Each and every day we get hungry, right? Breakfast is what we need to do to start out our day. We need energy to go to work, take care of the kids and feel good about ourselves. Also, it is easy for us to know when we are physically hungry and thirsty. It is a real feeling and we usually do something immediately to fulfill these natural feelings. If we go without food for awhile, we feel tired. It is hard for us to go on with the day. We need food and water to survive.
With this in mind, let's look at what Christ says about spiritual hunger. In Matthew 5:6 Christ says “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” I really like this phrase because it helps us understand how we need to treat our spirits.
Just as our bodies need food each day, so our spirits need spiritual food each day. Spiritual food consists of reading/studying the word of God (scriptures, words of the living prophets), saying prayers, keeping the commandments, following the Holy Spirit, and being like Christ. Each of these things feeds our souls spiritual food. It fills us and give us spiritual energy.
The tricky thing about spiritual hunger is that it is a little harder to recognize. If we haven't read our scriptures for a few days, we won't feel a physical pain. However, the more that we consistently study the scriptures and think of God throughout the day, the more often we will recognize when our spirits are hungry.
We should be the same way (or more so) with spiritual things. Do we hunger and thirst to read the script? How about going to church? Listening to the apostles and prophets? Our spirits, just like our bodies, have a need for food. Let us recognize what our spirits need by listening to the Holy Ghost. He will tell us what to do. Interestingly enough, the Holy Ghost will have us do something physically (like call up a friend in need and go help your neighbor) to grow spiritually.
