Tag: living water

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John Devotionals

Rivers of living water

rivers of living water

On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink. The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”

He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39)

Somehow, whenever I read this passage, my very first thought is how when I come to Jesus, his Spirit quenches my spiritual thirst.

But what God reminded me today was that he doesn’t simply give me his Spirit to quench my thirst. He wants his rivers of living water to flow out from me so that those dying of spiritual thirst around me may also find life.

So this was my prayer today.

Holy Spirit, I have received you and you have quenched my thirst. But I pray that you would be like a river flowing out from me so that those thirsting around me might also drink and find life too.

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John Devotionals

What are you seeking?

John

I don’t mean for this to be a series or anything, but I keep seeing this question throughout John. (Maybe because I’m preaching on this question on Sunday).

In verses 37-38, Jesus cries out,

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him. (John 7:37-38)

There are probably two pictures here. At the Feast of Tabernacles, there was a water ritual which reminded the Israelites of how God provided water for them in the desert through a rock that was struck by Moses.

In that same way, Jesus was struck for us on the cross, and because of that, we receive “water” that leads to eternal life from him.

The Holy Spirit (verse 39) himself comes into our lives and makes us new people.

But there’s another picture, provided in Isaiah chapter 55.

God speaks and says,

Come, everyone who is thirsty,
come to the water;
and you without silver,
come, buy, and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk
without silver and without cost!

Why do you spend silver on what is not food,
and your wages on what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.

Pay attention and come to me;
listen, so that you will live. (Isaiah 55:1-3)

Again, are we seeking? Are we seeking things that do not satisfy? Or do we seek Jesus, who alone can satisfy?

But notice what is the result of coming to God and drinking of the water he provides.

so you will summon a nation you do not know,
and nations who do not know you will run to you. (Isaiah 55:5)

That’s what I want in Japan (and in all nations for that matter). That people would see the glory of God in us, and run to us wondering why we’re so different.

What do we tell them when they do? The message found in verses 1-3. And the message in verse 6-7.

Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call to him while he is near.

Let the wicked one abandon his way
and the sinful one his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD,
so he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will freely forgive. (Isaiah 55:6-7)

And God promises,

my word that comes from my mouth
will not return to me empty,
but it will accomplish what I please
and will prosper in what I send it to do. (Isaiah 55:11)

And as we are filled with the God’s Spirit, touching people’s lives, God says,

You will indeed go out with joy
and be peacefully guided;
the mountains and the hills will break into singing before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. （Isaiah 55:12）

May we all seek a life filled with God’s Spirit and love to the point of overflowing. A life that touches others so that not only we find joy, but the the people we touch find it too.

Categories
John Devotionals

The water we’re drinking

John

Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman strike me here.

If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. (John 4:10)

And again,

Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.

Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (13-14)

What are we “drinking” every day? When we’re tired or discouraged, and need to be refreshed, what do we turn to?

Do we turn to the internet? Porn? TV? Music? Games? Books? Entertainment? Alcohol?

Do we forsake the spring of living water for broken cisterns that cannot hold water? (Jeremiah 2:13)

How often are we like the Samaritans who cry out to Jesus, “Stay with us”?

(That word “stay” is the same word Jesus uses when he tells us to “remain” in him in John 15:4-11.)

How often do we drink in his Word, and take time to listen to his voice?

I admit, it is easy for me to turn to other things too. Oh, I’ll spend my time with God in the morning, but it’s easy to turn to other things at the end of the day.

Lord Jesus, stay with me. Let me abide in you and your love each day. Don’t let me turn to broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Instead, may my life be rooted in your love.

And each day, may those roots grow ever deeper, that I may know just how wide, long, high and deep is your love for me. In your name I pray, amen.

Categories
John John 7

The waters of salvation

John

Yes, we will eventually get past this chapter. In fact, this will be our last look at it as we look at verses 37-39.

On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus probably watched as the priests took water drawn from the stream of Siloah which flowed under the temple mountain and poured it over the altar. With that, a cheer rang out as the people sang,

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3)

And perhaps at that moment, the people heard another voice ring out. The voice of Jesus calling out,

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. (John 7:37-38)

Leave it to the Master Teacher to tell the people exactly what this ceremony they had been performing for years really meant.

For years, as the people saw this ceremony, they thought of their deliverance from Egypt, and how for years, they had traveled through the desert. How God provided water for them when they thirsted, twice bringing water out of a rock.

And through this ceremony, they recalled the joy of their salvation, a salvation that came not through their own efforts, but through the provision of God.

