Rivers of Living Water
Revelation 22:1
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
I was sitting at a river the other day and I believe that the lord gave me a great insight into how His living water, affects every part of our lives.
Here is what I believe that he showed me.
Water serves many functions on our planet, it quenches our thirst, it clears out impurities, and it gives much needed nourishment to all living things.
I was enjoying an afternoon at our local river watching my daughter and her friends catch the little fish that were swimming downstream, while I was sitting there the lord showed me how his living water flowing through our lives is very similar to how the water ran over the rocks on the river bed in front of me.
This particular river had experienced quite a severe flood in the spring and as a result there was an unusually large amount of rocks that had been deposited on the river bed. What fascinated me was that there was not a single rock that had not been affected by the water in some way.
Most of the rocks were from upstream, deposited there during the flooding. Some were big, some small, each vastly different in size and shape from the others around them. They even had different patterns on them.
The lord spoke into my heart at this point, that our lives are very much like that river bed, sometimes we are flooded by things that are out of our control, things that people have said to us, done to us, hurts that have occurred, offenses that we have taken, un-forgiveness and bitterness that we have allowed to lay dormant in the bed of our lives.
God’s living water flows over our rocks of sin, hurt, unbelief and every other thing that immobilizes us as believers.
What I did notice however, that rocks were not necessarily removed from our lives, but they definitely no longer had the same stench as they had before.
I realized that those rocks were in our lives for a reason, some to teach us about faith and complete reliance on God, others to deepen our understanding of human nature, others to help us to learn to operate in the fruits of the spirit, others to produce good character. Even though at the time the pounding that came from having these rocks in our lives were hard, nonetheless, each played their part in helping us to develop who we are, and our dependence in God.
The Lord then showed me that just as the water in the river had touched each stone at one point or another, his living water touches every part of our hearts as well. Not one stone was left untouched.
Then he drew my attention to the sand of the river bed and how that too was affected by the water, as it turned into muddy pools, or because dry and caked when the water had receded. That mud acted as a filter for the impurities for the eco system in the river.
The mud in our lives is his living word, it teaches us to filter out all of the impurities that have been brought into our lives through sin. When we accept the bible as the ultimate truth and authority for our lives, then when anything happens to us whether good or bad, it can and must be filtered through the truth of the bible God’s living word to us.
This will help us to recognize lies and wickedness as well as every good thing that God has for us. The bible needs to become your ultimate standard by which you measure everything in your life.
Your plumb line.
The lord then took my attention to the banks of the river, and I noticed that if it were not for the life giving water flowing through this area, everything would die. There would be no more plant life, animal life or even human life. It was a sustaining force for all of these things.
The same is true in our lives, when we allow the Holy Spirit, to flow through our lives with his life giving water, and cleanse away all the old hurts, and sorrows, and replace it instead with the Glory of God through his son Jesus Christ, we will have a life giving effect on everyone around us.
They will be encouraged when we are around and through the Spirit of God we will nourish their dry and weary souls.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, there is a truth that you have to realize, your life matters to everyone around you. You represent Christ when you go about your daily life. You represent his holiness and purity and in the world. These days, there is a definitive lack of purity and holiness in society.
People are hungry for goodness, purity, holiness, truth, love and they are looking in all of the wrong places.
What do I mean by that?
People are seeking “Enlightenment” through worshipping all kinds of idols, running after all kinds of religions and experiences but they are coming up just as empty as before.
My prayer for you is that you will allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse away all of the old rocks of bitterness, anger, resentment, hurts, and offenses that you have carried. Let him wash you and heal you so that you truly can be nourishment to all whom you come into contact with.
The world needs to see real people with real issues, allow God to cleanse and heal them, and then take that healing to all who are in need of it. We are God’s plan to bring his life giving water to the entire world.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.