The Power of the Holy Ghost Names #3

THE LIVING WATER

Water is essential to all life. When our bodies don’t get enough water our health suffers. Water is not an addendum, or a option,

It’s not an extra.

It shouldn’t be an afterthought.

Water is central to living.

And so is the Spirit within us, Through another one of His names and roles—The Living Water.

Physicians tell us to drink a lot of water on a regular basis so our cells are healthy enough to distribute the nutrients to our bodies.

We’re also told to drink plenty of water so waste and toxins can be easily be removed from our bodies.

The world cannot exist without water.

Human life,

animal life,

plant life—nothing can exist without water.

Our need for rain illustrates how desperate we are for it.

With no rain—or not enough of what’s required—everything becomes dry and begins to die.

Deserts, for instance, produce only animal and plant life able to withstand dryness. Did you know? only about a sixth of the world’s population lives in a desert region. Whenever our planet is without the water it needs, people, animals, and plants suffer.

What physical water is to the body and to our planet,

Spiritual water is to our soul.

If you starve the body of physical water, it won’t operate right.

If you starve the soul of spiritual water, it won’t work right either.

Just as physical water distributes physical life to the physical being of humanity.

Spiritual water distributes spiritual life to the spirit of our souls. When the soul is deprived of spiritual water, there will be;

deterioration and devastation in the life of the soul .

Jesus introduced this concept of spiritual water in the context of the Feast of Tabernacles.

God instructed the Jewish people to take part in this great feast in order to remind them of their journey through the wilderness.

SATISFYING SPIRITUAL THIRST

One of the most traumatic problem’s during that trip was when they ran out of water.

Another problem was their when their enemies had them trapped at the edge of the Red Sea

Yet in both situations God showed up for them in miraculous ways.

At the Red Sea, He parted the water for them to cross to over on dry ground.

In the wilderness, He let water gush out of a rock so they could satisfy their livestock, their children, and their own thirst.

He also turned bitter waters of marah into clean pure water so they wouldn’t die of dehydration or water-borne diseases.

For the Feast of Tabernacles, the Israel had been instructed to build booths, or tents. They erected a tented city to live in during this feast time. This was established and set aside from the normal routines of life So the people would reflect on how God had supplied them every time through their greatest needs.

Many of the provisions God supplied during those years had to do with water. Thus, it’s fitting that at this feast, Jesus makes a statement that unveils this truth. We learn about the Holy Spirit—The Living Water.

It is Jesus who introduces the Spirit as “living water”

John 7:37 (KJV 1900)

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

Living in Texas as I did and now Florida I can say that;

On those hot summer days when the heat index soars above 100, mark it doesn’t take long for the need for water to make itself known. The effects of high temperatures and humidity signals the body that it needs a restoration of fluid—and soon.

When I used to run several miles a day in high school, The coach would always take along water to refresh runners as they ran. Any runner or jogger—even avid walker—knows what it is to be thirsty,.

And so did the people to whom Jesus spoke when He introduced this concept. He used the illustration of the priests pouring water on the altar during the Feast of Tabernacles to let His listeners know He had come to provide spiritually for their souls and the lives of the people the same way God supplied the Jews with water in the wilderness.

It’s easy to tell when our bodies are thirsty.

Mouth gets dry and the energy drains away and this alerts us to our need for a drink.

It’s equally as easy to tell when the soul is thirsty.

But The problem is that many of us have forgotten how to recognize the symptoms when our soul gets thirsty.

If you’re living a life of discontentment, you have a thirsty soul.

If you’re living a life of confusion, you have a thirsty soul.

If you’re living a life of frustration, you have a thirsty soul.

And if you’re living a life of perpetual failure, you have a thirsty soul.

The soul’s thirst makes itself known through dissatisfaction, discontentment, unforgiveness, rampant sin, confusion,and internal chaos, and more.

All of these are manifestations of dry spots in the soul that is begging for water.

What is worse is that, just as we’ve tampered with how to quench the body’s thirst, we’ve tampered with how to quench the soul’s thirst.

When our bodies get thirsty, too many of us turn to options that don’t actually satisfy the body.

We turn to a soda or sweet tea or some chemical-based energy drink.

Yet physicians tell us they all fall short of the benefit’s of pure water. When we substitute an illegitimate substance for water, we run the risk of negatively impacting our body and its ability to operate properly.

In the same way!, We often wind up drinking spiritual saltwater instead of the pure water Jesus came to give and the Holy Spirit supplies.

Spiritual saltwater comes in the form of illegitimate relationships, illegitimate entertainment,

illegitimate ego boosts,

and more illegitimate “solutions.”

