The House of God IV: COME AND DINE

The House of God IV:  COME AND DINE

Listen!  I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into his home and share a meal with him, and he with me. -  Revelation 3:20 (NET)

Meal times are a favorite in a healthy home. The Lord Jesus promised to share a meal with anyone who hears his voice and opens the door. Jesus wants to share a meal that He brings. When He is present, He takes care of all daily life supplies (Mathew 6:23-25). Jesus loves meal times with us because they are times when He shares His life and power with us. We also have an opportunity to fellowship with Him and receive from His all-sufficiency. Sharing a meal with Christ is participating at the highest table reserved for the most favored very important people.  What a privilege we have. 

There is no need to suffer from spiritual malnutrition in God’s house. With Christ, it is mealtime all the time. Avoid missing meals. All you need is a good appetite.  I was born in a family where if everyone were present we would be not less than fourteen children. Meal times were the main events for each day. We would go out to play plastic ball with other kids. When it was mealtime, my mom called out “You can now come!” or “It is time for you to come! [Chiuyai!]”.  That was enough; we would all know it was mealtime. We would leave whatever we were doing and in a flash be in the house ready to eat. 

You need to have a good spiritual appetite in the House of God.  Do you hunger for God’s presence, and to learn from Him? The table is always ready and there is no spiritual drip for those who do not want to eat.

Let us look at how meal times arrive and look like in God’s house. When you are ignorant of meal times, you will be depressed by circumstances when you could rejoice despite them. We will look at seven spiritual appetites every believer needs to maintain.

1. A meal to bring you back to the cross. This is a meal you need when you are becoming more conscious of other things than of Christ.  Christ shares a remembrance meal with you when you reflect and are grateful for what He accomplished at the cross. Jesus at His last supper with the disciples instructed that they often have meals to remember the benefits of His death, blood and resurrection. You cannot remember the cross and not be drawn to its assuring provisions. It speaks of Christ’s amazing love and sure hope. It says Christ gave up everything so that He could recover all to become everything to you. He has overcome everything that worked against you.

Sadly we are often more conscious of our past failures and hopeless circumstances than we are of the victorious cross. As a man thinks in his heart so is he (Proverbs 23:7). Fix your mind on Christ and His word. You will become more conscious of Him as well as who you are and your provisions (Philippians 3:10). How often do you remember Him? Thinking about His last supper/Passover meal precedes your cross over to victory and a bright future. When you remember the cross of Christ and receive its promise, ‘it is time to come!’

2. A meal to celebrate people returning home. The greatest delight in God’s house is when people return home through opening their lives to Christ (Luke 15:7, 24). This event sparks great celebration in heaven and on earth. Each person who comes back is like a goal in soccer and a try in rugby. That is what counts most. In sports, without goals everything else only ends up in a lost game. With goals, everything else you did poorly is mitigated.

The gospel is an invitation to hear Father God’s voice and return home. It demands a response. A feast is awaiting you in the house. when the prodigal son returned home, he found the Fathers arms open wide. To celebrate a welcome, a feast/meal was served. The Braai places became active.  When the organizers of the wedding at Cana of Galilee called on the name of Jesus, they witnessed His first public miracle (John 2). When Zacchaeus opened his life to Jesus they shared a meal and salvation came to his house (Luke 19:5). When you turn yourself and others from disobedience to Christ, ‘it is time to come!’

3. A meal of regular word intake . You need in take of God’s word. We regularly take the word of God in our lives corporately at church meetings and as individuals in our personal times of prayer and Bible reading. Believers become spiritually healthy and grow in faith by desiring the word of God as babies desire milk (1 Peter 2:2). One of our spiritual development goals is to learn quickly that people do not live by  whatever staple food alone but by God’s spoken word (Mathew 4:4). The aim of reading is to hear from God, that is receiving the ‘Rhema’ word or a word specifically for you and what you ae going through. Reading the Bible facilitates hearing from God. When you have a hunger for His word, it is mealtime. Simply pull out your hard or electronic Bible, warm your heart with prayer and enjoy (Psalm 19:7 – 10).

4. A meal unusual.. When the disciples brought food to Jesus in John 4: 34, He would not eat it and said, ‘my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.’ This mealtime in the house of God means that the table in our physical houses are empty as we serve, fast and pray (Mathew 17:21; Mark 9:29). Biblical fasting is missing some physical meals in order to enjoy a special spiritual meal. The one purpose for prayer and fasting is for God’s will settled in heaven to manifest in the natural. Has the desire for God’s will ever dominated you so much that all other desires became subordinate. When that happens, a consecration meal is ready at the Master’s table and ‘it is time to come.’  How often do you enjoy this mealtime.  The house of God has times of fasting and times of feasting.

5. A meal in the presence of enemies.  Spiritual meal times do come against the odds. When situations are increasingly threatening, the temptation is to despair and be paralyzed by fear. But the Master’s table is set up for a defiance meal when enemies are almost overwhelming you. When enemies rally and the threat is real, ‘it is time to come!’(Psalm 23:5).  When the enemy plot thickens it is time for Esther’s banquet (Esther 5:6).   Gallows designed for you are about to be busy without you, instead your time for promotion has arrived.

6. A meal of miracles. This meal is served when your needs are much greater than your means. God cares for you so much that to Him, meeting your needs supernaturally is like providing children’s bread (Mathew 15:26). He serves compassionate meals. When we pray ‘give us our daily bread’, God hears us to be asking for miraculous provision. We daily breathe and live by miracles. Without God’s supernatural covering and provisions we would be devoured (1 Peter 5:8).  The bigger the needs met the greater the glory that accrues to God.  The disciples did not know what to do with over ten thousand hungry people when they only had five loaves and two fishes (Mathew 14:15 – 18). Thank God, the Master was there. When He is present and we hand over our little to Him, ‘it is time to come!’ He provided manna and supernaturally sustained a nation in the wilderness. He will not lead you where His grace is not sufficient.

7. A meal when you are down and all seems lost. We sometimes find ourselves in places where we see no hope and we are tempted to give up. God is a God of restoration and resurrection. The disciples were disappointed and sad that Christ had been crucified yet they had thought he was the savior. As two disciples walked to Emmaus Jesus appeared to them. He encouraged them and shared a meal (Luke 24:30, 31). In another case, Peter led his fellow disciples to go ‘a-fishing’ having lost hope in Christ (John 21:3).  Be careful of going ‘a-fishing’ you will end up going awol. Their ‘a-fishing’ was unfruitful the whole night. However, Jesus appeared in the morning and reassured them. He also prepared and shared a meal with them before renewing His commission to Peter. Do not lose heart Jesus is also saying to you, ‘Come and dine’ (John 21:12).   He is saying your loss is recoverable, and you are not forsaken (2 Samuel 9: 4-7; 1 Samuel 9:19-20). When Elijah was suicidal sleeping under a broom tree, behold, an angel touched him, and said unto him, arise and eat (1 Kings 19:2, 3). Mealtime is time to come. If you look up in faith today, Father God will reassure you with a sign, word, etc. He will re-comission and anoint you to do exploits. Father God is saying maintain a strong spiritual appetite.

[This message is the third among several in a series of messages on the house of God. The series raises awareness of the importance of belonging and fully participating in the life of a local church.]

Message by Dr. Kurai Chitima.

Faith Ministries – Johannesburg Faith Life Center.

Ground and First Floors Sunset Bay Building,

204B Bram Fischer drive,

Randburg, Johannesburg, South Africa