What’s Flowing Out?

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. John 7:35

Last week we toured some of the Disney resorts and I was most intrigued by this mountain stream that actually has a beginning in the lobby of the hotel. Unseen pumps are continually drawing the water from somewhere hidden to our eyes and from there it spills beautifully down the rocks and out into the lake below.

As a part-time writer, and a chaplain; I am often focused on sharing the message of God’s love. But on days when it feels as if the well is running dry, I need to remind myself that only what is flowing in; is what will be flowing out. Unless I am connected to what God has to say to me in the here and now, I will not have a living message to share with others. Today as each of us begins our journey, it would be good to remember  the privilege that Jesus gives us to come and drink. Unlike Disney’s beautiful albeit man-made river, His living water has its source hidden in heaven and flowing fresh for us all to receive.

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Still Thirsty

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
John 4:10 NKJV

Jesus stops not at wells for the water but waits by them for thirsty souls. Thank God he waits in the heat of the day even when we least expect!

Thirsting for God

As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Psalms 42:1‭-‬2 NKJV

My friend hunts for deer every year on the farm I manage. Before the season opens it is not unusual for him to spend hours scouting for markings and paths. One sure magnet which draws deer is a clean accessible source of water. Deer can and do sometimes survive many days with only a little food but water they need every day.

In the same way God is hunting for our soul. But he is not lying in wait to kill us or to bring us back to put on his trophy wall. God is seeking for us to rescue us and to lead us to springs of living water where we can drink and be satisfied in His presence!