Rivers of living water will flow through you (John 7:38).  Jesus told the woman at the well that whoever believes in Him will have rivers flowing.  I remember as a child, for a time, we lived in Las Vegas, New Mexico. I remember going up into the mountains to fish or explore and I loved rivers and streams.  The water was also so clear, cold, and refreshing. As a boy, I remember wondering where the water was coming from. Occasionally, I would try to find the source moving more and more upstream until I heard my parents calling me back to camp.  Beautiful, crystal clear, refreshing, an always renewing river of life is God’s desire for the Christian soul. Is your soul flowing?

Why a river?  We might think it would be an ocean.  After all, an ocean is so deep and full of beauty, so much we are still discovering more.  But the Lord did not go with deep waters in this analogy, but a rushing river. It is a perfect image to reflect the original covenant God made with Abram.  God told Abram that he would be blessed by God and that he would be a blessing to all peoples (Genesis 12:1-3). God is the source of the river of blessings that would run through Abram into all peoples.  This is still the covenant God has for us today.

Anything and everything He does for us, gives to us, protects us from is to flow through us into those around us.  Jabez prayed that God would increase his territory (1 Chronicles 4:10). We should pray likewise.  

“Lord, increase our spiritual territory so that we might have more influence in others so that Your blessings would flow through us like a rushing river into the hearts, minds, and souls of those around us. -Amen!”  And this brings us to our verse of the day:

Galatians 5:1

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (NIV)

How refreshing the freedom, how pure the waters of emancipation we have been given from the power of sin.  Because of the amazing grace of our God, we have power over sin. We are no longer victims of our natural desires or passions.  We have not been given a spirit of fear, but love, power, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). Resignation to anger, depression, lust, selfishness, jealousy, revenge is not part of the Christian walk.  We are more than overcomers in all these things (Romans 8:37). We have received the gift for freedom. But there is a dual-purpose.

What we have been blessed with we are to use as a blessing to those around us.  We have been blessed with this freedom to bless others so they can find the source of our freedom for their own soul.  If we love the freedom we have to overcome the hell of sinful thoughts and desires, do we let the Word of God flow freely out of our soul?  When we refuse to succumb to temptation, do we openly give God praise or do we pretend that we just have that much willpower? It is for the cause of freedom that God has set us free.  But how will anyone find the source if we do not lead them there?

Jeremiah 2:13

“My people have committed two sins:

They have forsaken me,

the spring of living water,

and have dug their own cisterns,

broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (NIV)

Jesus is our fountain.  From Him, we are filled with rivers of living water, but if we do not openly praise Him for the freedom we have over the power of sin, we construct a powerful dam stagnating the water in our soul.  Let us shout it from the rooftops (Matthew 10:27) for the liberation of our sons and daughters, friends and family, enemies and betrayers. He is our fountain.  Let the rivers of living water rush through our life.

Psalms 36:5-9

Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,

your justice like the great deep.

You, LORD, preserve both people and animals.

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!

People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house;

you give them drink from your river of delights.

For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light we see light. (NIV)

Leave me a comment.  What personal victories over sin do you need to be shouting from the rooftops?

Live Blessed and Be a Blessing!