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God knows how strong and driving your need is—He designed it that way. You can be confident that by turning and drawing near to God He can and will meet that need! Repentance can help you experience what God offers freely.

Feeding Ourselves with

Boasting and Power is

Evidence of our Desire and

Need for God's Presence!

Is all boasting wrong? No. It depends on what you are boasting in. All of us need to have something we boast in; it makes us confident. Your thirst drives you to find something in which you can boast. But, people are different. We boast in different ways. For some boasting is loud and overt. For others, boasting is inside to ourselves and very quiet. Some boast with words. Others boast without words, only feelings inside. Even so, all of it is still boasting.

Naturally speaking, my own way of boasting tends to be more quiet. Yet, I have learned that directing my heart to boast in God requires effort applied to being more overt. I have to boast in God out loud. Otherwise, I tend to drift along unchanged. You will likely find the same thing is true for you. Follow king David’s example. Direct your soul to boast in God. Humble yourself enough to boast in Him, out loud.

"My soul will make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and rejoice." (Psalm 34:2)

"For You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my confidence..." (Psalm 71:5)

Often the things we boast in are not ‘bad’ things. It would be wonderful if everyone had a good job and a warm house. Only, we are not to drink our sense of being secure from these kinds of things. God wants to be with you enough for you to make Him your refuge, your glory, and your strength. He wants to be your security. Paul was referring to the process of quenching our thirst when he wrote, "glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh," (Phil 3:3).

Friends, truth that is loving, hurts sometimes. When you feel insecure, do you run to the refrigerator sometimes? I have. If you have to soothe yourself with food, this too is idolatry; "whose god is their appetite" (Phil 3:19). Oh, but there is hope! I love this next verse.

"...it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefitted." (Hebrews 13:9)

You need more of God with you. Don’t try to ease the pain of your unquenched thirst with the pleasure of being filled with food. Let your heart be strengthened by grace, not by that which does not benefit. Humble yourself enough to delight in the grace of God. He will give you His presence, if you trust Him enough to stand before Him without protecting yourself with hardness from disbelief. If you humble yourself enough to let God give you His Spirit so you can make Him your refuge, your glory, and your strength, if you make Him your God, then He will give you His Spirit, freely, abundantly. Listen again to the great promise given by the prophet Isaiah.

"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters...delight yourself in abundance." (Isaiah 55:1,2)

Let yourself receive His Spirit. The more so the better. The more effectively you make the Spirit, that God gives you, your refuge and strength, the more intensely the presence of His Spirit will be around you. The more effectively you make God your refuge the more God will be able to make you into a fountain of His Spirit.

"The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, And their tongue is parched with thirst; I, the Lord, will answer them Myself, As the God of Israel I will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights And springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water And the dry land fountains of water." (Isaiah 41:17,18)

You can learn to make God’s presence your security, confidence, what soothes and reassures you, nothing else. On a practical level, not having "other gods" means we have to let God give us His Spirit! Otherwise, our thirst will push us back toward other gods.

We glory in things that are directly related to what God is like. But we can also glory in things that are opposite to what God is like.

God is a God of power, but if you twist things around we can sometimes drink from the misuse of human power. Our thirst is so great, that sometimes people glory in having hurt others. At times, it may be open and confrontive. Other times, it is subtle and deeply hidden.

Why do people do bad things like murder, rape, theft, abuse? I believe these behaviors are evidence of how far down we can go if we don’t quench our thirst with the presence of a God who is powerfully good.

Power and control are important to us because of our thirsty desire for God. We were designed to experience God as our God, not the twisted and evil glory of hurting other people!

"The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He." (Deut. 32:4)

The need for God is desperate. You can trust God to give you His presence. The violent misuse of power is destroying our society and our world. We in the Christian community must act fast. Though we often don’t take advantage of it, we have available to us what the rest of the world craves. Use thanks and praise for the truth in order to redirect the ways you normally quench your thirst. Draw near to God and delight in Him as you freely receive His presence. Then, teach others to do the same!