But what they didn’t know was that rock was a picture God was giving them of Christ himself. The apostle Paul wrote,

They (the Israelites) all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:3-4)

Now Jesus was telling them, “Are you thirsty as the Israelites were in the desert? Do you feel like you’re in a spiritual desert, thirsting for God, and yet somehow not able to find him? Then come to me. Believe in me. (Remember John 6:35)? And if you do, streams of living water will flow through you.”

What did he mean by that? John tells us in the next verse.

By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.

Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:39)

In other words, God himself, the Holy Spirit would come and dwell in each person that came to Jesus and believed in Him. And because of that, our thirst for God would be filled.

Not only that, the Holy Spirit would flow out of our lives like a never-ending stream of water and touch the lives of the people around us.

And so day after day, with joy, we draw from the wells of salvation, not only blessing ourselves, but all those around us.

That’s how we as Christians are to live. Drawing from the Spirit each day the power to live our lives so that we may be made as Christ is, and to share his salvation with everyone we meet.

And when we do, we’ll find joy.

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Psalms

The way of blessedness

Psalms

And so we head full-on into the Psalms.

We have already touched on those where we knew their historical contexts, so if you notice that we seem to skip a few here or there, we actually covered them earlier.

I’m thinking of adding to the blog menu to make things easier to find, but I won’t make promises on when that will happen.  Hopefully soon, however.

In this, the first psalm, it talks about the way of blessedness.  How do we find blessing?

We need to watch where we walk, stand, and sit.  The writer says,

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers.  (Psalm 1:1)

In other words, who are you keeping company with?  Whose examples are you following?  What path are you standing on?

This passage is not saying that we should avoid non-Christians altogether.

For one thing, that would be impossible.  For another, it would be impossible to reach them for Christ if we’re avoiding them.

But the question we need to ask is, “Are they influencing us, or are we influencing them?”

Are we starting to take their on attitudes, or are they starting to take ours?  Are we taking the path they’re walking on, or are they starting to be swayed by the path we are on?

The writer here tells us not to be influenced by the ungodly.  Instead, we should be influenced by the Word of God.

He says we should, “delight in the law of the Lord,” and “meditate on his law day and night.”  (2)

Every day, we should be immersing ourselves in God’s word.  Reading it in the morning if possible.

And as we walk, ride the train, drive our car, or even as we just do housework, we should be reflecting on what God has been teaching us, and asking “God what are you saying to me today?”

As we do so, we’ll be like a

tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither —
whatever they do prospers.  (Psalm 1:3)

The picture is a tree that is purposely placed where it can get lots of water.  And because it is so near the source of its life, it yields its fruit in season and prospers.

In the same way, when we place ourselves near the Water of Life, the Living Water of the Holy Spirit, he fills us, and we bear his fruit.

Does this mean that we’ll never face problems?  Of course not.  We just saw in Job that though he did all the things Psalm 1 talks about, he still suffered greatly.

But as it says in verse 6,

The Lord watches over the way of the righteous.

Though Job may have felt abandoned by God, God had never left.  He was still watching over Job and even prevented Satan from doing more damage to Job’s life.

And by staying near those streams of Living Water, Job eventually was restored and bore fruit once more.

So let us watch where we walk, stand, and sit.  And let our lives be filled by the One who gives true life.

Categories
Ezekiel

Living water

dead sea

Above, you can see a body of water called the Dead Sea.

It is so called because the water is so salty, that no animals can survive there.  The only signs of life there are tiny quantities of bacteria and fungi.

But in this passage, God tells us that something wondrous will happen to that which everyone calls dead.

From under the threshold of the temple that Ezekiel describes in these chapters will flow water which starts as a small stream but gradually grows into a roaring river that flows out into the Dead Sea.

The result?

When it empties into the [Dead] Sea, the water there becomes fresh.

Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows.

There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.  (Ezekiel 47:8-9)

Not only that,

Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river.  Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail.

Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them.

Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.  (Ezekiel 47:12)

While I believe there will be a literal fulfillment of this, I also think this is a beautiful picture of our lives.

From God himself flows rivers of living water which flows out from heaven’s throne into our lives.

And we who were dead in our sins, will overflow with the life of God.

We will start to bear fruit in our lives that not only brings nourishment and healing to our own souls but helps nourish and bring healing to the people around us.

As Jesus said,

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.  (John 7:37-38)

Lord, fill me up with your Spirit. 

Pour down your Living Water into my soul and heal my wounds and my hurts.  And let me be fruitful for you. 

As I come into contact with the people around me, let your Living Water pour through me to touch their lives that they may be nourished and healed in their souls too.  In Jesus’ name, amen.