'm going to seek you. My soul thirsts for you, I long, my flesh longs for you. Have you ever in your youth I don't know had an infatuation, had a relationship that you really wanted, and you would wake up in the morning and you would be thinking about that other person and when you go through your day, you're still thinking about that other person, and when you get alone at night and maybe you call that person because you were thinking about that person, well, that's the type of longing that God wants for Him. Because, as I told our little group in our Bible study, that God, from the very beginning, from the foundation of the world, has wanted to be in intimacy with another. He was alone, but you know what? So was Adam, and what did he say to Adam? It was not good that man should be alone, so he gave him a companion. Well, God that was a symbol of God wanting created all of this and created man in His image so that he would have a companion, because none of the other animals were in man's image. He needed a companion that was in his image. He created man in his image so that he would be an intimacy with him. And he desires and if you've ever read a song of Solomon, you would see a beautiful picture of the desire, of the longing and the thirsting of the woman, the bride for her bridegroom, seeking him out. Where is he? Where is he? Where is he that I may find Him? It's all throughout the song of Solomon and this is how he's describing of a man thirsting and longing for God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 34:17

I want to see your power. It says in verse two. I want to see your glory, as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in thy name, my soul shall be satisfied with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with a joyful lips. When I remember thee upon my bed and I meditate on thee in the night watches, I can't get enough of you. I can't stop thinking about you. It's all I ever want. You are all I ever want. In the day and the night I want you. I constant ly think about you. Ps alm 1 says, blessed is the man that meditates on the law day and night. Is not the law His Word? Yes, because thou has been my help. Therefore, in the shadow of thy wings, will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after thee. Thy right hand upholdeth me.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 35:19

This is a description of a man that is just longing. He is thirsting like a dry land that wants water, because he knows without water it can't bring forth life. It needs the water. It is just like a dog that's just need water. I need my God in that way. We need our God that way. We need our God with desperation, because nothing else in this world is satisfying us.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 35:50

Look at what Psalm 143.6 says. Just look at the picture. I stretch forth my hands unto thee. My soul thirsteth after thee. It's like a child who's reaching out for their father and say I want you, daddy, I want you, daddy, come, take me, come pick me up, I want you. As a thirsty land say la, let's read more of Psalms. You see this hunger, this thirst come out very clearly. Psalm 107, one through nine. He says oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered them out of the lands from the east and from the west, and from the north and from the south.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 36:43

They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. But then, what did they do Then? They cried unto the Lord. And who is the Lord looking for? He's looking for that man or that woman that is gonna cry out to him and he is going to satisfy them. They cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses. He answered their call but unfortunately, they had to get to the point where they were hungry and thirsty for him Because they got sidetracked with the things of this world, with gaining notoriety in the world and gaining the gold and the riches and the lands. They got satisfied, but there came a point where they were not satisfied anymore and they began to be hungry again and they began to be thirsty again and they began to cry out to the Lord again and he was there, just like when Adam and Eve were in the wilderness and they sinned.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 37:49

Did God run away from them? No, he went after them even though they had sinned, because that is God's heart. He is constantly after those in whom He loves and He's waiting for them to cry out to them. He's waiting them for them to call out to Him, to stretch forth their hands and reach out to him, because He loves them and He desires that his bride bride loves Him in the same manner. He led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh, that man would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men, for he satisfied the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 38:34

The promise is there that if you will hunger and thirst after him, he will satisfy you. If you are hungry for his word, if you are thirsty for him, he will come and he will satisfy Because he promised he would. He cannot break his word. He promised he would. But what's he waiting for? For you to be hungry and for you to be thirsty?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 39:06

Isaiah 44, verses one through four. Chelsea, I'm gonna get back to you. Write it down. Yet now here, oh Jacob, my servant in Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus sayeth the Lord that may be informed thee from the womb which will help thee. Fear not, oh Jacob, my servant, and thou Jesu run, whom I have chosen, for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring, and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows, by the water courses. Remember that desert that is crying out for water. It's barren, but God says I will pour my water on him that is thirsty, like the desert is thirsty for water. But who are we thirsty for? We're thirsty for him. We have to be thirsty for him, desperately thirsty for him, and he will fill, he will pour. And look at what happens when we get the water. We will then spring up the grass and the willows of the water courses and life will spring forth out of the desert.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 40:34

Now, if I go back three chapters, look at what Isaiah said. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. Isaiah 41, verse 17. He is looking for the poor, he is looking for the needy in the earth, he is looking for the hungry and the thirsty. And he says time and again, time and again, I will not forsake them, I will listen to them, I will pour out the water, I will feed them.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 41:18

A really good typology that I wanna go over is Samson in the book of Judges, verse 15, 14 through 20. 15, verse 14 through 20. Samson came unto Lehi and the Philistines were shouting against him and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him and there were cords that were upon his arms. If you remember, he was in bondage as flax that was burnt with fire and his bands were loose from his hands. He broke free and he found a new jaw bone of an ass and he put forth his hand and he took it and he slew a thousand men therewith. And Samson said with the jaw bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps with the jaw of an ass, how they slain a thousand men.

