Rivers of Living Water

God provided supernatural fountains of free-flowing, living water for His people throughout the ages (Jeremiah 2:13). This represents His life-giving presence within us.

As our Good Shepherd, He also makes us to lie down in lush, green pastures; and He leads us beside still, peaceful water to rest (Psalm 23:1-2). He provides for all of our needs according to His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19).

He will even turn a dry desert into a luxurious meadow for us. He takes us into His promised land, which flows with milk and honey (Isaiah 43:18-19, 44:3-4).

As the deer, we pant for His living water, making sure to visit the clear brook of His Word every day (Psalm 42:1-2). It changes our life from the inside out (Proverbs 10:11; 1 Corinthians 10:4; Exodus 17:1-7).

Only the living water of Christ in us can quench our thirsting soul. When we share Christ with the unsaved, they will accept Him as their Savior only if they are thirsty for what God supplies (John 3:16-18).

If we attempt to purify our self, the water will stagnate and turn rancid. Only the water of God's Holy Spirit provides us with rivers of living water (John 4:10-11; Ephesians 2:8-9).

God's living water flows through our spirit by His Holy Spirit from the continuous springs welling up inside of us (John 7:37-39). Then God's Spirit flows through us and inspires us with words to speak in every situation (Acts 2:4).

Prayer:

Father God, we want a steady stream of Your living water to flow through every cell of our body. Fill us until we are saturated with the life giving water of Your Word. Work out Your will in our lives as we surrender our life to You (Ephesians 2:10).

Help us to have faith in Your faithfulness and to daily commit our life only to You. Keep us thirsty for more of You until the day of Your coming. Sanctify us until we have no blemish or stain of sin, so that we will be a holy bride for Your Son (Ephesians 2:22).

Thought for the Day:

The life of Christ within our spirit flows through us like a river of living water, and then out of us into the people around us.

The Indwelling Spirit

 

When we reach the place of trust in Christ alone, we enter the rest offered to us by God in His Promised Land. We enjoy plentiful provision and we lack no good thing (Psalm 34:10). Our life no longer has deprivation or turmoil. As we follow the Holy Spirit’s direction, we win every battle and experience complete victory. Through our union with Christ, we accomplish everything He calls us to do (Ephesians 2:10), because He works through us in His strength (Matthew 19:26).

We could never provide any of this for our self. There is, however, a chance that we might fall short of entering into this rest of God because of our unbelief (Hebrews 4:1,11). Entering God’s rest takes a life of total surrender, as well as faith in God’s faithfulness. God’s first step is to bring us out of the world, and then to bring us to salvation through His work of redemption in our life. He fills us with His Spirit’s anointing and power.

Many Christians stop short of entering God’s rest by concentrating only on His elementary truths, so they never reaching spiritual maturity (Hebrews 6:1). God calls us to lay at the altar everything, which would separate us from Him, and then to embrace each Word of His Truth. He calls us to seek first His Kingdom, as He provides us with everything we need (Matthew 6:33). God’s Spirit conforms us into the likeness of Christ and we reflect His glory, which is full of grace and truth (John 1:14,17). 

As we surrender to God’s goodness and power, we give up all for Him. We walk in His love. Like Jesus, we return love for hatred and blessing for cursing (Luke 6:28; Romans 12:14). We can only accomplish this as we maintain fellowship with Christ throughout our day. We cannot enjoy God’s presence at the same time we indulge in the sins of this world. God’s indwelling Spirit transforms us into the humility and holiness of Christ along with all of His spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Prayer,

Almighty Father God, living for You in every moment of our day, we enjoy the greatest fulfillment available to us in this life. Yet, we often flee from times of aloneness with You in order to seek the momentary pleasures of this world. However, once we submit to You, the power of Your Spirit fills us and draws us to holiness and contentment with all that You provide for us. Your Spirit gives us both the power and the anointing to live in Your will for our life.

Thought for the Day:

There is no strain in living life for God according to His precepts, because it is indeed freeing to throw off the shackles of corruption.

 

Entering the Promised Land

When we succumb to hopelessness and anxiety, this is a sign that we are not seeking our comfort from God. We are wandering in the wilderness of desires, rather than in the Promised Land, which God prepared for us. In the Wilderness, Israel constantly struggled with discouragement, toil and deprivation. Their rebellion and unbelief brought this hardship upon them. They even despised the food God provided and were not grateful that their belongings never wore out (Numbers 11:1-5; Deuteronomy 29:5).

Our unbelief in God causes us to suffer from the stress of life too, because we rely on our self, rather than on God. We use our human effort to attempt to procure what we deem is necessary for our happiness. However, if we abandon human reasoning and rely totally on the Spirit of God, He gives us direction, provision and hope. The divine life of Christ abides in our spirit (2 Peter1:4; Colossians 2:10), expresses through our soul, which in turn strengthens our biological body.

