How thirsty are you?

During my time of serving with the Army Military Police in Panama, a squad of us was specially selected for a five-day jungle familiarization and warfare training with the Special Forces. What a thrilling experience, living in the jungle and learning from those experts! We had to carry all our food for those days in our backpacks—limited to two C-rations per day because of the weight. That meant we got pretty hungry.

We also got quite thirsty, too. We were told that due to the water loss that comes from heavy physical exertion in the high humidity of the jungle, we needed to drink well over a gallon of water a day. The problem was, we only had two one-quart canteens each. That meant we had to find water in the jungle.

On one of the days, we had all depleted our water supplies and needed to refill our canteens. We came across a stream that looked as though it would be a good source, but there was one problem. The morning rains had caused so much runoff of mud into the stream that it was a rushing, brown current. But we didn’t have any choice except to use it. I remember filling my canteens, dropping in the iodine tablet to purify the water, waiting the appropriate time—and then guzzling that water. I could taste the mud and feel the grit between my teeth, but it didn’t matter. I was panting for that stream of water.

As much as I needed that water physically, our spiritual reality is that we need God’s presence in our lives even more. We were created to know and experience God on a personal, relational basis. We were created for ongoing relationship with God.

Sometimes, however, we endure situations in which we don’t sense God’s presence as we should. David was facing some enemies who so discouraged him that he lost his sense of connection with God. Sometimes we face challenges, perhaps in our family relationships, in our work or finances, or in our health, that cause us to become disconnected from God, too. The terrible thing about feeling disconnected from God in such times is that we miss out on the very resources we need to face those challenges.

We also feel disconnected from God when we fall into spiritual ruts, perhaps still engaging in routines that at one time had meaning for us but have since become empty. Maybe things have been too good for us, and we have lost our sense of dependence on the presence of God. In the church world we can become prideful in our traditions and close ourselves off to what God is doing through people different from ourselves. We are really in trouble when we wrongly assume that some of our religious and church practices are evidence that God is showing up, but he’s not really in them at all. Even those things that might have been manifestations of a previous revival can become the new tradition of a relatively lifeless practice! Those things will not satisfy you.

So what do we do?

The place to start is by getting in touch with that deep, spiritual thirst for God’s presence once again. Realize that nothing else will satisfy you but his presence. Yes, God is always there in the general sense. He will never leave you nor forsake you. We need to grow in our confidence in that truth. But you were made for more. You were made for an experience of God’s presence. Set your heart to go and meet with God. He will not disappoint you.

God won’t give you muddy water to drink, but don’t wait for conditions to be perfect before you begin crying out for his presence to be more manifest in your life. First, don’t wait for conditions to be perfect in your own life. Even if your sense of loss of God’s presence is your fault, simply turn to God and he will send a season of refreshing.

Second, don’t wait for the perfect revival before embracing a move of God’s Spirit in our day. The fact that human beings are involved means that there certainly will be some muddying of the water. Sure, there should be proper discernment, and there should always be room to learn how to respond to a move of God more appropriately. But if you are looking for something perfectly acceptable to you, you just might remain thirsty when you should be drinking in what God is doing.

The purpose of this blog is to encourage people who might otherwise dismiss a move of God to embrace it. I also hope to help the people and churches who embrace the next revival or awakening to apply wisdom and to do our best not to get sidetracked and miss the true purposes of revival. Start asking for more of the presence and power of God in your life. Get thirsty. Get ready for the next great spiritual awakening.

Pastor Ed’s Notes