how long has it been since you felt like this?
1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
Jeff Mangum talked about self feeding this morning at church.
The thing is that until you have a soul thirsty for God, you simply won’t put much effort into self feeding. Certainly, there is a place for discipline in the Christian life and sometimes we keep doing what we know we ought to be doing because we know we ought to do it. But when you fall in love with God, then you hunger/pant/thirst for Him and you aren’t satisfied with anything less than personal time with Him.
It occurs to me that this hunger/panting/thirsting for God is given to us by God as a gift. II Peter 1:3. But then notice II Peter 1:5 “5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith…”
These are the same two sides to the coin as always. God gives us the power and therefore we make every effort.
Pray for God to make you hungry to know Him to pant for him like a deer pants for water, then make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love.