Derek Prince - Encounter With God
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. - Psalms 63:1-2,6 (NIV)
How important it is to have your own personal revelation of God. Not just to rely on what somebody else has told you or what you read in a book or even what you heard in church. All that may be good, but it’s not sufficient. There must come a time when you’ve seen God for yourself, when you’ve come to know Him first-hand. When you’ve had such a revelation of God that nothing else can ever satisfy you but God Himself.
David had that kind of revelation. He said, "I’ve seen You in the sanctuary. I’ve beheld Your power and Your glory and now I’m in a dry and thirsty land, but my soul longs for You more than it does for water. And even when I lie in bed at night my meditation is of You. You fill my heart and my mind, my imagination, my longing. All the day through I’m taken up with You, my God. There’s no other source of true satisfaction. My soul doesn’t find rest in any other way. I’ve seen You and known You in a way that I can never forget and that has determined the course of my life. It determines my attitudes, my actions, the things that I choose, the way I walk, and so it needs to be in each one of our lives."