Grace World Outreach Church

Greetings from Grace World

Thank you for joining us today at Grace World. Whether you are joining us in person or watching online, we are so glad you are here! It's our prayer that you discover life in all its fullness.

If you have a prayer request, you can send that to us here at https://www.graceworldag.org/prayer-requests
Every week we place these request on the altar of the church and our entire team lifts up each request by name.

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I’ll Wait For You To Come
Waiting where Deep cry’s to Deep

Psalm 42:1–2 (ESV)

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

The writer expresses a deep Desire, deep Disappointment, and deep Determination

"We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. "No man can come to me," said our Lord, "except the Father which hath sent me draw him," and it is by this very prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for the act of coming. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the out working of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand: "Thy right hand upholdeth me.” - AW Tozer

"As the deer pants"… desperately yearning for water in a state of absolute exhaustion

If I were to diagnose the spiritual condition of the church... suffering from spiritual fatigue and spiritual fog

Plod - a slow, heavy walk

“If one should think it worth his while to write my life, I will give you a criterion by which you may judge of its correctness. If he gives me credit for being a plodder, he will describe me justly. Anything beyond this will be too much. I can plod. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.” - William Carey, Father of Modern Missions

Jesus PLODDED his way to the cross… it wasn’t an easy walk… but he kept going... through the fatigue and through the fog

"As a deer pants (PLODS ON) for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”

LESSON #1: JUST AS WATER IS LIFE TO THE NATURAL BODY, SO THE PRESENCE OF “THE LIVING GOD” IS LIFE TO THE SOUL

Vs 2 My soul thirsts (longs, earnestly desires) for God, for the living God.

David expresses his DEEP DESIRE… I thirst for the Living God! Not an impersonal, but active, present, Manifestation of God’s presence

Studies show 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.

Six Real Benefits Of Water

1) Water is your body’s oil
*** The Presence of the LIVING GOD *** keeps you from drying up!

2) Water helps your body detox
*** The Presence of the LIVING GOD *** keeps you from becoming toxic

3) Water aids digestion
*** The Presence of the LIVING GOD *** helps us consume the word

4) Water prevents Brain Fog
*** The Presence of the LIVING GOD *** keeps us sharp

5) Water helps circulation
*** The Presence of the LIVING GOD *** is LIFE IN ALL ITS FULLNESS

6) Water leads to a Healthier Lifestyle
*** The Presence of the LIVING GOD *** keeps you spiritually healthy

The PRESENCE of the LIVING GOD is LIVING WATER for your SOUL… and that is by design

Genesis 2:7 (ESV)
7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Man wasn’t fully alive, until the wind of God fully filled him

John 4:10 (ESV) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

LESSON #2: GOD ALLOWS DRY SEASONS AS A GIFT TO AWAKEN A DEEPER DESPERATION FOR HIM

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation 6 and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.

David’s Desire becomes an expression of a DEEPER DESPERATION!

Two things he feels…
He Feels Abandoned by God
He Feels Overwhelmed by his enemies

Important to realize that when you are in the valley, your perspective is distorted like looking through a magnifying glass, things are not as bad as it seems

Here’s the reality…
God had not abandoned him
His enemies were likely not even in sight

David’s Depression distorted David’s reality… He couldn’t see His God who was present, while he imagined an enemy who was not present

Thirst is a physical sign of real dehydration

2 Reasons You May Not Seem Spiritually Thirsty…

1) You’ve shifted your pursuit to worldly pleasures

- These are the LUSTS of the Flesh, The LUSTS of the eyes, the PRIDE of life
- Addictions, Habits, Hobbies that we turn to veg out. Numb the pain
- Our way of coping in the midst of pain, stress, depression,

***Everybody has a coping mechanism***

Healthy:
- Prayer and Devotion
- Edifying Relationships
- Rest
- Pursuing Wisdom
- Physical Activity

Unhealthy:
- Escapism
- Self-Soothing (addictions, medication, alcohol, drugs, food, entertainment)
- Risk Taking
- Self-Harm

2) You're consumed with worldly Pressures
- Personal Pressure
- Perceived pressure

LESSON #3: YOUR DEEP LONGING FOR GOD DOES NOT COMPARE TO HIS DEEPER LONGING FOR YOU

Ps 42:11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

This is David' Determination

I will Hope - (wait for his goodness to manifest)
I will have Faith - (I will praise again)

David called from his depth and then trusted that God would give from his own depth

Water always rushes to the recesses, It’s the deepest places that receive the refreshing water first

Yes the Lord Longs to pour out Himself

Isaiah 30:18 (ESV)
18 Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!

We must simply Wait!

A Few Thoughts from my journal

"Though God may not be speaking in the manner you are accustomed, Know that He is not silent"

"Often The hardest thing for us to do when our soul is panting, is to wait. As ironic as it may seem waiting on the Lord is how we run after the Lord."

"God’s Discipline is never meant to create distance between us, it builds a bridge across the gap"

"God loves you too much to allow you to maintain a surface relationship with him"

"God’s Delay of His Presence is not Denial of His Presence"

Remember Jesus Plodded and showed us how to wait in deep, desperate seasons

Matthew 26:36–41 (ESV)
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; (His DEEP) remain here, and watch with me.”39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

WATCH (Don't self sooth, self medicate, or surrender to self)
PRAY (Bear your soul and ask for strength)
WAIT (remember as As much as you long for Him, even more He longs for you)