In the natural world, people eat even when they aren’t hungry. Many of us can prove that by turning sideways and looking at ourselves in the mirror. But in the spiritual realm, only those who are hungry can get fed. One of the worst things that can happen to us is spiritual complacency.

Being hungry for the things of God is one of the best things that can happen to us. Most people don’t feel that way. They would rather have the feeling of being full. But Jesus promised us that fullness would follow hunger. No hunger, no fullness.

Therefore, what many people hate is actually a sign of spiritual health. Longing for more of God is a healthy sign. No one hungers for God on their own. That is not the nature of man. No man hungers for God unless the Spirit of God is drawing him (Jn. 6:44).

Hungering for God doesn’t cause God to move in our lives, but it is a sign that God is already at work in us. We should praise God for spiritual hunger and be encouraged. He doesn’t make us hungry and then let us starve. He does so in order to fill us with His blessings and love. We need a hunger that will never be satisfied until the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Peter and his companions had been working hard all night. Their efforts had not produced even one fish. They had given up and were headed home. But Jesus told them to try it just one more time.

It would have been easy for Peter to reject Jesus’ command. After all, Peter had been a fisherman all his life. Jesus was just a preacher. What did He know about fishing? Yet something, or rather someone, caused Peter to try just once more.

Many people are like Simon Peter and his partners. They have done all that they know to do and yet they’ve come up empty-handed. This breeds a despair and hopelessness that causes many people to quit trying. Yet, just one word from Jesus could make the same tasks that have been unproductive on our own bear great fruit.

The key to success or failure lies in doing things at the word of Jesus. Peter said, “at thy word I will let down the net.” God’s words always get results.

Today, make sure your efforts are directed by God and you will experience the results that have eluded you in the past.

This is an amazing statement. Jesus’ ministry was only a few months old and the masses of people were already seeking him out.

This is even more astonishing when you realize that Jesus had not used any of the conventional methods of publicity. In fact, Jesus had already rejected publicity during His first ministry in Jerusalem (Jn. 2:24-25). There was no natural explanation for Jesus’ success.

God is the one who promoted Jesus. And He used supernatural means to do it. It was not the slick techniques of Madison Avenue that brought the crowds–it was the awesome manifestation of God’s power.

Just the day before, Jesus had cast the demon out of a man at the synagogue in Capernaum (Mk. 1:21-28). This caused the whole city to gather at Peter’s house and Jesus healed every one of them (Lk. 4:40).

Jesus’ display of the miraculous power of God was the spark that the Holy Spirit used to light a fire in the hearts of these people. Jesus had this power because of His intimate relationship with His father. It is no accident that He was praying while all men were seeking Him.

As you seek to touch others with the new life that you’ve found in Christ, let God confirm His Word with the miraculous manifestations of His power through you.

How did Peter’s mother-in-law minister unto Jesus and His disciples? Did she sit them down and preach to them? Certainly not. Yet sometimes people think the only way we can minister to another is to admonish them with the scriptures.

Peter’s mother-in-law apparently ministered to them by serving them. The word translated “minister” is the same word that was translated “deacon” twice in the New Testament, and “serve, served or serveth” eight times.

We can minister for the Lord by doing some of the menial tasks that many consider to be unimportant. Jesus said that even a cup of cold water given in His name would not go unrewarded (Matthew 10:42).

Many people are waiting for the important jobs to come along where they can make a big impact or receive a lot of recognition, while they pass by many lesser opportunities every day. But in the kingdom of God, we won’t be given any great opportunities until we are proven faithful in the small things (Luke 16:10).

Today, ask the Lord to show you ways you can minister to others by serving them.

Many people don’t associate demon possessed people with places of worship. Yet most of the demons that Jesus cast out were encountered in the church. Why would demon possessed people be in church?

In some cases, the people were there because they were seeking help. The church, like a hospital, offers people the cure and therefore, attracts those who are sick.

In other cases, the devil sows these types of people in the church to spread spiritual disease. A church that is teaching the true Word of God should either try to evangelize these individuals or make them so convicted that they move on. Sad to say, demon possessed people can thrive in most religious settings today.

We always need to show love for the sinner as Jesus did, but we should cut the devil no slack. If a person wants to keep an evil spirit on the inside of them, they should not feel at home in church.

