<html><head></head><body><div><div><div>John 7;37<div><br></div><div><b>37. &nbsp;On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>Spiritual thirst (for righteousness) is a gift of God. &nbsp;By nature we seek fame, praise, and&nbsp;honor for ourselves. &nbsp;It is not in our sinful nature to seek to be servants.</div><div><br></div><div>Hungering and thirst for righteousness is a work of repentance in us. &nbsp;Repentance is also a gift of God.</div><div><br></div><div>Holiness is being separated unto God, belonging to God only. &nbsp;This is why marriage is called ‘holy’ matrimony. &nbsp;The vow of marriage is faithfulness to one other exclusively. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Thirst for righteousness is evidence that God is at work in us. &nbsp;We can not claim a natural thirst for righteousness. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>We <i>“drink” </i>of Christ by faith. &nbsp;We believe in&nbsp;the work,&nbsp;Words, and promises of&nbsp;Christ for both salvation AND sanctification, holiness of life. &nbsp;It is no accident that Baptism into Christ, (death to sin and regeneration in the Holy Spirit) happens in and through water combined with the Word. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Just as our new nature&nbsp;given us in baptism, thirsts for righteousness, our old nature thirsts for dissipation. The flesh is and until physical death, will forever be dominated by defiling&nbsp;appetites, lusts, passions, pride, and rebelliousness.</div><div><br></div><div>How sad that we are constantly being assaulted with these defiling passions, AND we in our flesh are ignorant of how dry our souls are. &nbsp;We do not have a natural attraction to God’s living&nbsp;Word, obedience,&nbsp;worship, prayer, or serving others. &nbsp;All these things ARE in us by virtue of our baptism, but the old man remains unaware.</div><div><br></div><div>Even more sad, when by the grace of God we do ‘drink a little’, &nbsp;our sinful nature tells us, ‘Whoa, slow down, that is enough, don’t over-do, a little God-time is all you need….You have so many other better,&nbsp;things more important, more fun, more enriching to do’. &nbsp; Our sinful nature considers reading God’s Word, worship, prayer, and service to others as burdensome chores which must be endured. &nbsp;The flesh does them begrudgingly, but constantly resents the lost time which could have been spent pleasing the flesh. &nbsp;This is not walking by the Spirit. &nbsp;This is carnal Christianity. &nbsp;No wonder Luther teaches us to drown the old Adam daily.</div><div><br></div><div>In Christ, we do thirst, our souls are longing for the living waters, only by faith do we know this to be true, and&nbsp;only by faith do we drink. &nbsp;Only by faith do we deny ourselves, take up our Bibles and read, pray, praise,&nbsp;and serve. &nbsp;But, as we do, the Spirit of God within us rejoices and we have a peace, the peace of Jesus, not of this world.</div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Dear Father, make me truly wise, bless me to know my needs as well as I already know my wants. &nbsp;Bless me to drink deeply of the life and righteousness you give me in Christ. &nbsp;In Jesus I pray, Amen</div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed as, ‘soak’ in the living Word.”</div><div><br><br><a href="https://overview.mail.yahoo.com/?.src=iOS" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></body></html>

John 7;37
37.  On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink.
Spiritual thirst (for righteousness) is a gift of God.  By nature we seek fame, praise, and honor for ourselves.  It is not in our sinful nature to seek to be servants.
Hungering and thirst for righteousness is a work of repentance in us.  Repentance is also a gift of God.
Holiness is being separated unto God, belonging to God only.  This is why marriage is called ‘holy’ matrimony.  The vow of marriage is faithfulness to one other exclusively.  
Thirst for righteousness is evidence that God is at work in us.  We can not claim a natural thirst for righteousness.  
We “drink” of Christ by faith.  We believe in the work, Words, and promises of Christ for both salvation AND sanctification, holiness of life.  It is no accident that Baptism into Christ, (death to sin and regeneration in the Holy Spirit) happens in and through water combined with the Word.  
Just as our new nature given us in baptism, thirsts for righteousness, our old nature thirsts for dissipation. The flesh is and until physical death, will forever be dominated by defiling appetites, lusts, passions, pride, and rebelliousness.
How sad that we are constantly being assaulted with these defiling passions, AND we in our flesh are ignorant of how dry our souls are.  We do not have a natural attraction to God’s living Word, obedience, worship, prayer, or serving others.  All these things ARE in us by virtue of our baptism, but the old man remains unaware.
Even more sad, when by the grace of God we do ‘drink a little’,  our sinful nature tells us, ‘Whoa, slow down, that is enough, don’t over-do, a little God-time is all you need….You have so many other better, things more important, more fun, more enriching to do’.   Our sinful nature considers reading God’s Word, worship, prayer, and service to others as burdensome chores which must be endured.  The flesh does them begrudgingly, but constantly resents the lost time which could have been spent pleasing the flesh.  This is not walking by the Spirit.  This is carnal Christianity.  No wonder Luther teaches us to drown the old Adam daily.
In Christ, we do thirst, our souls are longing for the living waters, only by faith do we know this to be true, and only by faith do we drink.  Only by faith do we deny ourselves, take up our Bibles and read, pray, praise, and serve.  But, as we do, the Spirit of God within us rejoices and we have a peace, the peace of Jesus, not of this world.
Prayer:  Dear Father, make me truly wise, bless me to know my needs as well as I already know my wants.  Bless me to drink deeply of the life and righteousness you give me in Christ.  In Jesus I pray, Amen
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed as, ‘soak’ in the living Word.”

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