A few years ago, I had a dream that I was feasting in the house of the Lord. As I surveyed my surroundings, I noticed colossal columns, a regal chandelier, and ornate detailing from floor to ceiling of the finest materials you could imagine. Diamond, gold, ruby, amethyst, turquoise, pearl, ivory, marble and granite — everything shouted abundance.
Suddenly, I saw Jesus standing in the centre of the room. His eyes were full of love, and His mouth was curved into a warm, closed smile. We locked eyes and He stretched out His arms, nodding in the direction of the dining table before me. I looked down at the deep walnut table, and there lay a plate of rainbow-shaped sugar cookies.
Each cookie was adorned with colourful frosting and hand-lettered words. I scanned the plate, making sure to remember what each cookie represented. Joy, love, hope, healing, strength, grace, kindness, forgiveness, patience, self-control, goodness, freedom, righteousness, provision, redemption, comfort — every cookie represented an aspect of what Christ died to give us.
‘Take and eat,’ He said to me. I knew without Him uttering another word that these cookies would never run out, and that His invitation to take and eat would stand for eternity.
Taste and See
In Psalm 34:8, David writes, ‘Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.’ The Hebrew word for taste is ‘ta’am,’ which means to taste and perceive. Not to word geek out on you — although if you listen to me on the She Found Joy Podcast, you know I like to do that a lot — but the definition of perceive can mean: to become aware of through the senses, to become conscious of, or to realise or understand.
Why is this important? Because the primary way we can feast on Jesus, and taste and see that he is good, is by living life with a conscious awareness of who He is and everything He has accomplished and provided for us.
Through His broken body and shed blood, and His death and resurrection, Jesus restored access to the Father and the kingdom within. These rivers of living water were always there — since the garden of Eden — but the fall turned those waters stagnant, our hearts hard, and our spiritual eyes dark.
His peace. His joy. His love. His healing. His grace. His kindness. His forgiveness. For yourself and others. His faith. It’s all inside you. The enemy tries to make us feel like we are missing something. But the truth is you and I lack nothing.
2 Peter 1:3, ‘His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.’
Through His power He has given us everything we need, but it’s all accessed by grace through faith, and as Peter points out here, through the knowledge of Christ.
Do you know who Jesus is and wants to be to you? Do you know what has been made available to you? Do you know what you carry? I don’t care if you can quote scripture — do you personally know in the depths of your being what is on the inside of you? If you do, I pray for an even deeper revelation. And if you do not, I pray that God would reveal this truth to you as you’re reading this.
From the dawn of Creation, until now, God’s invitation has always been to taste and see that He is good. It started in the Garden, with the tree of life and pretty much every other tree (except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). His invitation, as He so beautifully reminded me in the cookie dream, remains today.
I don’t know what season of life you’re in right now — what you’re walking through or what you’re standing in faith for. But don’t feast on the doubt. The fear. The unknown. The lies. The past. The disappointments. The naysayers. The pain. Or the heartbreak. Feast on Jesus. Feast on the written and spoken Word of God. For man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that has and is proceeding from the mouth of God.
Turn your awareness to Jesus and the kingdom within. Come as you are. As my friend Niki so beautifully says, ‘Jesus meets us where we are, not where we think we should be.’ What is He wanting to say or give to you in this moment? Is it wisdom, a new mindset? Maybe He wants to fill you afresh with peace.
Breathe in His presence. It’s OK if you don’t feel anything. Just be still and know, and feast on all that He is — all that He longs to fill you with. As you receive with an open heart and open mind, I pray that you experience the power of feasting on Jesus.
I cannot describe how much my life has been impacted by communing with Him in this way. But I do know that daily, as I come to the table to receive what Jesus has already provided, my life has been forever changed. I am a different person when I feast on Jesus. I am no longer a ravenous, ‘hangry’ Christian. I am settled. I am filled. I am satisfied.
The best thing about feasting on Jesus? Unlike a box of pizza, which is here today and gone tomorrow, you can eat and drink of Him whenever your soul is hungry or thirsty. And it doesn’t cost a thing.
