Rivers of Living Water???
In John 7:38-39 Jesus says, “If any of you is thirsty, come to Me and drink. If you believe in Me, the Hebrew Scriptures say that rivers of living water will flow from within you.” Jesus was referring to the realities of life in the Spirit made available to everyone who believes in Him. But the Spirit had not yet arrived because Jesus had not been glorified.
(The Voice)
Jesus says in this passage that if we are thirsty, we need to come and drink deeply of Him. And when we drink of Him then rivers of living water would flow out of us. This is supposed to be our reality in the Spirit. It also says that it is available to all who believe, and that the Spirit would arrive after Jesus was glorified - which is when He ascended into heaven. Then why does much of the Church still seem to be missing out on the power of the Holy Spirit, these rivers of living water?
So I am asking you - are you experiencing this wellspring of the Spirit in your life? Not everyone does … and not because it is not available to you! There are things blocking us from living filled with the Holy Spirit. Let’s talk about just 3 of them to start:
Ignorance
Quite frankly there are many churches that simply do not teach about who the Holy Spirit is and what He is here to do in us, the Church. We need to talk about Him more, we need to engage with Him even more. He is vital to our walk as Christ-followers. He is all over the Word, so investigate for yourself. Jesus was definitely not so shy, especially in His Upper Room Discourse in John 14-17. If you haven’t read it lately then I think you should reread it again and claim some of the promises about the Spirit therein. He is our Comforter, our prompter to speak, the One who points us to Jesus, our Helper, He lives in us, He teaches us that we are not left as orphans in this world… and on and on. Seriously, go read it for yourself and write down the promises! Speak them out loud and ask Jesus to help you know, understand, and live in the power of the Spirit.
Bad Theology
Not only have we had so little teaching at times, we have also had BAD teaching at times. I have heard many a sermon and had many a Bible scholar teach over me that the Spirit doesn’t do what the Bible says He does. That the gifts of the Spirit spoken of in Romans 12, and 1 Corinthians 12-14 (and other places) are not for you and not for me. But there is not even one verse that says the gifts are not meant for today. Not one scripture that cautions us from living in accordance with The Spirit, in fact we have many that encourage us to live in step with The Spirit, Galatians 5:16-18 being a highlight. We have countless chapters and verses about who the Spirit is and what He does do. Let’s listen to the Word and align ourselves with it … instead of bad theology. So, I’m going to call a spade a spade here, and say this bad theology is a lie from the enemy. The enemy knows that if He can get us to live in fear of the Spirit we will not have the power to be the Church. We are supposed to heal, preach the gospel with power, prophesy and a host of other things… like live obedient and holy lives. Read up and ask the Lord to teach you anew. Cast out the lies and confess the truth. This is so important.
Fear
Because there has been some abuse of gifts in the past, or really it could just be discomfort, or simply not understanding the gifts of the Spirit… much of the church is afraid. This is a HUGE problem. We can’t throw the baby out with the bath water! Jesus lived in the power of the Spirit! He laid aside His divine attributes as it says in Philippians 2, which means He was not omniscient (all-knowing) while walking on earth, nor was He omnipotent (all-powerful). So how did He ‘know’ things? How did He do miracles? How did He cast out demons and heal? He did it all through the power of the Holy Spirit… Read Luke 3: 21-22, 4:1,14, 18-21… among a bunch of other verses… If Jesus wasn’t afraid to be led by the Spirit… then why are we? It may take more practice to stop, listen, and obey the Holy Spirit then it is to do our own thing in our own way… but then our way has no power, nor a lasting effect. Jesus says in John 15, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” Nothing of eternal or lasting value that is… The Holy Spirit may also ask us to do something uncomfortable or to take a risk, He might also ask us to do something strange. But guess what? He is God and we are not. If you obey, you might get to participate in unleashing God’s power… because miracles, healing, and deliverance are still for today. There is literally nothing in the Bible that says any different. (Though there are many who have tried to argue otherwise) So let’s confess our fear and cast it out and begin to ask for courage to follow the way of Jesus - the Way of the Spirit of God.
Perhaps if we can begin to ferret out these dark things in the Church and ourselves, we can begin to see real lasting change and transformation through the resurrection power of the Spirit moving in our midst! Act, confess wrong thinking and outright lies, learn and grow in knowing the Spirit! Because Jesus literally guarantees you will have streams of living water flowing out of you. Don’t you want that? I know I do!