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

This is the daily cry of my heart.  A cry I am sensing all over this land.  It is a cry and a deep desire of many believers to have a deeper relationship with God and more of God.  There is a longing for a deeper intimacy with God through the Holy Spirit.  Unfortunately, sometimes it is a cry that has no commitment.  It is a superficial expression of a desire, but for those who have that deep longing, it can be a reality.

Having more of God and being closer to God is not something that only the select of the elect can attain.  It is available to every Child of God.  God wants everybody to come to the river and drink.  Everyone can have as much of God and His Spirit as they desire.  There are no limitations.  That River will Never Run Dry!

Isaiah 55:1 – “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the water, and you who have no money, come, buy, and eat.  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!”

Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

There is a river flowing from the Throne and Heart of God and it is a never-ending river.  It will never run dry.  It is a river with a plenteous supply.  A river that completely satisfies the longing soul.  In the natural, a river at flood stage purifies that river.  It sweeps away the debris that has collected and is a sort of purification.  When the river of God is a flood in our hearts we are purified, and all the debris of worldliness is swept away!

The bottom line, spiritually is, “Our appetites determine our spiritual condition.”  We eat and drink what we want because we want it.  If we desire something bad enough, we will struggle to obtain it, sacrifice to achieve it, and go to great lengths to apprehend it.  It is exactly the same in the things of God.  If we want more of God, we will press in until we have more of God.  The hesitancy is not on God’s side of the equation but ours.  If we become hungry and thirsty, we will be satisfied.

There are some conditions or requirements to receiving the Spirit and Power of the LORD in our lives to the full.  Remember when Jesus stood at the feast and cried out the words of John 7:37-39?  He said, “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” ³⁹ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

• Condition Number One – We Must Be Thirsty.

That means to have an ardent, eager, famishing, keen, and all-consuming craving, and passion of the soul for a complete union with God and with the fullness of His Holy Spirit.

Psalm 42:2 – “My soul thirst for God, for the Living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”

Psalm 63:1 – “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You: my soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs of you in a dry thirsty land where no water is.”

Psalm 143:6 – “I stretch forth my hands unto You; my soul thirsts after you, as in a thirsty land.”

Isaiah 41:17 – “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.  I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.”

Isaiah 44:3 – “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My Spirit upon your seed and My blessings upon your offspring.”

The Bible makes it clear that if we will, seek we will find.  If we are thirsty, really thirsty, He will give us the refreshing water of life to drink.  Elisha had that thirst in 2 Kings 2.  He followed Elijah to Gilgal, then to Bethel, then to the Jordan.  He refused to be denied or to accept delay.  He pressed into a Double Portion Anointing.  The prophet Joel declared that God would pour out His Spirit upon “All Flesh.”  That means you and me if we will come to the water to drink.

I want to press into this more but will pause here until the next devotional.

Have a wonderful day in the refreshing of the LORD!