Gari Meacahm leads a Bible study at Second Baptist Church on Tuesdays at 9:30am in rioom L331 at the West Campus. Gari is a truly gifted speaker that with humor and grace leads the women in her class into a deeper walk with Jesus. Join us -- you will be glad you did!

Study Overview

Week 1: Longings (signs of a hungry spirit)

Week 2: Numbing (stuffing, ignoring and mocha lattes)

Week 3: Engaging (whispers and screams: how do we pray?)

Week 4: Travailing (panting and petition)

Week 5: Believing (more than bathrobe belief)

Week 6: Positioning (invited to listen)

Week 7: Questioning (the caress of wondering)

Week 8: Moving (living off more than fumes)

Session 1 Notes:

Psalm 63:1 “O God, You are my God. I shall seek you earnestly, my soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you

In a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

Are you desperate for God?

Created to Long

We were built for Spirit Hunger. We were designed to thirst after a God that quenches. We long for a romance with God. God is constantly wooing us, and inviting us to a pleasure, a thrill and safety and a covering. We were created to long (desire) for something.

There are universal desires that we all have and there are the counterfeits that we replace these longings with:

• Longing: Nurturing, attention and affirmation Counterfeit: Control
• Longing: Intimacy (desire to hear and be heard) Counterfeit: Guardedness
• Longing: Purpose Counterfeit: Bland insecurity
• Longing: Discipline Counterfeit: Compulsion/laziness
• Longing: Treasured Counterfeit: Trampled and fearful

Everyone longs for God Himself.

How did the longings get messed up? (Genesis 2-3)

Women were created to bring a beauty to life that man could not.

At the fall Eve:

• -Chose to believe that God was tricking her
• - Felt like she had to figure it all out (control)
• - Felt that her husband needed to now listen to and follow her

Adam’s response was the most dangerous thing, he chose silence.

Their initial way of living and functioning in a Spirit Hunger was now broken. The coward/control cycle began.

From Genesis 3: the dance that Adam and Eve did is the dance of Humanity and became the dance of Christ.

• Vs 7: We cover
• Vs 8: We hid
• Vs 9: God pursues
• Vs 10: We excuse
• Vs 21: God covers

The longings that stay in “self” mode typically end in fear. Longings that bend towards God turn to faith. Fear is the most powerful human emotion, except for faith. Faith plays itself out in our spirit (see John 3, John 4:23-24, and 1 Cor 2: 10-14).

When you determine to understand your Spirit Hunger, your life will have a certain charm about it, which is a treasured satisfaction to Jesus.