Let the Spirit of God live through you as He did through Jesus and you will either make people mad or glad, but there will not be indifference.

Jesus never chose an apostle from among the religious system. Every one of his twelve disciples were men that He chose from the secular world. It wasn’t because God didn’t have faith in those who were religious. It’s just that most of those who were part of the religious system didn’t have any faith in God.

One of the most common mistakes religious people make is to put faith in themselves. They think God will use them because of their great holiness or special abilities.

Paul said, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are” (1 Cor. 1:27-28).

People who recognize their own inabilities are of necessity more dependent on God. That is the way God wants it. The Lord is constantly searching for someone who recognizes they are nothing so He can do something through them (2 Ch. 16:9).

Instead of thinking of your responsibilities, just respond to His ability.

A modern day equivalent of this verse is “familiarity breeds contempt.” Those who know the most about us also know more of our faults than anyone else. As a general rule, our weaknesses will blind most people to our strengths.

However, in the case of Jesus, there were no faults or failures to bias these people. In this instance, the problem stemmed from the people’s lack of perception. They knew Jesus better than most in the flesh, but they had failed to see who He was in the Spirit.

Jesus was God in all His power and majesty, yet He was clothed in flesh –a human in every respect (1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 1:3). These people looked on Jesus’ outward appearance and failed to see God within (1 Sam. 16:7).

Likewise, we fail to see the potential in others and even in ourselves because of our preoccupation with the outward appearance and actions. But within every born again person is a new creation which is waiting to be released (2 Cor. 5:17). All it takes is someone who believes.

Today look beyond the exterior in yourself and others and help bring into reality what we can be in Christ.

This scripture had been written prophetically by the prophet Isaiah about 650 years prior to this time. It was read in Jewish synagogues thousands of times. But the one this verse was speaking of had never spoken it before. With this pronouncement, Jesus began the year of Jubilee.

The Year of Jubilee was described in Leviticus 25. It was a year when everyone left their fields unworked and kept a sabbath unto the Lord. The Lord gave the people a miraculous provision the year before this jubilee started that sustained them for three years until their crops could once again be harvested.

This jubilee was different than the other sabbatical years in that every debt was cancelled. All property was returned to its original owner and anyone who had been sold into slavery was set free. It was a year of new beginnings.

Jesus proclaimed a spiritual jubilee. We now live in a time when all our debts to God have been cancelled and all the things the devil stole from us have been returned. Even our slavery to the devil has come to an end through the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a time for rejoicing.

Jesus is our jubilee.

Jesus didn’t have to touch the child. He didn’t have to send anything home with the father to affect the cure. All He did was speak and the son was instantly healed (v. 53).

This man had traveled over fifteen miles from Capernaum to Cana to find Jesus. Therefore, the son was not within ‘earshot” so that Jesus’ words sparked some cord of hope in his heart, thereby releasing God’s power. No, Jesus’ spoken word had so much power that no barriers (such as time or space) had any affect on it whatsoever.

This is hard for us to comprehend. We spend an entire lifetime learning physical limitations and adapting to them. But there are no limits to the power of God’s word. Jesus created everything in this physical universe by His words, and that creation will respond to anything He says.

The Lord gave His Word to the Jews but they didn’t believe it. Hebrews 4:2 says, “…the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard [it].” We have been given God’s words too, in the Bible. If we will speak God’s Word in faith, we will get the same results that Jesus did here.

Food is essential for life. Without it we couldn’t grow. We get strength and vitality from food. Yet food can kill us. Improper diets kill more people than any disease.

Our soul needs nourishment too. The things we think on and the desires that we have are food to our souls. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4).

Jesus valued spiritual nourishment more than He valued physical nourishment. He was thrilled to see this woman and the people of this town respond to His gift of salvation. Likewise, we should set our desires on the things of God so that spiritual matters are more important to us than our physical food.

The wrong diet for our souls is the leading cause of failure and depression in Christians. Being spiritually minded produces life and peace. Being carnally minded produces death (Rom. 8:6).

In our health conscious society, many of us wouldn’t dream of abusing our bodies with bad diets. Yet in our soulish area, we are killing ourselves by feeding on the wrong things. Treat yourself to a healthy spiritual meal today.