Thirsty? By Pastor Jesse Jorgensen
Have you ever been really thirsty? Most of my thirstiest memories revolve around when I was growing up and working on my family’s farm. The summers in Montana can be really hot and dry.
Often, after working out in the sun we’d long to get back to the shop, which served as a sort of headquarters for the farm, and drink from the water spigot in the corner. We all agreed that the best water came from that well. It may have just been that whenever we were drinking that water we were extra thirsty or, maybe that water really was better. Either way, I can still remember the refreshment that would come from that water as my thirst was quenched.
I’ve also noticed that I often feel similar refreshment when spending time in God’s word. Maybe you’ve felt this too. God has a way of speaking directly into our lives when we take time to slow down, listen, and read His Word. I’m often amazed at how he floods my soul with peace or truth or whatever He wants to give me in those moments.
Psalm 63:1 says “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.”
These times of spiritually coming back to the “farm headquarters” and getting a refreshing drink are an important aspect of our personal worship. Worship is meant to be a conversation with God, a relationship that is engaged in through all aspects of life. God wants us to delight in him through our work, our play, and all that we do. When we gather together to worship at our weekend services, it is really just an overflow of our personal worship. It’s a special time when we gather together as individual worshipers and join in a group conversation with God. So, I encourage you to carve out time to engage with God and scripture this coming year as personal acts of worship and then live out of that refreshment in your every day life!
One tool that might help us do this is “The Daily Text”, a reading plan that takes us through the whole Bible in two years. Check it out on our websites: easthillsalliance.org or thegrovealliance.org and be watching for details on how you can sign up for daily reminders. We’ll also have a place on our websites, where you can join the church-wide conversation about what God is speaking to us as we take time to be refreshed in God’s word together!
Beginning this month, EHA/The Grove is using a tool that might help us do this. It is called “the Daily Text” and is a reading plan that takes us through the whole Bible in two years. You can view the daily texts online at our websites: easthillsalliance.org or thegrownalliance.org. Sign up to receive a daily text message reminder by texting "@daily-text" to 81010 or, send an email to daily-text@mail.remind.com to receive daily email reminders. We also have a place on our websites where you can join the church-wide conversation about what God is speaking to us as we take time to be refreshed in God’s Word together!