Are You Thirsty for Jesus — E.A. Johnston

Spiritual Thirst Illustrated by the Deer

Picture in your mind, friend, a deer, as it runs through a woodland. There runs the deer, through the woods, frightened after barely being killed by a hunter. There it runs as fast as it can, darting and dashing, its dry tongue cleaving to its mouth as it pants for some water brook to dip its weary head.

Psalm 42 and Thirst for the Living God

Our text today is found in Psalm 42. As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Spiritual Dryness and Routine in Christian Life

There are dry seasons, unfortunately, that come in the life of a believer, where perhaps we are busy about the Lord's work, but we are missing the Lord in the work, and things have become so routine in our life that the freshness has gone out of our walk with God.

Keeping Love for Jesus Fresh

It's like a marriage, which at first blush is exciting, and we can't wait to get in the presence of our loved one, to spend time with them. But after a while, perhaps after a few years, things begin to go stale in the love relationship between the husband and wife.

They begin to take each other for granted, and it's best illustrated by the married couple out for dinner, each more interested in their meal than in each other. I remember when I dated my wife, we were thin as rails, we didn't eat at all.

We were so consumed with one another. That's how it should be in our love relationship with Jesus. Friend, have the embers on the altar of your heart been burning low lately? I'm reminded of a story told by Duncan Campbell, whom God used so mightily during the Lewis Revival in Scotland.

Duncan Campbell's Story of Lost Wonder

Let me share it with you now. Duncan Campbell was up in his study early one morning, preparing a sermon on the Holy Spirit, which he was going to give to a group of ministers at a convention. From down in the parlor, he could hear singing.

It was his sixteen-year-old daughter, and she was happily singing a hymn. He went downstairs to listen to her. He asked her, Lassie, what is there to sing about so early in the morning at six o 'clock?

She came over and sat in his lap and exclaimed, Oh, Daddy, I have just spent an hour with Jesus. Isn't Jesus wonderful, Daddy? Duncan Campbell said he felt like a knife had gone through his heart. The remark stunned him because, at that point in his life, Jesus wasn't wonderful to him.

It broke his heart, and he slowly walked back upstairs to his study. When he got there, he threw himself down on the floor and wept like a baby for his lack of love for Jesus. Here he was, a settled pastor, preparing a sermon on the Holy Spirit to preach to a bunch of ministers, and Jesus wasn't wonderful to him.

Maintaining a Passionate Pursuit of God

Oh, friends, that can happen to us as well. If you want to be used of God, friend, then maintain a hot pursuit of God. Let me ask you, friend, is Jesus wonderful to you right now? Are you thirsty for more of Jesus?