When we come to the end of our self, to our wandering in our wilderness, to our attempts to equip our self and to succeed at life, we place our complete faith and trust in God, who deserves more than we could ever repay. We relinquish all, in order to receive the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46), to win the race (1 Corinthians 9:24; Philippians 3:14), and to come into His divine presence, never to leave again. We enjoy fellowship with Him and His Saints each moment of our life.


We resist all desires birthed by the finite, carnal nature, which is dead in Christ (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3), and pursue the realm of the Spirit instead. Peace comes as we completely trust in God. We live in faith, as we serve our Living Lord (1 Thessalonians 1:3), and He provides for us in every area of life, which concerns us (Psalm 138:8). We enter God’s rest (Hebrews 4:10) and find contentment regardless of any emotional, mental, financial or physical issues.

Prayer:

Father God, You are worth so much more than anything or anyone that we hold precious in this life. You deliver us from darkness and bring us into Your Kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13). You rejoice over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). Your mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:33-23). When we enter into the place of perfect rest in Christ, You give us all things as co-heirs with Jesus (Psalm 62:1-2; Romans 8:17). Help us to walk worthy of the calling You placed on our life (Ephesians 4:1), and always remind us to seek first Your Kingdom (Matthew 6:33).


Thought for the Day:

We receive infinite fulfillment and joy in this life, corresponding with the extent to which we surrender to God. – 1 Samuel 2:30

 

Go Deeper - Part 1

 

How long are you willing to wait for God? Wait…without being distracted by TV, radio, food, friends, family, the mall, work or any other created thing. Wait…for the Creator of heaven and earth to fill you through all of your being, with all of His fullness (Ephesians 3:16-19). It may take a day, a week, a month or a year. Are you willing to completely empty your soul of negative attitudes, beliefs and emotions and then wait for Him to entirely fill you up with His presence?

Wait… pouring out your heart to your Heavenly Father, praising Him for who He is and what He does for you. Then, sitting motionless, silent and listening we focus on God. What will distract you? Will the phone, hunger pains, stiff muscles, a headache, a knock at the door, sirens in the distance or any other diversion draw you away from sitting quietly before the Lord?

Having a relationship with Jesus Christ is much more intense than practicing a religion. What we do and say matters more than we realize. Our words and actions impact the lives of everyone around us. A curt word in place of encouragement, a smirk instead of a smile or a phony attitude rather than authentic interest will put a wedge between others and us. It will also negatively influence their relationship with Christ.

God is interested in us living in oneness with Christ. Our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. He lives within us. We are not our own, we are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:19). God wants us to break out of the status quo in our churches and in our lives. He calls us to go deeper into the water of His Spirit and to allow Him to carry us to unknown places of service and worship. God calls us to a deeper and deeper relationship with Him on a moment-by-moment basis. Let us set our affections on things above (Colossians 3:2), on the eternal aspects of life. Then we can rise above the limitations of this mundane earthly realm.

God directed Ezekiel to enter the river, rather than to continue standing on the bank. As the prophet describes his experience, the water gets deeper and deeper until he can no longer stand, but must start to swim (Ezekiel 47:1-12). Our natural tendency when traversing a river is to fear drowning or being attacked by some animal from under the water. It is so much easier to stand on the bank, so that we remain safe with our feet planted firmly in the earthly realm of existence.

If we have the courage to enter the river of life, we start in ankle deep water with a shallow relationship with God. We continue to a knee-deep obedience to the Holy Spirit; however, we still attempt to rely on our own works to accomplish great things for God. As the water rises to our waist, we are forced to make a commitment to go all the way with God.

Once our feet leave the ground in deep water, we must turn back, swim or drown. If we dare to swim, we enter into a place of complete surrender to God. This is where we reap the blessings of absolute unity with the Trinity. Our constant awareness of the Almighty brings us into a realm of oneness with Him. This total harmony leads to complete fulfillment for each individual willing to cross the river and enter into the Promised Land (Joshua 3, 4).

Prayer:

Father God, going deeper in our relationship with You is a fearful endeavor. There are so many unknown factors. We do not even fully comprehend the whole picture of what it means for us to walk more deeply in a relationship with You. Help us to have the courage to press on, to set our sights on the prize of Your high calling (Philippians 3:14), and not to get sidetracked or allow fear to deter us. Give us a vision of what it means to go deeper in a relationship with You.

Thought for the Day:

Would you like to go deeper in your relationship with God? Read tomorrow’s post in this blog for more details in: Go Deeper - Part 2.