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And it came to pass, when he had the end of speaking, that he cast away the jaw bone out of his hand and he called the place Ramath Lehi. And he was a sore, a thirst, and he called on the Lord. You see the connection there. He was thirsty and he called on the Lord in his thirst. Thou has given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant and now I shall die for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised. God, you gave me this great deliverance and I'm about to die of thirst and I'm about to go into the hand of the uncircumcised. Are you gonna allow that, lord? But God clave a hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came what Water thereof? But look at what it did. And when he had drunk, his spirit came again and he revived.

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What a type of what the spirit of God does for his people. When they're thirsty, they revive again. They're made alive again.

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And what's the opposite of alive, they're dead, they're made alive. Wherefore he called the name Enhakur, which is in Lehi unto this day, and he judged you on the days of Phyllisines, 20 years. That is a beautiful picture of what the spirit of God will do for you when you thirst. For him, it was the spirit of the Lord that brought forth the water out of the rock and it revived him. Now let's go back, actually forward, depending on your perspective. New covenant John, chapter four. I mentioned it.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 43:58

He spoke to this woman at the well. So let's go back to there. Because he said there, come at the woman, at a Samaria, to draw water. And Jesus was already there. And he said unto her give me the drink, because the disciples were gone away into the city to buy what meat, they were buying food. Then say at the woman of Samaria unto him how is it that thou, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, which I'm a woman of Samaria, for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritan? Jesus answered and said unto her if thou knewest the gift of God, and who is it that sayeth to thee, give me to drink? That would have asked of him and he would have given thee living water. So to be thirsty, to want to drink, he's talking about having living water. The woman said to him sir, that has nothing to draw with. The well is deep from wence. Then hast thou that living water that you're speaking of? Again, jesus is using this whole scenario of being at a well and drawing natural water because he wants to teach a people what he really means by hungering and thirsting. For him, she said are thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drank the rub, himself and his children and his cattle? Notice who? She brought up her ancestors, just like the other people. They brought up their ancestors. What they experienced. They got man in the desert. She brings up Jacob. Jacob was the one that digged his well, and so where's her faith? Where's her paradigm, holding onto the past, things that other people experienced? But God is doing the new thing. And so Jesus says whosoever drinketh of this water, this one right here, in this well, the one that you're so harping on, that, jacob, your ancestors built for you, if they drink of this water, they're gonna thirst again. But 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 unto everlasting life. So before, when it was about the word I am the bread of life that gives what eternal life. He's talking about the water here. And the water that I shall give him shall be like a well of water springing up unto what? Eternal life, everlasting life. So that woman say that him sir, give me this water that I'm not even thirsting for, neither come hither to draw. Now I could go further, but I won't, because then he brings his or her husbands, but that's gonna do, you know, kind of sidetrack us focusing on the thirsting. Thirsting for what? The living water. Now go up four chapters, three chapters, excuse me.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 46:55

If you read John, John is a wonderful gospel that really emphasizes the promise of the Father, the blessing of Abraham, the gift of God, which is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. You read all of John and you would realize it's just a crescendo until you get to Acts and you see how he poured out his spirit. But he had been talking out all throughout, John. John the Baptist was talking about it before Jesus was talking about it. He that comes after me, who's worthy? I'm not even worthy to lose his band. He's gonna come and baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 47:36

It started with John and then Jesus continued it on. But it says John Jesus stood up in the last day of the feast and he cried out saying if any man thirsts, let him come into me and drink. He that here it is again believeth on me, as the scriptures have said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. He said the same thing, but he was using bread before. Now he's using the water. And it means the same thing believing on him and receiving his word and doing his will and receiving his spirit. How do I know it's his spirit. Watch what it says he that believeth in me, as the Scriptures has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. All we know is it's about living water, living water, living water. But in the very next verse it says but this fake he of the spirit, the living waters, is the spirit of God, which they that believe on him should receive. Well, if they do believe on him, they should receive. It means they automatically receive, but they should if they really believe on him. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified, so thirsty. What is thirsting for him? For it's thirsting for his spirit, because you can know the will of God, but to do the will of God you need his spirit.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 49:09

It's a favorite scripture of Sister Katie and ours. Maybe she remembers it. Something about the spirit and the promise. She will remember what chapter and verse it's in. Uh huh, easy, you're what? 3626. Everybody, turn there real quick. I'm going to read it from up here.

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Ez ekiel 36:26, there was a promise and the promise was given unto the people of God. He's chosen. And it says a new heart. It's about the new covenant. If you read a couple of verses before you realize he's talking about the new covenant. And it says the new covenant means a new heart. Well, I also give him to you a new spirit. Well, I put within you and I will take the stony heart out of the flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. I'll give you a new heart, I give you a new spirit. But the next verse says and I will put my spirit within you.

