Blessed Feast
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." ~ Matthew 5:6
Read Holy Mountain’s Narrow Path before this Entry
In the Lord’s storm, my slumber is made calm. In my slumber, the Lord’s storm etches a path through my mind in the form of a vision.
This is the vision the Lord sent me through my Holy Spirit:
A simple sheet of golden parchment woven into a sheep’s wool scroll case rests on a blacksmith’s anvil. Beside it is a quill dipped into ink, yet, when lifted out of the ink, its shape shifts to a hammer ready to forge a mighty weapon. The golden parchment is then sprawled out across the face of the anvil, clean and without blemishes. The hammer suddenly swings down, striking the parchment as blood-red wine drips from the face of the anvil. With each passing stroke of the hammer, crevices in the parchment form a map design. Each strike forges a new location on the map, yet, the map only shows the faces of many who also are filled with the gifts of His Spirit. Then I awaken.
“My Lord,” I pray, “These faces You have shown me through Your vision, who are they? Am I to meet them?”
In this moment of prayer, a breeze beckons me forward. Continuing up the narrow path, up the mountainside. With my first step on this new day, a rumble frightens me. Not from the mountain, but from within my flesh. Hunger begins to strike…
With each step I take, my eyes wander for any food on the trail. The hours that pass by grow longer with the sound of my belly groaning.
Another glance orients my vision toward a bush filled with berries. In my approach to the bush, I immediately drop my staff and begin picking a bundle of berries to quench my hunger. However, right as my teeth touch the first one’s skin, I feel the wind howl, almost as if saying to wait.
I take a deep breath and a rancid scent enters my nostrils. Looking over at the bush, I smell death from it.
“Has this bush been cursed?” I ponder for a moment. Then my hunger returns as the rancid scent of death entices my flesh. My flesh requires sustenance to survive, yet, there is a greater form of sustenance.
Who gives food to all flesh, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of heaven, For His lovingkindness is everlasting
Psalm 136:25-26
He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.
Romans 14:6
Kneeling before the bush of cursed berries, it is time to pray:
Heavenly Father
I give thanks to You, for it is through Your breath that my senses are sharpened. Just as You gather Your wheat and separate the chaff, I ask that You burn up the chaff here with Your unquenchable fire. Let my flesh hunger not, but Your Spirit in me thirst for an overabundance of righteousness. For this, as You have said, shall satisfy me. Therefore, may my patience be rewarded as I fast to come closer to You. But Lord, do not stop there. I ask that You bless this bush so it may be cursed no longer. So that the next traveler who hungers just as I have will see Your blessing here and eat of the berries of this bush to have renewed strength in Your Spirit.
In Your Son’s name
Amen
As I stand and dust off my knees, I look towards the heavens to see that the sky has cleared from the storm the night before.
As His Spirit calls me up the mountainside, the breeze whistles me forward to my intended destination. Inching closer, my hunger orients toward Your word.
Then I see it…
A dwelling place, with baskets of fruit resting at its doorstep.
I have made it, my Lord.