Today, I asked of my soul, when was the last time you had a good soak in the rivers of living water that Jesus promised in John 7:37-39. Soul, do you regularly feel the life-giving flow that comes to those who hunger and thirst for their beloved? Can you identify the people around you who are willing to sell all to find the pearl of great price? Who are the others that are willing to seek the water of life with you? How do you get next to those who dig personal wells and let the overflow of life water spill over to water you and others?
I must confess that this last season of my life has felt more like living and working in a drought rather than getting soaked at the water park with my friends. Like many believers before me, I know I must tend my own heart, and that I faithfully do, but I if I am to sustain having water to share with others, I must be in the river with many others who do the same so that the overflow of life is obvious, shared, sweet, real, and refreshing.
I hear my own my soul cry out for the living water Jesus promised, and my soul intercedes for a growing family of water seekers to rise in pursuit of Him at Living Faith. I want to do life with those who hunger and thirst to move past the nominal and sink roots into the river so that our leaves do not wilt when life or culture’s dryness threatens our faith and passion. I realize, that after all these years, I still want to dance in the river of my beloved’s life-giving waters, and I need the encouragement and strength of those in my spiritual family who also want to sink deep roots into the well whose water satisfies and overflows with life.
We are not meant to be like the dried-up plants in individual containers on the sale rack at the big box stores. We are meant to be a garden whose leaves do not fade and are a resource of life for the nations. To be that we must dig individual and collective wells and learn how to let the rivers of life flow more freely. We need the Word truly mixed with faith, deeper understanding of the joy of repentance, obedient and listening ears to the whispers of God’s spirit, and resolute commitments to follow Him whatever the cost.
Would you join with me in asking your soul some hard questions about your own level of life and how you will seek more?
May Father give us all a desire to do what it takes to personally and corporately be open channels for the river of life so that our deserts bloom into gardens all around us. Then, we’ll get to dance in the river of Father’s life and delight. Oh, that would be the best fun.
—George Davis
Hebrews 4.2 ESV
For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
