The Lord Jesus said “He that believes on me…out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38
Our prayer is that we would live on the banks of this divine river that finds it’s source in God, to drink daily of it’s life, power, cleansing, invigorating and healing because it contains the essence of God Himself – the water of God is the water of life.
Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils, they have forgotten Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”
A cistern is meant to hold water but when it is broken, it holds no life and it becomes a “system”, and is dead. Jesus Christ will surely return and establish His kingdom on this earth. We are His cisterns, created to contain the life of the King . . . “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water!” Where there is no life of the King, there is no established kingdom. The broken cisterns have produced the traditions of men, dogma and death. Many preach Jesus as “the Way” to salvation, yet their lives demonstrate a necessity for they themselves to “get out of the way” and allow Christ to rule and reign. Men’s broken cisterns have produced organised religious systems that have stemmed the flow of God’s fountains of Living Waters.
Dogma produces religious systems that are lifeless, the breath of God is nowhere to be found in them and they only continue on the life support system of religious men, and therefore bear no fruit. Jesus said “A tree is known by it’s fruit.” Behind dogma is a huge insecurity in a person who insists you believe what they believe – but the Holy Spirit will only witness to truth. Our security is anchored in the life of Jesus. What we believe has to work! The Indwelling Christ, the life of Another, “rivers of living water” flow from a yielded life to a thirsty world.
Lord, let me empty out all that is not of You, for You cannot fill a full vessel. (What am I full of?)
There are certain skilled musicians that have an ability to adapt their gift and play any type of music over the whole range from nursery rhymes, to jazz, to pop, to Beethoven. God is seeking to prepare a company of people that understand Him and can adapt and flow in any situation with any people to be a conduit of the love, presence and life of God. Jesus is all of these, He is not a doctrine.
The desire of God’s heart is that all men should come to a knowledge of the Truth. Truth is a Person – Jesus – the Way to the Father, our Father. May we learn of Him, to fit in, adapt to any situation, yielding to Him that His living water may flow out through us.
The following lines are part of a little chorus that hold a profound prayer:
“The things that I held so tight
Made my security,
Give me the strength I need
To simply let go.”
We often struggle to “let go” of our traditions because they are our security, but God wants to be our security. Letting go means abandoning all to Jesus and trusting Him. This is what He requires of His children and is waiting for an abandonment to Him. The Holy Spirit of God shines His search light on my life and reveals the things I am trusting in, instead of Him. “Jesus is Lord of my life” are just fluffy words unless I abandon control of my life to Him and allow Him to rule my heart and life. I have to abdicate the throne of my life and crown Him as Lord there, until the words, “Jesus is Lord” becomes a reality.
There is no substitute for abandoning control of our lives to Him and being out of our depths in the love of God. That is where we prove the security of the “Everlasting Arms” undergirding us, surrounding us, enfolding and carrying us through this life.
Galatians 2:20 “. . . and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” All praise be to Jesus as our lives become the will of God – lost in Him, and flowing in Him.
