Thirsting For God

Thirsting For God

Psalm 42:1 “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.”

The theme of last week’s prayer group was “Thirst.”  The leader asked us if we thirst for God.  She mentioned the verse says as a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.  It does not say that the deer is searching for stagnant water.  As soon as she said this I thought to myself, this is where a lot of us are.  We are stagnant.  We are not moving forward, and hopefully, we are also not moving backwards.  We are just stuck right where we are.  This can be a dangerous place to be because this is where the comfort of the known comes in.  When we get too comfortable where we are, we can lose our drive to keep moving forward or in this case, keep moving closer to God.  Is this you?  Do you feel your relationship with the Lord is stagnant?  Or maybe you don’t think of it as stagnant, maybe you look at it as comfortable.  We are in a comfortable place and it is nice.  Let me ask you the same question our leader asked us, “Do you thirst for God?”  “Do you long for Him, more than you long for anything else?”

Think about a deer in the woods running around.  Think about him/her after running all day and they are so tired and thirsty and they just really need a drink.  Can you picture it?  Now ask yourself, do I thirst for God like this deer thirst for water?  I would love to say the answer is yes and sometimes when I think about it I think it is yes.  When I ask myself that question I tell myself I absolutely thirst for God.  I long to be close to Him.  I would give anything to be close to Him.  Have you ever thought this before?  It feels so good and yet it almost hurts because you want to be that close to God.  I do long for Him, I am sure of it.  However, when I examine my life, do my actions show Him that I long for Him?  I thought to myself that I would do anything to be close to Him.  Yet, there are plenty of times in my day where I could take a break and be alone with Him in prayer, yet, I don’t chose to do that.  There are books and podcasts and music I could read or listen to that could bring me close to Him and yet I don’t alway chose that either.  I want so badly to say that I long for God as much as this deer longs for water and yet, I sadly don’t know if it is true.  

Now, the Holy Spirit seems to be prompting me to say that we can long for God and yet not always act on it.  I feel as though He is telling me that if we feel like we long for Him then that makes Him happy and now we just need to figure out how to put that longing into action.  There was a word given at our prayer group that of course goes perfectly with this topic.  It still amazes me how God not only shows up every week, but how He always gives us words that are right on target with the topic.  It’s almost as if He knew what we were going to say.  Here is the word that was giving last Thursday.  The Lord said, “I do thirst for you, I do long for you. I long that you draw deeper and closer to me, that I may heal those places that you have not given me yet.  I long and thirst that you will draw nearer to me for my heart has more for you, more for you.  This is your time to draw nearer that I may give you more.  Your life is in my hands and I draw you but you must open more to me.  I can only knock, I cannot enter unless you allow me.  There is more of my love to give to you, there is more for you to do for me.  Draw, thirst, long to open those doors to me.  I draw you, I love you, I need your love too.”

I thought I would share this with you for two reasons.  The first is because God shows up and talks to us every week at our meetings and I think He really wants me to share that word with as many people as I can.  The second reason is because I think the answer to how we can put our longing into action is contained in this message He gave us.  First, the Lord is calling us closer to Him.  A great way to get closer to Him is to read His word.  Not just read it, but study it, learn it, get to know who He is and what He asks of us.  Then He says that He wants to heal those places we have not give to Him yet.  You know the places He is talking about.  The things that you keep holding on to because you think He couldn’t possibly heal that thing, or because you are too ashamed to hand it over to Him.  If we want to be closer to the Lord, we have to let him in to each and every part of us.  The more we open to Him and let Him in, the more He can Heal us and make us more able to long for Him.  Next, the Lord says that He has so much for us and that this is our time to draw nearer to Him so He can give us more.  However, there is a catch.  We have to open the door and let Him in.  

I think this is where a lot of us get stuck.  We want the Lord to help us, save us, love us and yet we don’t want to let Him in.  Why we don’t let Him in might be different for each one of us. Some might be afraid of getting hurt, some might have been hurt so much in the past they don’t know how to trust or to love, there can be any number of reasons we don’t open up.  God will not force Himself on you.  He gave us free will to choose if we want to love Him or not.  He loves us regardless of whether we let Him in or not.  If we want to long for God and to put that longing into action, we need to open our hearts, take the risk that comes with stepping out in faith and trust that God will be there for us.  In the word given above the Lord is saying that He has more of His love to give to us and He also says that there is more for us to do for Him.  What is the Lord calling you to do?  Are you doing it?  Could you do it if you knew He was right there with you?  The last sentence the Lord says, is “I draw you, I love you, I need your love too.”  Can we give the Lord our love today?  If you are struggling with loving the Lord, longing for Him, or anything else, pray to the Lord about it.  Talk to Him and tell Him how you feel and I promise He will help you.  He is that amazing!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to long for you as a deer longs for the flowing stream.  Lord, I felt convicted when I heard the comment about the stagnant water, please show all of us any areas in our lives where we are stagnant.  Help us grow closer to you.  Help us to open up those areas we have kept from you.  Help us release them to you for healing.  Lord, help us to see where are actions are not living up to our wants and help us to make things right.  Help us to put you first above all things!  We love you so much Lord.  We are so grateful that you are always here, waiting patiently for us to turn back to you each and every time we turn away or mess up.  You are amazing and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Have a blessed day.

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

CLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace