The Key of Hunger for God
“One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.”
Proverbs 27:7 NIV
A few years ago, I was leading worship at a church overseas at a service they called “Hunger Night.” It was my first time at this church and I didn’t really know what to expect.
Once I started leading worship, however, the hunger for Jesus in the room skyrocketed, and we went places in the Spirit that I hadn’t been to that often in corporate worship times. Their hunger put a demand on the anointing in a way that I wasn’t used to. It pulled greatness out of me and called me higher as a worship leader.
Hunger pulls things out of heaven that don’t come any other way. Hunger creates an atmosphere for God to move in.
Take the Syro-Phonecian woman who wouldn’t take no for an answer and even in the midst of a potentially offensive statement of Jesus, she pushed in for just the crumbs. Or the woman who had the issue of blood, who broke Levitical laws and pressed through a suffocating crowd just to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. Or Blind Bartimaeus (ex-blind) who didn’t suppress his desperation for Jesus even though His main followers told him to quiet down.
I love what my friend Prophet Gary Zamora says about hunger:
“Hungry people don’t wait for an invitation…they don’t wait for someone to agree with them.”
They just pursue Jesus! And God feeds hungry people (Ps. 107:9).
Carriers of the Ark are hungry people. They know it’s the key to accessing more of God. Just as the Levites’ portion and inheritance was the Lord Himself, these modern day Carriers of the Ark have become satisfied in Him and yet still hunger for even more.
Get In Touch With Your Need
One thing I know about hungry people is that they always find something to eat.
I think it’s hilarious when I do a fast that all of a sudden my body starts craving for food that I would never normally eat.
I gotta shout “Get behind me Satan!” when that fast food commercial comes on TV.
I even have to pray in panic tongues while driving by the local BBQ spot as the aroma of heaven makes its way to my air vents
The hunger is driving my flesh!
In the same way my flesh was crying out for food, when we recognize our need for Jesus, our hearts will cry out for Him!
We discover and experience the reality that we don’t live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God! There’s life found in Him that can’t be found anywhere else.
We find that He is the One who sustains and satisfies us.
We were created by Him and came from Him, therefore, our hearts are sustained by Him. In Jesus, all things are held together and He sustains all things by His powerful word (Col. 1:17, Heb. 1:3). We need Jesus — not only relationally, but we can’t even make our heart beat without Him! Every breath we breathe is a gift from God. We are living because He wants us to.
Look at these desperate cries from the Psalms:
“My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”
(Psalm 84:2)
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”
(Psalm 42:1-2)
Then there’s Psalm 63. The subtitle says: “A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah.”
This is a potentially “dry” time for David. But this is what he said:
“O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.”
(Psalm 63:1)
Notice that he didn’t say his flesh longs for water or food; he said it longs for God!
There is no water, yet his flesh was longing for God. We know he drank of the ever-satisfying Presence of the Lord in times past, which provoked his present hunger, but David’s longing arose from getting in touch with his deep need for God.
Later in the Psalm he said:
“I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.”
(Psalm 63:5 NIV)
Beholding and glorifying the Lord brought David a satisfaction to his heart that a first-class meal would bring to his body.
Here’s a verse you probably haven’t thought all the way through before:
“Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.”
(Matthew 21:14)
Think about that for a moment. People who couldn’t see and other people who couldn’t walk came to Jesus.
My question is, how did they get to Him? Maybe the blind guys said to the lame guys, “Hey, my legs work and your eyes work. Let’s get to Jesus together — I’ll walk and carry you, you just tell me where to go.”
Who knows?!
The point is, their need for Jesus was greater than their inconvenience!
Exposed To More
Did you know it’s possible to have church without Jesus?
It happened in the Bible! Revelation 3:20 is a verse used many times for evangelism, but that’s not the context. It says this:
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock…”
If Jesus is knocking at the door, that means He’s not in the house!
The church in Laodicea needed a wake-up call, and Jesus was faithful to bring it.
The point is: Are you in an environment where Jesus is moving?
We need environments that call us higher. One of the greatest ways to stir hunger is exposure. Get in a place where God is moving.
John Wimber is quoted with the famous saying:
“The anointing is more caught than taught.”
You catch how to move with the momentum of the Spirit when you’re constantly in environments where that is happening.
Getting into a place where God is moving at a greater level than you’re used to gives amazing opportunity to grow.
It’s hard to be satisfied with a 1983 Corolla hatchback when you got to ride in a brand-new Tesla all day. You’ve been exposed to more!
Go to places where God is doing something different and more powerful than you’re used to.
When I was a youth pastor, our kids worshipped on their knees and faces pretty consistently. It was always humorous when they invited a new kid to church and they experienced our worship culture. When our kids would go low, the new kid would look around and feel awkward being the only one left standing, so he would go ahead and bow with them.
I love how the peer pressure was to go all out in worship to God!
The culture was set. If you wanted more of God, you just followed suit.
It was a launching point for the kids to go deeper with the Lord… even if they didn’t know they wanted it! The environment called them higher.
I purposely try to get around people who are farther than me in Christ so that I can go higher.
And if I can’t be around them in person, I’ll read books, listen to podcasts, watch YouTube or check out their social media/websites.
I want what they’re carrying to rub off on me.
After all, that’s what the word anointing means: to rub off.
When I’m in an environment where the miraculous is constantly being demonstrated, my mind begins to get renewed to the supernatural being natural.
My normal begins to shift.
I go from thinking that miracles happen periodically to thinking they are normal to a believer’s life.
As mentioned before, 1 Peter 4:10 says:
“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
When you’re exposed to the grace on other people’s lives, you receive of the many-sided grace of God.
You get something through them that you can’t get anywhere else. It’s the beauty of being a part of the body of Christ. Everyone has something unique to offer.
This is impartation — the sharing of spiritual gifts or a special grace or anointing on someone’s life.
Ultimately, impartation is from God, yet the uniqueness of the person God is using to impart makes a difference.
I’ve received impartation from great men and women of God through the laying on of hands, being in their services, through dreams, books, and media.
I just get hungry for what God is doing in their life and how He is using them. God responds to that hunger (Heb. 11:6) and a measure of grace on their lives comes off on me.
Sometimes, I see the gift at work in their life and I receive from just observing. Then there’s an acceleration that happens in whatever anointing they imparted because now I don’t have to start at square one. I get a supernatural boost that launches me into that anointing because I’ve seen how they operated and received the impartation.
It’s time to get around powerful environments and people who are more hungry and anointed than you.
Seek impartation.
Proverbs 13:20 says:
“He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed.”
If you’re walking with fools, people who’ve become stagnant in their relationship with God, it’s time to find some people hungry for God and go deeper with Him!
Compromise kills, but hungry hearts always draw closer to the King.
I need to be around people who will call me higher!
This is an excerpt from my book “Carriers of the Ark”, Chapter 3 “The Key of Hunger”.
There’s much more I share on the key of hunger in the book—like fasting & prayer and the importance of testimonies. If you want to be the kind of person who carries the Presence of God, this book is for you!
Closing Reflection + Practical Application
Where have I let inconvenience silence my hunger for Jesus?
Am I surrounding myself with people and places that stir deeper hunger?
Take a Step:
This week, choose God through inconvenience — and pursue environments that call you higher.
Wake up earlier to seek Him.
Fast a meal and feast on His Word.
Push through dry moments in worship.
Reach out and pray with someone instead of doom scrolling on social media.
Find a place where God is moving — and get around hungry believers.
Every choice you make for Him draws you closer to God—and He is always worth it.
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”
—Psalm 34:8
Question: What stirred you as you read this article? How are you going to pursue Jesus this week? Comment below!