The Living Water

Dear Weekly Readers!  God’s Peace!

I would like to thank those who prayed because you heard that our youth leader Leona has been very sick for the past 2 weeks.  She has been in the hospital in the Philippines suffering from malaria.   Today she is finally feeling better, so we are praying that she will improve quickly and be released from the hospital soon.    James 5:16: …The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

It seems that the calendar texts for these weeks after Easter have been often about the bearing of fruit, showing of love, and such topics.  In a previous article we recently covered the True Vine and the branches. 

 

I would like to share with you a picture that God has shown me about this concept of the Love of Jesus Christ flowing through His children on earth.

In the part of the world, Israel, where Jesus was born, where He lived, and where He died, the Jordan River flows from north to south.  In the north, it flows into the Sea of Galilee, providing rich nutrients for that body of water.   Because of this, in Bible times, many entire villages and cities were able to make their living and catch fish for food from the lively waters of this small sea.

The Jordan River then flows south out of the Sea of Galilee into the Dead Sea.   This same exact river with all the nutrients and minerals flows into this second sea, but the results are much different.  Why could this be?  Well, you see, the Dead Sea has no outlet.  The river comes in, but does not go out. Therefore, all the minerals keep piling into the sea, but can never leave.  The sun evaporates the water, but all the minerals, salt, and nutrients get left in the sea, causing it to be so heavy with these substances that nothing can live in the water.

Dear Heavenly Father, allow us to be like the Sea of Galilee with the Living Water of the Lord Jesus flowing into us and then out of us unto the world, so that we can be Living Bodies!    Romans 12:1:  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Lord, keep us from being lazy, arrogant, self-righteous, lukewarm, uncaring, or unloving.   Allow us to not be enticed into worldly lusts and desires.

Mark 4:19:   And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. 

We surely do not want to be the type of Christian that only wants to receive the good gifts of God, while at the same time thinking we can live however we want in this world, forgetting where all good gifts come from. 

 

Let all of our being and doing, the actions of our life, and the words of our tongue confess as we are told in Philippians 2:11:  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

None of the glory comes to us; it is all to the glory of the Father!  Just as in our picture of the two seas, the nutrients and the life of the lake comes from the river.  Let us remember that water could soon become stagnant and begin to die, if we do not lay hold of all the wonders of the Living Water, our Lord Jesus Christ! 

He has prepared it all in our behalf; salvation is complete in Him!  Let us believe by faith in the complete redemptive work of Jesus Christ for our salvation!

When we believe by faith, then we will be like we are told in  Matthew 5:14:  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Lord, work this in each of us today!  Show us the new and living way!   Hebrews 10:20:  By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

John 14:6:  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Let us be found in Him and He in us until He comes again!   1 John 4:13:   Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

Have a Blessed Week! 

John Ruotsala