Anything that gives us a temporary lift to help us forget

how thirsty we really are, and distracts us from what we need the most.

Not only does it fail to quench our spiritual thirst, but it increases our need for spiritual water.

Whenever something is wrong in the soul and it goes unaddressed for a long period of time, an even greater level of spiritual dehydration is produced.

Let this sink in!

No saccharin or salty substitutes for the Holy Spirit’s living and abiding presence in your soul exist. They just don’t.

Because the need for spiritual water is so profound, it causes us to always be on the lookout for how to meet that need.

And Satan likes to send us on chases or in circles aimed at locating cheap and bogus substitutes that were never designed to serve as authentic thirst quenchers. In fact, Satan doesn’t mind if you confuse religion and spiritual ritual with the living water, because they will never meet your need either.

Only the Holy Spirit offers you and me the living water of Christ, which we need for our souls to not only survive but to thrive.

This pure water is what will flush away all the impurities that seek to control our every thought and every move.

Thirst is a conscious craving or longing of the empty soul.

It reflects the reality of living in a spiritual desert.

These are the dry times in our lives when we don’t feel close to the Lord or in step with our spiritual goals. We feel like we’re stumbling through that “dark night of our soul.”

And even though we’re saved for eternity through the sacrifice of Jesus, we’ve forgotten to take advantage of all He came to supply to us while He was still on this earth.

If you’ll look back at the first verse we read together, John 7:37, you’ll see there an action step Jesus said we need to take!. Put it back on the screen as a reminder:

“If anyone is thirsty,

let him come to Me and drink.”

Coming to Jesus is what you and I did when we came to Him for salvation. But what we often forget once we get saved is.

we still need to come to him to “drink.” (every day)

(hold up a bottle full of water). This bottle is full. The water is pure.

It cost me nothing

But it also benefit’s me nothing until I take action and intentionally drinking it.

Just holding the water will do nothing for me.

Just talking about the water will do nothing for me.

Even smelling the water will do nothing for me.

Not until I drink the water is my body refreshed and my physical needs met.

I know;

It’s a simple illustration, but its meaning is true.

You and I can have water freely given to us but still remain thirsty.

We can possess spiritual water but still remain unsatisfied.

Possessing and drinking are two completely different things.

To drink of the spiritual water Jesus came to supply through the Spirit - means you and I must receive this living water into the internal operation of our lives.

If you’ve accepted Jesus Christ for salvation you’re bound for heaven when you die, that’s good. Actually, that’s great!

But Don’t allow your eternal security to put you into deep sleep while your here on earth. You must come to Jesus and receive the living water He offers in your daily life. And when you do, the living water becomes more than just something you have access to; it becomes something you’re receiving and benefiting from every single day!

OUR ACTIVE RESPONSIBILITY

Because we have neglected to emphasize the role and responsibility of our own participation in receiving this life-giving water, I want to illustrate it another way as well.

I want you to understand how critical you are to this process of using all that the Spirit has for you. This is not a passive relationship where you sit back and the Spirit does all you want Him to do for you. You have an active role to play in your sanctification and in your satisfaction here on this earth.

On Thursdays where we live, a trash truck comes to our neighborhood, and its workers pick up the trash we have taken to the curb. They do this for all of the homes in the area. We pay a small fee, for this service.

I’m sure you have a similar service in your neighborhood.

But what I want to ask you is this:

When has the trash-removal employees ever come to your door and offered to empty the trash inside your home rather than requiring you to take it to the curb?

Or when have they ever knocked on your door because you forgot to set your trash out on time?

Like me, they probably have never done either of those things for you.

In order to have our trash removed, we have to take it to the curb.

We have to bag it and set it out in a designated time.

And depending on where you live, they have rules about how many trash containers we can set out, how full they can be, what items are excluded.

But Some of us are waiting on the Holy Spirit to come and pour the living water down our dry throats.

But Jesus said us we need to come to Him and drink!

We can’t blame God for our thirst when He has supplied the way to quench it.

We can’t point fingers at others when our lives are in shambles yet we refuse to drink of the living water offered to us by the Spirit.

We can’t insist that everyone else be flexible for our needs, desires, and wants. In order to meet the emptiness we have inside when Jesus has told us all how to meet our spiritual needs.

Spiritual water is an internal work that only you can do within your soul. If and when you experience a craving of discontent welling up within you or notice spiritual issues unresolved, you need to drink of the living water. Only then will you be refreshed once again.

