Receiving Your Kingdom Mind (part 2)

Another time doing the will of the Father was as satisfying as food to Jesus was when He raised Lazarus from the dead. Doing God’s will in this instance brought Jesus great comfort in the way a meal given to a grieving family would. In His own words, Jesus said that Lazarus’s sickness was going to bring Him glory (John 11:4). Four days after Lazarus died, Jesus traveled to Bethany to resurrect him. We see Jesus’s love for Lazarus when He cries at the grief of his death (John 11:35).
Shortly after Jesus arrived at Bethany, after greeting Lazarus’s loved ones, He raised Lazarus from the dead. The Word says that “then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him” (v. 45). When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He did the will of the Father and received glory. This miracle brought the kind of comfort, joy, and celebration that a lavish meal would.

Think about it; a lot of times, Jesus wouldn't even eat natural food because He was too busy feasting on the work of the Father. Remember the time in the Word after John the Baptist died and Jesus had just found out about it and went off to be by Himself, but the crowds followed Him? The people needed help, and instead of turning them away, Jesus healed them: "Now when Jesus heard it, He withdrew from there in a boat, to a lonely place by Himself; and when the multitudes heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. And when He went ashore, He saw a great multitude, and felt compassion for them, and healed their sick" (Matthew 14:13-14 NASB).

Jesus had been preaching, healing, and delivering all that day, and just wanted a moment to grieve by Himself after learning about His cousin's death. He was likely tired and hungry at this time because the Bible never tells us that He ate natural food that day. Instead of thinking of His own gut and grief, however, He healed the crowds and then miraculously fed them. If you'll look closely, you'll see that Jesus never joined in the meal Himself.

The Word says, "Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children!" (Matthew 14:20-21 NLT). Jesus was satisfied just to watch His sheep eat. We see here that doing God's will truly was His fill.

I can attest to being supernaturally nourished at times after God's used me to minister to His people. If I'm hungry before I start ministering, then the hunger will subside by the time I finish, or either I'll be so full of the Spirit when I finish that I can't naturally eat for at least a couple of hours. Doing God's work truly does fill you up. This is why when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, He answered the way He did.

“And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:3-4 KJV). Jesus was essentially telling Satan that man is sustained by the very words of God, or in other words, by obeying God and doing His work. Satan was trying to get Jesus to obey his will, which would in essence have been idolatry had Jesus obliged him, but Jesus' response let Satan know that He would obey and serve God alone.

Obedience to God brings life to the spiritual body just as food does to the natural body. This is why Moses implored the Israelites when they were set to enter the promised land, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them" (Deuteronomy 30:19-20 KJV). Both Jesus and Moses knew that obedience to God equals spiritual life. It is our food, or source of life.

For more on how we can develop Christ’s mindset and how doing His will can become as satisfying to us as our favorite meal, stay tuned! Check out part 1 of this study here: http://www.kailacafe.com/2017/10/receiving-your-kingdom-mind-part-1.html