Are You Thirsty?

Yesterday, I attended the Elders' and Church Leaders' Conference at Lincoln Christian College in Lincoln, Illinois. Dave Butts, founder of Harvest Prayer Ministries in Terre Haute, Indiana, was the main speaker. The theme was Leading Your Church to Become a Praying Church.

One of the things that personally opened my "spiritual eyes" was when Dave read Psalm 27:4 NIV:

"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."

When we pray, do we seek to be intimate with God? Do we desire to be in His presence daily? The Psalmist is saying that he was to have a personal relationship with God, gazing at His beauty, and be in His presence wherever He may dwell. Do we have that kind of passion in our prayer life?

Then if that wasn't challenging enough, Dave proceeds to read Psalm 63:1 NIV:

"O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water."

Is our desire, passion, and longing for God like a man in a desert who craves water to satisfy his thirst? Our we spiritually thirsty, and seek out God to satisfy our thirst with His presence?

I know my prayer life is going to be different from now on. How about you? Are you thirsty?