Notice, though, that Jesus doesn’t say you should come to Him for information. He doesn’t say the Holy Spirit will provide you with Google-like search results on thirst, dehydration, purpose, or related topics you may want to know about

No, while the Spirit is our teacher and instructor,Jesus begins by saying we must come and drink.

You can learn about the Bible, theology, religion, or any other spiritual matters and still remain thirsty. This is because knowledge without relationship is never enough.

If you ever went on a blind date, you know the information you were given beforehand—no matter how impressive it is—wasn’t enough to know if you wanted to go out on a second date.

The only way to know was through relating and abiding with that person for an amount of time. Information alone can quickly evaporate once your in the presents of that person.

God doesn’t want to just be an information center for your mind.

If all you wind up with is information about a potential date, you haven’t actually had a date.

God wants to be a life-giving, personal experience for your heart.

When you and I come to Jesus and drink through our faith we receive this living water activated within.

Jesus explained this process to us, as John reports in John 7:38-39

37 “Jesus stood and cried out, saying “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”

39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

WATER THAT FLOWS RIVERS

What God wants to do is place a pump inside your soul that will produce ever-flowing water.

It’s running, living water designed to keep your life, thoughts, and heart fresh with the Spirit’s leading and love.

Water that doesn’t move grows stagnant; it becomes ripe for bacteria to grow. That’s why the Holy Spirit exists as flowing water.

As Jesus described it, that which will “flow rivers of living water” will be within you.

Flowing water is designed to go through every aspect of your innermost being, nourishing, feeding, and refreshing every day.

To understand the necessity of this, it’s important to remember that you are not your body.

Your body is merely a vessel, that contains your soul. You are a living soul.When you die, your soul leaves the body and enters into eternity.

Your body stays here because you are not your body.

You are not a physical being having a spiritual experience But;

You are a spiritual being having a physical experience.

Genesis 1:27

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Question:

Is God a spiritual being or a physical being?

The word say’s God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth! John 4:24

What your soul wants to do is all enacted through your body.

Your soul is your true ID. It’s your personal signature of existence.

Your existence is your soul. Your body is merely designed to function in the physical world through the exercise of your five senses.

Your body can hear, touch, see, smell, and taste.

As a result, your soul can function on earth.

Your true identity (your soul)—sends signals to your body so it knows what to do.

The problem is that our souls have been scarred.

Everyone’s soul has been scarred.

When you were born, you entered a world scarred by sin.

But even before you were born, you inherited a spiritual transfer of decay through your human identity because of sin. This only worsens through life.

Whether from other people’s sins or our own, or even just the general atmosphere of sin can have effects, on our souls, to varying degrees.

Regardless, many of us spend an enormous amount of time and energy seeking to fix a body with an unresolved soul.

Yet anytime an unresolved sin exists, the body simply finds a new way to express the pain within it.

That’s why behavior modification techniques typically don’t work.

When you’re holding back a bad behavior but you haven’t dealt with the sin problem that contributed to that behavior, the soul will simply find another way to express its somewhere else.

Only when we allow the life-giving refreshment of the living waters to flow through us. Can we remove the toxins (sin) of the soul and heal all the damage done on the inside.

When we drink, or abide, in a close relationship with Jesus, His stream of Living water produces life in us through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

While your body is designed to communicate with the physical world.

Your soul is designed to communicate with yourself, and God thru your spirit.

Scripture tells us that because of sin, we are spiritually dead when we’re born physically (separated from God)

It’s our fleshly sinful nature from the beginning. That’s why our spirit needs to be made alive, which is what happens when we accept Christ for salvation.

Ephesians 2:1-9

1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

THE SOUL’S EFFECT FROM INSIDE OUT

When you receive Christ, God places a new heart ( pump)inside your human spirit otherwise known as the Holy Spirit.

Through Jesus, the Holy Spirit Joins your human spirit and gives you spiritual life.

The Spirit resides in the soul.

The soul resides in the body.

As the Holy Spirit pumps living water into your spirit, which then overflows into your soul, it offers you healing, contentment, order, strength, and purpose. Your soul then begins to give new information to your body.

As a result, your body begins to do things differently.

Your body begins to say and do that which glorifies God and brings good to others.

As long as the Holy Spirit is free to Pump His living water into your spirit,

which then feeds your soul,

which then directs your body, you will continue to heal and produce that which is good.

In our homes, we have plenty of water piped in. Yet even though we have access to this water, we can keep it from flowing into our homes. How?

All we have to do is close the main water valve.

But when we do, we won’t have the water we need to wash our dishes, flush our toilets, brush our teeth, take showers, and cleaning away what could harm us.

