A person may not even know that they are experiencing chronic dehydration. Many have been with it for so long that it seems normal. Surely no one would like to be in this state, however I fear that we, as God’s children, live with spiritual chronic dehydration.

Chronic dehydration of the spirit is an immense danger, because it causes us to become complacent in our walk with God. We believe we’re doing fine, however we are slowly killing ourselves or causing side effects that impede spiritual progress. We are unable to act on the prompting of the spirit, and we get comfortable because things have always been this way and always will be. Eventually we cannot imagine what it’s like to have a more satisfying life — a life of spiritual hydration.

I have been attempting to get to the point where, instead of being so desensitized to my lack of spiritual hydration, I will recognize it and quench the thirst that I have In God. I want to live at a deeper level, to get out of the place I thought was normal. I want to dive into the deeper levels of spiritual renewal and depth that I’ve never known.

At times I have been thoroughly convinced that I’ve “arrived” at the level God planned for me in the spirit, but then God has opened up my eyes to see how parched I really am for Him.

This week there was a fresh opportunity to experience this. At our church, the young men have decided to gather on Saturday nights and pray. We had reached a point where we were praying and things were happening, but we were not to the point God was beckoning us to.

We could have been satisfied with where we were at. It was even an exceptional place to be for our age group. However, God gave us the grace to identify what I would classify as our spiritual dehydration. So we decided to push for that Liberty in the spirit, to bring ourselves to the threshold of the Holy of Holies. On a cold spring night, we allowed God to bring us into His very presence.

As we stepped into God’s presence on the other side of that veil, we were greeted by a presence so beautiful that I find it hard to put into words. We became lost in His presence and renewed by His blood. That’s what happens when we decide to go deeper and be willing to follow God into the unprecedented places He wants to bring us to.

Over the past few weeks, God has been working deep within me, down where no one can see what’s there – places I didn’t even acknowledge. He has let things from my past resurface so that I can come to the place where I’m so desperate that I will throw myself at his feet, laying down all that I am. I have experienced all over again the pain that comes from losing my mother and sister in a car accident. I have realized that for fifteen years I’ve buried my pain and harbored anger and resentment towards God for what happened. Finally I came to the place where that had been buried so long that there was no more room. My emotions, thoughts, and feelings all exploded and I found myself deep in depression, ready to ship it all in.

Two Fridays ago I planned exactly how I would end it. I thought that I could kill the pain. Then last Sunday God, in his awesome and overwhelming love, began the healing process that I have needed for years. This weekend He spoke into my life through people, continuing the healing process as I poured myself out to him.

If you have stuffed away your feelings and let them fester inside, let them go. Fall on your knees and pour everything out before the God who came to heal; He desires that you live a life of true joy.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” (Luke 4:18)