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Just because we are Christians, doesn't necessarily mean we are immediately submerged into the deepest depths of our
relationship with God. Often, Christians just enter the water and never become thoroughly drowned in His presence. But this
absolute drenching is exactly what we need... continually. Authentic worship and tangible experiences of God are so significant
if we are to be Alien to this world. Knowing God in this way is our only real satisfaction, He is our life source and without
Him we cease to function rightly. In the Psalms, we see examples of those who continually sought after God and declared their
thirst for Him ("As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the
living God, when can I go and meet with God?" - Psalm 42:1-2), expressing joy and gladness in finding the One they ran after.
Before
God submerges us deeper into Himself, we have to be thirsty for Him.
God looks for people who are dissatisfied with the
depth to which they already know Him and who have this urgency for more captivating them. There is a longing for God that
grows within us as we taste the goodness of His presence more and more. We realize our complete weakness without Him and want
Him to consume us, to extend within us and in pure desire, pant after Him until the richness of His satisfying presence brings
us to our knees. God is so faithful to those who recognize their need for Him and who cry out to Him in complete repentance
and desperation. He takes those people to new depths in Him.
To people who reach to Him, He cleanses; to those who
stop living to please
others, He redirects their focus; to many who have been in a dry place, He restores passion. We need
to pray for this thirst that cannot be satisfied by anything but God to increase. Once we recognize that we were created to
know God in this deep way, once we are obsessed by the beauty of Gods presence, and Gods presence alone, we will be unable
to do anything but live radically for our Lord.
Skillet do: Determine to spend at least 20 min. with God today! Not
just getting
into the Word and praying, though you should do these things as well, but just take time out of your day to
worship Him, to spend time waiting and listening in His Presence. Even if you don't feel like it, just ask God to increase
your thirst for Him. He will. He has a lot to say to you if you take the time to listen.
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