Some of us have been so messed up in our souls for so long that we’ve forgotten how to open the valve allowing the living water to flush out the garbage within us. Our bodies have become so contaminated because we don’t have the living water to wash, flush, or cleanse us, to offer us what we need.

Your soul cannot be healed until you allow the living water of the Spirit to flow. You must release the water within and drink deeply.

When you do, the innermost water will transfer from the Holy Spirit to your spirit, to your soul, and ultimately to your body.

Isaiah 44:3

“I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your descendants”

The emptiness, discontent. and dissatisfaction born out of sin can be addressed only through the Spirit of God. God gives us His blessing by nourishing our dry and barren souls through the provision of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus said He came to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10), He was talking about life beyond the treadmill. He wasn’t talking about the kind of life where we, like a trapped rat, keep spinning the wheel in endless loops only to wind up going nowhere at all. Jesus came to give the kind of life that gushes with meaning, contentment, and satisfaction. He does this through the presence and life-giving water of the Holy Spirit—life that starts on the inside and then moves to the outside.

GLORIFYING JESUS

When Jesus told us about the Spirit, He hadn’t yet been glorified. He was still in His physical form. The Holy Spirit came after the resurrection. He came on the Day of Pentecost, and everyone was filled with the Spirit at that time.

This coming of the Spirit took place when the disciples decided to both privately and publicly glorify Jesus. That’s how you and I keep the pump of the Holy Spirit working freely in our own lives. Why?

Because the Spirit came to glorify Jesus, and so must we.

John 16: 13-15

13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Jesus came to glorify God. Thus, when we use our lives to glorify Jesus, we are also glorifying God. When that is done, the Spirit empowers and enables more living water to flow into our lives.

Asking for the water won’t keep the water flowing.

Understanding the water won’t keep the water flowing.

Acknowledging that the water is there won’t keep the water flowing.

Only by your bringing glory to Jesus Christ through your words and deeds does the Spirit pump living water into our spirit.

The Spirit of living water is energized when Jesus Christ is privately and publicly exalted in your life.

Experiencing the full manifestation of the Holy Spirit in your life is closely tied to how you interact with Jesus.

Many Christians just visit Jesus. They go to church for a Jesus-visit.

But then they go about their lives until the next time for a visit.

But visiting Jesus on Sunday is not abiding.

That’s called checking off an item on your bucket list.

Only an abiding relationship with the Lord will produce the living water that flows in you at a level that will bring you life. The more the Spirit sees you glorifying Jesus, the more He will pump the living water so that it flows into your soul and transforms your body.

WHEN THE WATER FLOWS THROUGH AND OUT

When you need the living water to heal, cleanse, or refresh you, you need to loose the Spirit within.

You do this through identifying with and abiding with Jesus

You do this through privately and publicly bringing glory to Jesus. When Jesus is glorified, the pump comes on and the transformation takes place.

Once more, all of this takes place for free. It doesn’t cost you a dime.

Revelation 21:6 (KJV 1900)

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely

Revelation 22:17 (KJV 1900)

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

You get the living water at no cost. Why?

Because the cost has already been paid. It’s been placed inside of you through the work Jesus Christ did on the cross.

The deliverance you desire is already in you.

The guidance you desire is already within you.

The grace you desire is already within you.

You just need to drink. And when you do, you’ll begin to notice the changes taking place outside of you.

One of the ways you know the living water is flowing inside you is that other people will start to notice it. They start to comment on how you’ve changed for the good. Once more, they start asking what you’ve done, because they want to experience life transformation as well.

I’ve found a main reason some people are so mean to others is that they’re really messed up in their souls. They don’t know how to be nice anymore. As a result, they cuss out other folks or do things to harm them. They no longer want to serve anyone but themselves. They find service to self far more gratifying than service to others. As a result, they run on empty. They become spiritually dehydrated. They no longer share any good with others because they no longer have any good within.

Yet when you have the life-giving flow of the Spirit in you, flowing freely within you, it can’t help but gush out and cause others to desire what they see in you.

No matter how big we are or how much influence or fame we have, a simple connection will do.

What matters is the supply. When we tap into the reservoir of the Holy Spirit, the water will not only flow but continue to gush out as long as we keep the tap open.

We keep that tap open by glorifying Jesus Christ both privately and publicly.

We keep it open by abiding in His presence.

We keep the water flowing by aligning our hearts with God and allowing the Spirit’s presence to produce His character within us.

When that happens, other people as well will benefit from the life-giving water that not only flows in us but flows through us.