Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” -John 7:38
Today’s passage is one of the deepest in all the Bible. It is rich with imagery and instantly leads your mind to wonder what it means. “Rivers of living water” how can water be living? How can it flow from within someone? Thankfully we need not wonder or speculate on the meaning as in the next verse Jesus explains what this living water is.
“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.”
Living water is the Holy Spirit and the effects of the Holy Spirit produced in the lives of believers in Christ. Do you see what Jesus says? The Holy Spirit will produce fruit naturally from within us as He transforms us into new creations! That should get every Christian excited. Who doesn’t want to have the Holy Spirit flowing from within us and having the fruit of the Spirit emanate out of us naturally. Have you ever had to pretend that you were joyful or happy when you were not? Can you remember a time when you didn’t like someone but you tried to pretend to be kind to them? Can you remember a time when inside you were full of worry and fear about something but you pretended to be calm and have peace when you were around other people? That’s examples of our human will trying to suppress our bad feelings and thoughts and cover them up by looking good on the outside but on the inside we were hurting. When we are connected to Jesus the true vine and walking in the spirit then these qualities these fruits of the Spirit of Love and Joy and Peace and Kindness starts to well up inside us naturally, as this verse says. We don’t have to pretend to love and pretend to feel peace and pretend to act kind when inside we are not feeling or thinking like that. The Spirit will naturally produce love and kindness and peace supernaturally as we walk in the Spirit.
Are you walking in the Spirit though? That is the key. If we want to have rivers of living water flowing from within us and out of us we must filled with the Holy Spirit and we are only filled by the Spirit when we draw near to God daily. How great it will be when in eternity we will always be filled with the Spirit and constantly have these rivers of living water flowing within us and out of us, but on this side of eternity we battle the flesh and need to be filled with the Spirit daily. Think for a moment of the works of the flesh in Galatians 5. The sinful attributes that come out of mankind naturally. Anger, jealousy, lust, envy, impatience. These things we all know naturally come out of us we don’t have to try to be these things. We are these things in are old state. With the Spirit of Christ in us though He has set us free from these evil things and calls us to pursue Him and thus the divine attributes the living water will well up within us and flow outof us. How great it is to be walking in the Spirit after spending time in prayer or a bible study with friends, or after listing to worship music and we begin to see these fruits start to come naturally. Patience seems to be easier, kindness starts to flow out of us and the peace that passes understanding is felt in our soul. Yes we still have to work to keep our minds on Christ and to have these attributes within us but they come naturally and is not a struggle or strain to have them.
Romans 8:5-6 says
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
What are you going to set your mind on today? Are you going to draw near to God and meditate on His word or will you have your mind set on worldly things such as materialism and shallow emptiness? Abide in Jesus and ask Him for the rivers of living water to flow from within youtoday and everyday. You will never regret it.
– Ryan Kaplysh