Recently I read a prayer in an old Puritan book that encouraged and challenged me. The Puritan prayer was this: “As the sun is full of light, the ocean full of water, heaven full of glory, so may my heart be full of Thee.”
The Bible is filled with verses that speak of the deep desire for more of God’s presence in our lives.
Here is how the Psalmist phrased it in Psalm 42:1: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”
Jesus said it this way in Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
The Apostle Paul expressed it like this in Philippians 3:10: “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…”
Christian, do you hunger and thirst for more of Christ in your life? Do you desire for the presence of God to fill your everyday life? Do you hunger and thirst for His righteousness?
This desire — this hunger and thirst — comes from knowing Him, examining Him, and going to Him so that he can thrill us with His presence. If you do not long for Him as the Psalmist did or desire Him in the same way that the Puritan does in his prayer, ask Him to create in you a thirst that can only be quenched by Him. Go to Him with the expectation to be filled and He will fill you up indeed.
Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” — John 6:35
Thirsty,
Steele
Posted in A Word from the Pastor