Consider the strength of God. Rather than quench our thirst with the closeness of God’s strength and His power, we try to ‘drink’ from our own. We should follow David’s example, "I love You, O Lord, my strength" (Psalm 18:1). But not too long ago, I had to laugh at myself.

I remember being in the bathroom after just having taken a shower. I hadn’t put my shirt on yet and happened to glance in the mirror. Now, keep in mind here that as of this writing, I am 44 years old. I like to ride my mountain bike, but I am still kind of flabby. Definitely not anything to look at, especially with my shirt off. But as my eyes raced across the image in the mirror my biceps caught my attention. In my head, I knew that my upper arm was pushed down and my muscles had only "jelloed" out against my side. My arm only looked bigger than normal. Even so, I went, "Hmm." I thought it looked good. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t really muscle. I knew it wasn’t the truth, but even so, I was still impressed. Silly isn’t it?

Why do we do things like this? It might sound crazy at first, but I think it has to do with our thirst for God. In terms of the strength of God, we need Him close. In my case, I am so thirsty for the glorious presence of God that when I haven’t been ‘drinking’ the Spirit, I will even try to substitute God for prideful lies about how impressive I look. This is both silly and sad.

"He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man." (Psalm 147:10)

On the other hand, I don’t think this is too far off from where most of us live. We are constantly looking for ways to reassure ourselves. Friends, we need God close enough to us to reassure us. We need the Holy Spirit more than most of us realize. Rather than what we see in the mirror, we need to boast in the God whose presence we see around us by faith.

Strength is important to us because of our thirsty desire for God. We were designed to experience God as our God. Let Him draw near and enjoy praising His strength, not your own.

"...they walk in the light of Your countenance...For You are the glory of their strength..." (Psalm 89:15-17)

"O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuary. The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people. Blessed be God!" (Psalm 68:35)

"Be exalted, O Lord, in Your strength; We will sing and praise Your power." (Psalm 21:13)

Standing before the Lord and thrilling yourself with the closeness of the strength of God is far better than having to trust yourself. You will feel more confident. You will also be much stronger spiritually when you go to prayer. Only, keep the praise going toward God. Otherwise, your boasting will turn into spiritual pride and weaken you.

God as your strength, nothing else

We all need something to depend on that will make us feel strong enough to tackle the difficulties of life. But, God wants to be our strength, not ‘other gods.’ Though it is painful to admit, it will help us if we honestly consider our bondage to idolatry.

"...they will be held guilty, They whose strength is their God." (Hab. 1:11)

It could be the presence of God. David said, "I love You, O Lord, my strength." (Psalm 18:1). Like David we take pleasure in and love the sources we depend on to feel strong. We should learn to take pleasure in God, not in the ‘other gods’ of our own strength. Often, God does not take pleasure in those things which we find delight.

"He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man." (Psalm 147:10)

It is right that you allow God to draw near to you so that you can wrap yourself in His presence as your strength. Come to Him and drink because anything else is idolatry.

The scriptures carry a strong rebuke for those who trust their own strength rather than the one and only God. But, those whose trust is the Lord will be like a tree planted by water.

"Thus says the Lord, ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the Lord. For he will be like a bush in the desert...But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness... Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord And whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit." (Jeremiah 17:5-8; see also Isaiah 12:2,3)

We know from previous studies that the water spoken of in the verse above is the water of the Holy Spirit. Humble yourself enough to let yourself believe that God is a fountain who never stops giving the Spirit. Then, nurture believing you have access enough to actually draw near to Him. Stand open before the Lord, by reapplying what you do in the shower when you let the water warm you down to the bone. When you do, He will draw near to you. As you receive His presence trust the Holy Spirit coming to you, and His presence with you, is your strength. Think of Him that way, not your humanness. Then, you will be like a tree planted by water that flows direct from the sanctuary of God (Ezek. 47:1-12).

The essence of what it means to have God as your one and only God is to depend on Him to be what quenches your thirst.

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I am praying for the Lord's abundant blessing on your efforts to direct your heart toward Him.

Barry.

       Understanding Yourself — Continued...

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(C) Barry Hall 1999

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