I'm Dying Of Thirst

Have you ever been so thirsty you feel like your tongue might stick to the roof of your mouth?
I'm going to tell you yet another embarrassing Gena story.
When I first moved into my apartment complex I started taking long walks. It's a really big complex with lots of lakes and trees, it's really very pretty. So I'm out there one morning enjoying the scenery, praying and singing and as usual not paying much attention to my surroundings.
I had a bottle of water with me and it wasn't until the water was gone that I realized I had no idea where I was. Did I mention it's on 500 acres and all the buildings look exactly the same?
I was out there for hours trying to figure out how to get home. It was getting hotter and hotter and I was getting more and more thirsty. The fact that I was lost seem to make me even thirstier.
I was too embarrassed to call someone and tell them I was lost in my own apartment complex. Those of you who know me would not be surprised.
When I finally got home four days later, just kidding I wanted to make sure you were paying attention.
When I finally got home I told my daughter I was dying of thirst which of course was an exaggeration.
It did get me thinking about being thirsty and what do I really thirst for.
I looked up the word thirst in the New King James Bible and it gave me 31 verses so it's obviously a condition God uses as an example for us.
Jesus uses the physical condition of thirst and takes it to a spiritual level. For example:
Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
In the book of John Jesus meets a woman at a well that is obviously there for water.
John 4:13-14
“Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

Jesus is basically telling us that all the things we look for in the world to fill us will eventually leave us thirsty again. No person or thing can fill the void in our soul that was designed to be filled by the Lord.
There's something important I want to point out to you.
Because we live in a performance driven world we tend to put the same dynamics on our relationship with the Lord as we do with job performance.
We can easily get caught up in the “if I do enough for God He will give me more” type of thinking.
I'm not talking about being obedient to God's word, I'm talking about always trying to do better or do more things to gain more love or favor from God.
It's great to allow the Holy Spirit to mold your life to look more like Jesus but you can't possibly DO anything to make God love you more.
For example there are times in my personal walk with the Lord that I have no income and I live on complete faith. When I say I have no income I mean no income. No child support, welfare, food stamps, unemployment or disability.
During these times I sometimes feel like I need to be serving God as much as possible because I'm not going to a worldly job and I miss the part of Him wanting me to take some of this freed up time to thirst for Him.
Let's pick up where we left off in John.
John 4:15
The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
This living water is free, there are no performance stings attached.
Do we ask for this living water from Jesus? Do we even know what living water means?
Do we wake up and think I need to drink in some of what God has to say to me before my feet even hit the floor? Do I rush home to spend time with the Lord before I play video games or work in the garden or whatever you do at the end of your day.

My daughter has four dogs. I call one of them the beast but her name is Aria. When she comes in from outside she makes a mad dash for the water dish. She will literally knock you down if you get in her path. She will then slurp up the water so fast and loud like she hasn't had a drink in days.
Can you imagine if we were that thirsty for a relationship with God?
If we actually knocked everyone and everything out of the way to get to Him.

God was so thirsty for us He freely gave His son and we sip Him when we have a need or life blind sides us. We sip Him when we hit rock bottom and there's no place else to turn.
We eventually get back on our feet and have a sense of false security and start drinking all the lies the enemy tell us. Things like if you work hard enough or look good enough or know enough of the right people you won't thirst again. You can lower all kinds of things in the world's well but you'll always bring up an empty bucket.
God's not telling us we have to be Bible scholars or we have to do enough charity work or give away enough money He just wants us to be thirsty for Him and allow Him to take care of all our needs.

John 6:35
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
We may flippantly use the phrase I'm so thirsty I could die but don't for one minute take for granted the fact that Jesus IS so thirsty for you He did die.
In a way you have to die too. Die to selfishness and greed, die to it's all about me and I'm number one. Die to I and think about we.
Thank you Lord it didn't end at your death! We serve a risen Lord a Holy God and a powerful Holy Spirit! How thirsty are you for living water?