Ephesians 3:16-19 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

 

Love is one of the most misunderstood words and feelings that humans struggle with.  The world has its many twisted definitions of what love is, but the Word of God gives us the true definition of real love.  All throughout the scripture we see example after example of the different facets of God’s love displayed to mankind-  His compassion, patience, kindness, mercy and grace. And the ultimate display of his love for us in the Sacrifice of allowing Jesus to die for our sins. And even in these things we cannot fully understand it.  Paul understood how difficult this is for us as humans and his prayer was that the Holy Spirit would bring us into a greater revelation of God’s love. Only by the Spirit of God can we really understand how awesome the love of God truly is.  His prayer was that we would be rooted in God’s love.  That our faith and life would be intertwined with God’s great love for us.  

 

Paul knew that this revelation would give us the ability to press on to the end of the race. He prayed that we would be able to comprehend how wide it is and how deep it is.  How long it is and how high it is.  He prayed that we would experience this love that goes beyond human knowledge and that in knowing it we would be full of the fullness of God.  My desire is to know it more and this is my prayer for you also.  And though I have not yet comprehended or attained all of God’s love for me but I suspect this…

• It is wider than the ends of the horizon.

• It is longer than any road I may travel away from Him.

• It is higher than any mountain I may ever face.

• And it is deeper that the deepest pit I may ever fall into.

 

Prayer Suggestion:  Lord, help me to know your love in a greater way.  Enlarge my comprehension of how awesome it is today.

Psalm 103:2-5 Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

 

Sometimes remembering can bring us pain.  Other times it can bring us a thankful heart for the experiences we have had.  There are things in our past that we should forget, but there are also things in our past that we should never forget.  It would be a very healthy practice to remember daily all the things the Lord has done for us.  In the above Psalm David wrote to himself.  “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits”.  Perhaps he was reminding himself of these things because he was in a trial himself at the time and his mind was being flooded with negative things.  When we are going through a hard time it is easy to forget the good things because we are so focused on the present.

 

But David must have caught hold of his thoughts and penned these words as an encouragement that God was good.  He had never failed him in the past so why should he fail him now?  He remembered how God had forgiven even his vilest sins.  He remembered the times he had felt His healing touch.   He remembered when he had slipped into a pit and the Lord rescued his life with love and compassion.  He remembered the times when God had poured out blessings and when He had renewed his weaknesses with Divine Strength.  In these thoughts David took hope.  Whatever the current circumstance, David knew that God would again not fail him.

 

How about you today?  Is your mind so flooded with the present trial that you are failing to remember the Lord’s goodness to you?  I encourage you to think on your past.  Think of all the times where God has forgiven even your worst sins.  Think about the times he has healed you or rescued you from the pit of a circumstance. Remember how much love and compassion he has shown you over the years.  Think about what your life was like without Christ.    He did not fail you back then and he will not fail you today.  Whatever your circumstance God will be faithful again to meet your need.  These are benefits enough to make you thankful for the rest of your life.

John 4:10

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

 

Many people will agree that there is nothing worse than to be thirsty in a hot, dry place. The conditions of dehydration can become horrific if water is not found readily available.   Your tongue swells and cleaves to the roof of your mouth. Swallowing becomes difficult. Many times people lost in the desert become delirious and see mirages [an illusion or delusion] of an oasis of water that is really not there.   The body simply was not created to live without regular intake of water.

 

The spirit man is no different. Just like the physical body craves water to survive and be healthy so does the spiritual body. Jesus, who is the Living Water, offered the Samaritan woman the invitation to drink from a water that would truly quench the thirst in her life. He invited her to drink from a fountain that would never run dry.

 

Unfortunately many people in this world today continue to live in a state of thirst. They dwell in a desert of delusion and don’t even know it.   Their souls are thirsty for a water that quenches and satisfies deeply, yet in their spiritual dehydration they often see the delusions of this world and drink from wells that are nothing more than dry and empty or polluted. They do not quench the real thirst they are experiencing. But there is hope! Jesus offers the same invitation to you today as He did to the woman at the well 2000 years ago. If you have a thirst in your life that simply cannot be quenched, then perhaps you are drinking from the wrong well? Perhaps it’s time to seek God and ask him for a drink of His water? You won’t be disappointed.