| Thirsty anyone?
Psalms 42:1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? ( sounds like anticipation! Sometimes you have to long for it, have to want it so bad you can taste it! Hum.. question is what is it I am thirsting for? God or goods? Money or the master, relationship or religion? Sin or the Son?) 3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? ( Ever wept so much you lost your appetite? ever hurt so much all You could do was cry? ever been so miss understood you just wanted to cry? ever been so criticized, so persecuted, so gossiped about, you just wanted to die? ) 4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. ( Yeah the ones who should have supported you & prayed for you, the ones you once worshipped & praised with. Taught bible study with, the ones you called brothers & sisters, fellow co-workers, it is some of them who laughed and mocked you, criticized and condemned you. They were with you as long as the going was good, and the shout was loud. As long as there was money in your pockets and praise in your corner. Hum I wonder if maybe we have ever played the part one of these characters? These so called brothers and sisters? Do you choose your friendships from the circle of the popular ones or the circle of the lowly, recognized and rejected? ) 5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. ( Hope! hope in God not goods, could it be that the reason why we find ourselves so discouraged and disappointed, is because our hope is in the things of this world rather than the things of God? we trust in money not God, we fix purpose and happiness based on things instead of God? we let circumstances dictate our joy rather than God‘s Spirit.) 6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan.. ( Jordan actually means to descend, to go down, to drop to the lower regions, Hence when we are at our lowest point in life, at the bottom of the barrel, in our darkest valley remember God! Remember his goodness, his provision, his power. His love! Remember the Israelites had to cross their Jordan before they came to their promise land! At and before Jordan they had lots of doubts, questions, trials and troubles, but their mind was fixed on their God and they remembered how he delivered them. Knowing he would do it again.) 7 Deep calleth unto deep ... 8 Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. ( In your darkest hour if you can find a song, you will find strength! The key is to learn to sing and praise your way through not out of your trials and troubles. Remember his love is always with you, learn to rejoice in tribulation, be patient in trial and sincere in service. Focus your prayers on God not man. ( Observe three principles here) John 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour ( 1. Purpose. We should always realize that everything whether good or bad has a purpose, life has purpose! in every situation and circumstance we can find opportunity to become better or bitter. ) John 13:1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart (Death) out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. ( 2. Acceptance: It is your choice in life to accept or reject what comes your way. What destiny my bring you, but death is inevitable. You can choose to die with purpose. Or choose to live with curses, choose to live in sin or die with the Son. Love is a choice but hatred on the other hand is a bondage difficult to be broken. ) John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 ... I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. “.. that ye may be one with me as I am one with the father “ ( 3. Belief- Actualized faith : faith with works that results in a reward. The key is to plant and water the seed of faith in your troubles and through your trials. When you have learn the purpose of your life no matter how difficult it may be and accepted it, when you have acted in faith in what you believe according to Gods will and his word. There is a sure reward! Oneness with the father implies that there can never be a separation! REFLECTIONS: Ever been so thirsty you felt you were going to dry up inside? So thirsty you would do anything for a drink? pay any price? Did you know we can and should get to the place where we want God so bad we can taste him. Where we can’t get enough of him. Where all we do is long for his touch, his presence, his word. Where we go to sleep thinking about his kingdom, his purpose, his will, his burden. Where we wake up thinking on him, wake up speaking in tongues, wake up with a song in our hearts and a praise on our lips. Sometimes we long for more of him, we want to grow more, learn more, see more, minister more. And yes even God wants us to come closer, to long for more, so what does he do? He sends us through the valley, into the dry desert, among the thorns and thistles of life, into the trying circumstances of life. And what do we do? We complain, murmur and doubt, when all along it was all meant to draw us nearer to him. To increase and activate our faith! To remind us of his provision and power. To call us deep, deep calling unto deep. If there’s one thing we all need in life. Its to recognize our purpose! Its to know his will! his heartbeat! Anything less will not suffice. Anything less will leave us feeling empty and thirsty for more. Ah but isn’t that what its al about? In order for us to grow, to know more of him, of his purpose, of his will, we must go through our time of famine . We must walk through the parch lands of waste and poverty along our paths with a song in our hearts and praise on our lips. Let the deep yearning inside us call us nearer to him! Lets the doubts we encounter cause us to spark the flame of faith and see his provision come to pass. See obstacles as opportunities. In your dry desert experience try looking not at the dark shadows of dried out dreams and empty hopes, look not at the hot desert sun but rather on the holy divine Son! Don’t look for the dirty desert pools of dead, stale water but instead look for the rivers of living water. Instead of finding a small stone to lay your head on for a pillow try finding the rock Christ Jesus to put your mind on for a pillar. Prayer: Our Father, my God! dear daddy, I love you! And Oh how I long for you, how I long to hear your sweet voice. Feel your tender touch, I thank you for all you have done for me. For how you have drawn me closer through my trials and troubles. Please forgive me for acting like a doubting Thomas at times, for wavering like Peter, and for betraying my faith like Judas? Oh that I would be as bold as John the Baptist or as considerate and compassionate as Barnabas. Thank you for your understanding and patience with me. I pray for those today who may be in the mist of their trials and tribulations for those who may be having a difficult time believing for their miracle, for their salvation, for their deliverance! For their marriage. And thanks be to God that you are faithful to your promises regardless of our faith. Daddy you know how much we love you ! You know how much we need you! Help us to see Jesus not just us, help us to live Christ like not self like, help me to see that it is through my despair and doubts, my fears and troubles, that it is here that you are revealed in greater depth! it is there in my circumstances that I can experienced you in ways others fear, in ways others only dream or long for, in a sweet intimacy unknown to others. Help me to understand that my desire to know you more and to be more intimate with you, calls me to struggle more, to suffer more, to encounter more, to have less that I might have more? That my valleys are not meant to discourage me but to inspire me. My desert experience meant not to rob of my promises me but to robe me in faith. That troubles are simply opportunities to glorify you. That temptations are a privilege to do what is right not an opportunity to regard sin but to recognize the SON! Thank you Lord! Amen... Prepared by George R. Nava 209-465-9731 |