Our declaration to the heavens and the earth:
My needs are so great that only God can meet them.
My greatest needs are not physical, but spiritual.
Nothing in or of this earth can ultimately meet my spiritual needs.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory. (Isaiah 45:22-25)
What are some of our spiritual needs?
NEEDS relative to CONTROL (POWER)
– The need for SECURITY
– The need for FULFILLMENT (reaching a destination)
– The need for PROGRESS (movement toward a destination)
– The need for REST
NEEDS relative to KNOWING (HONOR)
– The need for RESOLUTION
– The need for SATISFACTION
– The need for INTIMACY (the desire for closeness)
– The need for POSSESSION (the desire to receive/have/own)
NEEDS relative to being KNOWN (GLORY)
– The need to be RECOGNIZED
– The need to be APPRECIATED
– The need to be HONORED
– The need to be DESIRED (the desire to be received, belong)
What’s the difference between a need and a desire?
Needs MUST be supplied. Mental and emotional problems arise when spiritual needs are not being met.
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)
God has designed that all of our needs should be supplied by Him through Christ.
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)
“Madness” in the heart of men is the result of spiritual needs are not being met by God.
This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (Ecclesiastes 9:3)
Jesus came into a world and to a nation that was suffering the consequences of not having their needs met by God.
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (Acts 10:38)
Jesus brought healing to those who were suffering the consequences of unmet spiritual needs.
…And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.
And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. (Luke 9:10,11)
Jesus began to train His disciples to meet the needs they saw in an unconventional, supernatural way.
And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place.
But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people. (Luke 9:12,13)
Jesus pointed those who came for the meeting of physical needs toward His provision of their spiritual needs.
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:32-35)
Jesus is the meeter of deep, spiritual needs that human beings are not able to fulfill through others.
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. (John 4:13-18)
Man’s dependency upon man results in a spiritual dryness that cannot be quenched.
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. (Jeremiah 17:5-8)
Idolatry exchanges man for God.
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 1:25)
By “forsaking the fountain of living waters,” we go without that which would have “profited” us.
By making for ourselves “broken cisterns” we end up frustrated, angry and living with insatiable desires.
Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:11-13)
Those who fail to worship God and look toward man for the meeting of their needs find shame and sorrow.
They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. (Isaiah 30:5)
God uses the failure of man to meet our needs to call us to stop looking toward man.
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of? (Isaiah 2:22)
Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. (Psalm 146:3)
God waits for men to discover that men cannot replace Him and finally look toward Him.
And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. (Isaiah 29:18)
God’s provision for our needs does not leave us wanting.
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Psalm 16:11)