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So why do we need to thirst? Because we're thirsting that He would put his Spirit within us and then watch what the Spirit of God within us, allows us to do. It says it'll cause you to walk in my statutes. It will, and he shall keep my judgments. And what? Do them. It's not enough to know, it's not enough to believe, but you need to have the spirit of God so that you can do what you know. So, having hunger for the bread, having thirst for the living water, they're the complimentary, the one and the same. You can't separate the two. He was talking about the same thing being hungry and thirsty for his word and thirsty for his spirit. I told you about life, living waters, living, he said living waters, not dead waters, living waters, because they're about living, they're about bringing forth life.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 50:59

Look at some of these scriptures. You can jot these down. About the spirit and life. It says, job 33, 4, the spirit of God had made me and the breath of the mighty have given me what Life, spirit and life. In John 6, 63 it says it is the spirit that quicken it, it is the spirit that makes alive the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you listen, hear the connection, the words that I speak unto you, they are what Spirit and life. You see. When he said, you know hunger for the bread, hunger for the for doing his will. It says here the words that I speak into.

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When Jesus was speaking, all of that, he was talking about his word, believing my word, my flesh. You need to eat of my flesh, you need to drink of my blood. You need to believe in me and the sacrifice that I'm about to make for. In Romans A2 it says for the law of the spirit, of what Life in Christ Jesus have, maybe free from the law of sin and death. In Romans A10 it says if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is what Life? Because of righteousness. The spirit of life gives you power, as it said in Ezekiel, to do the judgments of God and therefore you get to walk in righteousness like you couldn't before.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 52:32

Second Corinthians 3, 6. He had made us able ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the spirit. For the letter kill it, the knowledge of good and evil. What does it do? It kills. It didn't give life. The knowledge of good and evil doesn't give life. The knowledge of knowing right from wrong doesn't give life. But walking in the spirit, that gives you righteousness. He robes you with righteousness, he pours out his righteousness on you. He pours out his love on you, his mercy and his loving kindness by the spirit of God. He says in Galatians 6. Say for he that so it to his flesh, of the flesh shall reap corruption. He that so it to the spirit shall of the spirit reap what Life? Ever lasting spirit and life Together.

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So here we come to our closing in Revelation 2, verse 7. He that hath an ear, let him hear with the spirit saith unto the churches. The spirit is speaking and he wants us to hear him. To him that overcome, I will give to eat of the what tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Revelation 22. At the end, at the end of the whole story that God had made. 22, 7, it says and the spirit and the bride say come and let him. That here say come and let him. That is a thirst. Come and whosoever will. That is a thirsting, that here's what I'm saying and comes to my call. Let him take of the water of life, free, the living waters, the spirit of God. There's a promise to the people of God in Revelation 7, 13 through 17.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 54:27

One of the elders in heavens was saying unto me what are these things which are weighed in right robes, and whence came day? John is asking this elder who are these people? And the elder answers and I said unto him, sir, thou knowest, and he said to me I'm sorry. The elder asked him who are these people? John said I didn't know, I don't know who are those people, and he said it to me.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 54:49

These are they which came out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and he that sin of them. The throne shall dwell among them. They shall what? No more. They shall not hunger, neither what anymore, thirst anymore, neither sell the shun light on them nor any heat, for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. So the question I have for you is are you hungry for the right things today? Are you hungry for his word? Are you hungry to do his will? Are you thirsty for him? Are you thirsty to receive His Spirit? Are you thirsty for righteousness? Because if you are. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day that you should be the one to step forward and say I need to not only know His will but I need His Spirit to do His will.

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Is there any?

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at all here that needs a breakthrough? Is there any at all here that is desperately hungry and thirsty for him and his word? Elders are all over that are ready to pray for you. Is there anyone here that needs a breakthrough? Is there anyone here that needs deliverance? Is there anyone here that needs the counsel of the Lord? Is there anyone here that needs peace? Yes, yes, ma'am. What is it that we need? Are we so full and satisfied in our lives that we need nothing from him? Then step forward, come forward. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day that you received the need that you have, but you must be hungry, you must be thirsty. He says in John 7, verse 37. To repeat again If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. But this he spake of the spirit. So, in order to receive the spirit, what must you? Be thirsty. You must be thirsty.

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Thus is the ministry of our Father's heart through us. Our utmost desire is to be in the Father's heart, to know the Father's heart and express the Father's heart to you. If you appreciate listening to this podcast, and we're blessed, pass it along to someone else by text, email or word of mouth in the hopes that they might be positively impacted, as you were. If you are interested in supporting our efforts, we would ask you to consider the following One, pray for us. Two, leave a positive rating or review with whomever you listen to our podcast with. And three, if you desire to contribute monetarily, you can do so at paypalme slash J Ben Jesus or cash app. Dollar sign J Ben Jesus or Venmo J Ben Jesus. That's J Ben J E S U S. God bless.