Sunday, July 30, 2017

How To Want God More
By: Melody Mohnhaupt

After attending a women’s Bible study this past weekend I began pondering one specific cry of the heart that was made: Lord, make me thirsty. It became clear to me that I may not thirst after the word as much as I want to. Isn't that kind of a funny concept? I don’t want it as much as I want to want it? I’m almost certain we’ve all felt this way one time or another. In our heads, or even in our hearts, we genuinely want the Lord, but much of the time, our actions prove otherwise.

We get restless waiting in his presence, we feel burdened to arise early and seek him, we rush through our time, we cut corners and make our time with him to fit our lives and schedules more conveniently. We give him our leftovers. We give him just enough to skate by without feeling too guilty. Or sometimes we even have great, meaningful time with him, but the second we clothes our Bibles and say “amen”, that spiritual side is done for the day.

For many, that is enough. They don’t feel guilty about it. They are content with the amount of themselves they give to God. But for those of you like me, we want to want him more, but we don’t always know where to start. And even if we do where to start, we don’t always want to do it because it requires sacrifice that we aren’t willing to make even though we wish we were willing to. Does that make sense? Can you relate to what I’m saying? If so, how do we change?

It seems super simple because it is. How to want God more - for dummies: Ask the Lord to give you that desire! Well wasn't that easy? Like, why didn't I think of that, right? As basic as it is, if we are in the place of knowing we aren’t giving ourselves enough to the Lord and truly desiring him with our WHOLE hearts, our cries SHOULD be, “make me thirsty!’. We should bask in his presence all the day long without blinking an eye! We should desperately desire more  and more time with him and make that time to be intimate and personal with him! We should go out of our way to put him as our priority. He and our time with him should NEVER be a burden or an inconvenience! We should all be constantly aware of him, our purpose in glorifying him in each situation, our mission as believer and our heavenly perspective of who our God is! 

One good example of this is Martha and Mary. Martha, like many of us, wanted the Lord (or at least she wanted to want the Lord). She was the one who invited him into her home in the first place, so we know her heart’s desire was to bless him and build a relationship with him. However, she became busy with natural things and lost sight of what was most important. She didn't choose to ignore everything else and just sit at his feet as Mary did. (Luke 10:38-42) 

Martha may have wanted the Lord, but Mary THIRSTED to dwell in his presence! NOTHING got in her way. Don't we all wish we could just so effortlessly be Mary? But as terrible as it is to admit, sometimes we aren't willing to be Mary. We get too worried about getting other things done or too tired or even just too uninterested at times to stop everything and draw close to the Father.

We need to pray not only to do, but for the will to do!

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13

In the Amplified Bible it says:

For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure. 

We get stuck in a rut sometimes because our mindset is to just “try harder”. What we don't realize is that it is only by allowing the Lord to work in our hearts and lives that our love for him grows stronger. We need willing hearts to choose Him and He will do the rest. If we want thirsty hearts, pray for a thirsty heart! If we want to be like Mary who longed to be near his side, pray to be like Mary! Do you really think that’s a prayer he wouldn’t gladly answer? 

But take the time to examine yourself. Are you all in for Him? Are you sold out? Is he your GREATEST priority? Do you give him your full, undivided, attention and make time for quality time? Don’t feel condemned if your answer is no. I’m not there either. But this is what we can strive for. This should be what we pray over ourselves for. Pray to want God more. Pray for a heart like Mary. 

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