I need to be daily kept!

I need to be daily kept!

(James Smith's autobiography, "Marvelous Mercy!" 1862)

The following is an excerpt from the diary of James Smith:

April 16, 1854.

During the past week, I have had one of the most severe asthmatic attacks I ever experienced. How painful to labor and gasp for breath, as I then did. How different the things of time appear under such circumstances! How soon one feels willing to spread the wings and fly away. May I daily live under the impression I then felt.

How I long . . .

  for closer communion with God,
  to feel more of the sweet power of piety in my own heart,
  to walk with God in confidence,
  to lean upon Him,
  to cast every care upon Him,
  to leave everything with Him,
  to aim always, and in everything to glorify Him,
  to walk through the world as if one was walking straight home to God--to dwell with and to enjoy Him forever!

Yet I feel that I need to be daily kept--to have the Lord's eye constantly upon me, and His everlasting arms always beneath me!
"Hold me up--and I shall be safe!" Psalm 119:117

[Received this in an email from Grace Gems. It really speaks to the prayer of my heart as well although I have not experienced the pain that James Smith must have felt. I add to this John's prayer, "Even so Lord Jesus come!!"]

Do You Have a Thirst for Christ?

Rev 21:6 "And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts." This verse stands out, not only in Revelation but in several other places throughout the Bible.

Our God is eternal, self-existent, always has been, always will be. He is greater than His universe He created and yet we are privileged to know Him and He graciously dwells in those who trust and believe in Him. Amazing!!

The one problem I note from this is that He says He would give the water of life freely to him who thirsts. That's the catch, how many really thirst for Him today. Too many of us are caught up in the happenings in our lives and around us, we no longer thirst for Him.

David said in Ps 42:1 "As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God." This draws, in my mind, a deer that has been chased by hounds looking for a quiet moment and refreshing water to quench its thirst. That's what David says, like that deer he pants [thirsts] for God.

Dear Father, give me a thirst that can only be quenched by You. Make me thirsty for you in this dry and barren world in which I live. Help me to seek You and find You. Help me to search for You with all my heart. For Christ's sake, Amen!