It’s Memorial day.
Rain.
All day.
My grandmother said that rain was a blessing when it would rain on someone’s funeral or on a day like today- Memorial day. I know it’s just a saying but it stuck in my head so when I wake up to rain, like this morning, I think of what she said.
John 4:7-45 NASB
10 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.” 11 She *said to Him, “[a]Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
Looking out at the water both from the ocean and also from the clouds makes me think of the Living Water. There are several places in the Bible that talk about this and I’d like to just read them to you as you look at at the scenery. What do you think? Just press play and it should be uploaded from YouTube. We can’t ever get enough of meditating on the word of the Lord.
John 7:38-39 ESV
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as[a] the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Jeremiah 2:12-13 ESV
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,
13 for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Acts 14:15-18 ESV
15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” 18 Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.
Let’s think about this for a minute …Living water….what’s the opposite of that? Hmmm… dead water? What could that be? Well this is not in the text, per se, but I remember a Bible study I did long ago that talked about stagnant water. When it doesn’t have anything fresh being put into it, it can start to smell. It creates an environment that is perfect for what we do NOT want- definately not the type of ‘fruit’ growth that we seek. Maybe you could picture a lake or a bog. Or better yet, the dead sea.
We don’t receive the Living water only to hold on to it and do nothing with it (Him). We have to keep it moving. Like a funnel. We need fresh Living water regularly. Daily.
Romans 8:5-11 ESV
5 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. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus[a] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
What comes to your mind when you reflect on the Living Water?
Read more about, “How to study God’s Word” by clicking here: https://sejanashines.com/2017/08/02/how-do-i-study-gods-word/
Sejana Shines 