Living The Psalms With Jesus: Grow Closer To God Through PrayerSample

"Longing for God"

All of us have dreams and desires. All of us long for something in our lives. Sometimes we desire good things and other times we desire the things that harm us. Still, we desire them. As believers, the best thing to desire is God’s love, presence, friendship, and work in the world. When we make this our first desire and other desires second, everything comes into proper, healthy alignment in our lives.

Does your soul thirst for God? Mine doesn’t always, I’m sorry to say. Very often, I find myself wanting to want God, thirsting to be thirsty for God. Although our desire and searching for God doesn’t always come naturally, if you want to want God, that’s enough. Now you have to act on that desire for desire by taking action and taking heart.

Taking a heart for God is like taking courage, an action that doesn’t always line up with what you feel. This is not “trying harder,” but actually training your heart and will to be pointed towards God.

Sometimes this means finding new friends who share this passion. I discovered in college that by hanging around other like-minded students and doing the things they did, I began to grow in a deeper love and thirst for God. If you don’t know anyone like this, ask God to send some people like this into your life. Remember, a true passion for God doesn’t always mean it will be emotional, but it does always mean wisdom, compassion, and faith.

Prayer: Dear Father, I am hungry for your love. I earnestly seek you with all my heart. Even when I feel alone, I will take heart, knowing you are but a prayer away. Amen.