Streams of Living Water!

“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "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." 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 7:37-39

Is the Holy Spirit evident in your life? Are the “streams of living water” that Jesus spoke of flowing from within you into the lives of others around you?

Having grown up near the mountains of central PA, I am quite familiar with the beauty of a clear, fresh flowing mountain stream. Imagine an crystal clear, pristine stream of water flowing untouched and unencumbered over rocks and moss, through mountains and small villages, eventually making it’s way into a larger stream and on to rivers and eventually to the ocean! Jesus used this analogy to represent the work and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Every Believer receives the Holy Spirit at the time of salvation; the moment we place our faith in Christ and chose to live UNDER His Lordship. It is at this point that we acknowledge Jesus not only as our Savior, but also as our Master, Ruler and Sovereign King over all things. From that day of salvation onward, the Holy Spirit flows from within us. If the “Fruit of the Holy Spirit”…love, joy, peace. patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control are not abundant and flowing freely from within us, there is a problem…a signal that something is spiritually amiss in our lives. The “fruit of the Spirit” is not a WORK that we do; it is a natural outgrowth of our life in Christ. (as a perfectly formed apple is a natural outgrowth of a healthy apple tree).

To ascertain the quality of our ‘fruit’, we look to Jesus and the Word of God as the only, true standard. Of course, human beings will never match the perfect character and life of Christ until we meet Him in heaven, but until that time, we MUST seek that excellence through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Triune God and thus He is PERFECT. If our lives are truly yielded to Jesus, then indeed, the Holy Spirit is at work in us and the outgrowth or ‘fruit of the Spirit’ will be perfect as He is perfect. Those are the words of Jesus!

I pray that each of us ask Christ to shine His light into our lives and illuminate those areas that are not as He wants them to be. There are times, I confess, when 'bitter water' flows from within me. It is then that I must repent, make restitution and move on in Christ. (as the Holy Spirit made clear to me last night!) May we meditate on the power of the Holy Spirit and may our hearts overflow with streams of living water today!