Starving or Nourished?

First of all, many of us in North America have never known true starvation.  Secondly, I have certainly never known starvation.  I realize that I've really never been extremely hungry.  And yes, I eat.  I even sneak eat! (Where are those M&Ms?).  I adore food - especially great Italian food or chocolate cake or Ray's delicious weekend meals (he cooks all weekend meals!! Yay!!) 


However, this summer we've been dieting.  Really.  More exercise and less fat food.  Needless to say, there have many nights where we lie in bed and one of us asks the other, "are you hungry? The other responds, "starving!"  We laugh and go to sleep dreaming of granola with blueberries that await in the morning.  Of course, we're not starving!  We're only controlling our appetites.



Today I've been reading about a different type of starvation. A true, self-inflicted starvation that can and does go unnoticed.  It's a starvation that comes from another type of control.  In this case, controlling the details of my schedule….Or perhaps controlling how vulnerable or available I make myself.  For to stop and admit my new starvation will mean giving up my control, getting honest within myself, and recognizing how hungry I truly am.




One day this week my devotional was from Luke 11:1, Lord, teach us to pray. 

An innocent and earnest request, I thought upon reading.  I feel like the disciples heard Jesus praying and realized that His prayer time was vastly different from their own and simply asked, teach us how to have that same connection with God.  How do we pray?

My devotional was written by Oswald Chambers and I want to share his words on this scripture: 

"It is not part of the life of a natural man to pray. We hear it said that a man will suffer in his life if he does not pray; I question it. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a man is born from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve that life or nourish it. Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished."

Am I starving the Son of God in me?  Sure, I pray.  I pray for what I want or perceive that I need.  I pray quickly so that I can move into my day, after all my to-do list awaits and I must have a productive day, we say to ourselves.  I find myself offering crumbs of prayer.  Bless him, bless her, help me, touch them.....Oh, how I want to STOP... just STOP and know that He is God. He wants elbow room in my prayers.  Room and time to love on me in my pain, love on me in joys, love on me as my hope for the future. Let's not starve Him today.


Will we nourish Him inside our hearts as we so carefully and purposefully nourish ourselves with food?  Do we truly believe HE lives and that He lives inside of us...inside of you, inside of me?  Our only true nourishment is acknowledging God in us.  Let's stop our busy preparations...pour out to Him...let Him teach us to pray.