Do you still need to drink the Living Water?
Somehow we think that we can graduate from drinking the Living Water, or outgrow this. Repent therefore and do the first works. Christians run for prayer and check YouTube videos and opinions of others but still somehow going to Jesus directly is last on the list - if it even is on the list.
Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
— Revelation 2:4-5
What was the first thing that you did to be saved? You came to Jesus in faith. That’s it! - and then you drank the Living Water. Our brothers and sisters in Ephesus left their first love. This was and is a serious offense - since we are the Bride of Christ, we are to be in love with Jesus our Lord. The question is do you want to be married to Him or not? The saints in Ephesus fell but the antidote is given by the Lord. (1) Repent and (2) Do the first works.
If you are struggling with your devotion to the Lord, Bible reading, temptations or addictions - STOP and just come to Jesus as you are and drink the Living Water. Could it be that simple, you may ask? Yes! Look at what the Holy Spirit spoke through Paul below:
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
— 2 Corinthians 11:3
Eve was deceived from the simplicity that is in Christ. Being in Christ and living the Christian life is way more simple then it is made out to be. Why would the Lord give us the Holy Spirit, if it were possible to do this apart from Him, the Living Water? He gave us the Holy Spirit because drinking the Living Water is an absolute necessity. It is not an accident that the most important things we need as humans to survive is air and water. God made it so on purpose that we would see the underlying divine truth - we cannot exist as a new creation if we do not drink the Living Water and breathe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath of God (Spirit in both Greek and Hebrew translates to breath or air).
What is one of the best ways you can cause a person to stop existing on this earth? Take away their air or water. Satan tries to do the same thing to us spiritually. He knows how dependent our new life is on the Holy Breath of God (Holy Spirit) and the Living Water (Holy Spirit). So he tries very hard to cut off our air supply and water supply through distractions or alternatives. Anything under the sun but Jesus, the Living Water - is his strategy. For he knows that the moment we start to drink, not only do we overcome and he is defeated but he is now dealing with the Christ, who crushed his head, who is doing His works in and through us - a major threat to his kingdom, the kingdom of darkness.
This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
— Galatians 3:2-3
You recall that I said earlier that we somehow think that we can graduate from our dependence on the Spirit as our Living Water. The Galatians were doing that. They truly did receive the Spirit by the hearing of faith. They started out genuinely in the Spirit but somewhere along the line were trying to be perfected in the flesh. I believe the same happens to us. We come to Jesus and drink, the fruits of the Spirit begin to manifest and then somehow we get tricked or deceived. We turn to performance. We try to be good Christians and try to keep a holy appearance, knowing full well that we are being hypocrites to the faith we proclaim. Prayer becomes a matter of performance before God. We try to hide our weaknesses and pretend that they are not there - deluding ourselves. We get convicted, perform well for a few days or weeks - if you last that long - and then we fall again. You know what your problem is? You are THIRSTY.
Christ doing His works in and through us
Beloved saints, we cannot live this Christian life apart from drinking the Living Water, the Spirit. If it were possible then Christ died for nothing (Gal. 2:21). We cannot attain righteousness through performance and work - even if it is sincerely for the Lord. God does not need your fleshly, filthy rags righteousness (Isaiah 64:6). He longs to see His Son in you and live through you (Gal. 1:15-16). This is why it pleased Yahweh to crush Him, so that He shall see His own seed (Christ in us) and He shall prolong His days (Isa. 53:10).
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
— Galatians 2:20
Yet it pleased the LORD (Yahweh) to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
— Isaiah 53:10
Pay attention to what our Lord Jesus speaks here:
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
— John 7:37-39
After everyone has eaten and drank after a massive meal. Though their thirst was physically satisfied after the meal, They were actually so thirsty and in need of the water which Christ alone can give - the Living Water. So He tells them if you recognise that you are thirsty, just come to Me and drink. Again, so simple but something we complicate so much. Now you cannot drink the Living Water if you do not have access to the Holy Spirit. Hence the next verse.
So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
— John 20:21
Jesus gives the disciples the Living Water through breathing the Holy Spirit into His disciples (those that have chosen to follow Him). The disciples receive the Living Water Himself, the Holy Spirit - As Jesus breathes Him into the disciples.
Alternatives to the Spirit — Broken, man-made cisterns
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.
— Ephesians 5:18-21
It is interesting that the Holy Spirit talks about wine here and then gives the alternative to wine - The Spirit, the Living Water. Now wine may be anything that brings a worldly pleasure in your life that is an alternative to the Spirit.
In other words:
Do not be filled with YouTube in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit
Do not be filled with politics in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit
Do not be filled with news in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit
Do not be filled with Netflix in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit
The Greek word for dissipation roughly means: wastefulness, squandering or debauchery.
All of these man-made forms of entertainment or distractions are alternatives to the Living Water, the Spirit.
“For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.
— Jeremiah 2:13
The Spirit of Christ in Jeremiah (1 Pet. 1:11), the prophet, makes everything that has been said here abundantly clear. God’s people have done two evils. They forsook the Fountain of Living Waters and made for themselves, man-made cisterns, broken cisterns - that cannot hold any water.
Do you think that the church in Ephesus would have left their first love if they were drinking the Living Water?
Results from Drinking the Living Water
Something profound takes place as you drink the Living Water. You immediately abide in Christ and He abides in you - then you automatically bear fruit (John 15:4-5). He, Christ, does His works through you just as the Father did His works through Christ, the Son of Man, on this earth. God with His power operates through you. It is not your power but His power that works now. As we drink the Living Water, God does the willing and the working in and through us:
for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
— Philippians 2:13
Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
— John 14:10
This is why His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30). All you have to do is DRINK! Drink the Living water.
Come to Jesus and Drink the Living Water
When you are done reading, please listen to this song - Even if you are a Christian, this song still applies to you. Do the first works by just coming to drink the Living Water:
Credit: Anne Wilson - Living Water
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