Write this week’s memory verse, John 4:13-14, on a notecard leaving the opposite words you did yesterday with only the first letter. Practice the verse with the missing words, using the first letter as a clue to help you remember.

Read John 4:27-42 In verses 32-34, we see that Jesus’s focus is not on physical food but spiritual food. The disciples did not understand. Neither do we. More often than not, we do not want to face our spiritual thirst. We prefer a quick fix. Human nature prefers a fast result over a slow period of change. Our spiritual journey takes time, and this can create frustration because we are impatient creatures. It takes courage to face God in our spiritual thirst.

Do you prefer a quick fix, or are you willing to do the hard work of change? Worldly remedies that dull the longing are temporary fixes, and the more we choose the quick answers, the deeper our thirst will grow.

Each time God calls us closer to Him in a new way, the journey starts hard but moves with a gradual release of the tension found at the start line. The world’s way is easy at first, and it is tempting to take the easy path, but Jesus calls us to move toward Him in love. He stirs spiritual thirst within us, and we must pay attention and become dependent upon the Holy Spirit’s work. As we surrender our will to God’s, we see fruit over time, but it takes focus and determination to let spiritual thirst drive us to dependence.

In following Jesus, has there been a time when you let Him lead you to change? What happened? If not, what has kept you from growth and change?

Thirst is an indication of God calling us to change. Change can be challenging to accept, especially if we come to the Lord believing God’s will is to make us happy, bestowing material blessings on us and giving us what we desire. The Samaritan woman tried the things of this world, but when she met with Jesus at Jacob’s well, she realized He is the answer. The living water He gives springs up in us by the power of His Holy Spirit, giving us life in Him, now and for eternity.

In our human nature, we will not be able to produce a spiritual life on our own. Once we realize Jesus is the only way to eternal life and true fellowship with God, we must lay down our will for His. When we do, we begin to rely on His Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings the change needed, but requires our participation. God provides times of thirst to call us back to Him in dependence. As we surrender to His Spirit, God brings good in our life through inward change. The pathway of change begins when we start uncovering our spiritual thirst with God in His Word and prayer.

Meditate on Isaiah 43:18-19 "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."