Living Water

WATER 

During my apostasy years, I had a dream that I was walking in the midst of a parched salt land.  It was vast, lifeless and no one lived there.  I was blind to realize that the dream was a passage in the Bible describing the condition of my heart. 

 

This is what the LORD says, “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.  He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes.  He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.”

 Jeremiah 17:5-6 

 

Without the Living Water, I was worthless.  A piece of land where nothing thrived, because it had been cursed. 

After I repented and came back to Christ, God took me on a 27 year journey of teaching me about Himself, Jesus and the Holy Spirit – in that order.  

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During my marriage crisis and 10 years of death, loss and destruction, all I could do was cry out for more of Jesus, more of His Holy Spirit and more of His wisdom.  After praying this prayer for 3 months, the pain from grief was purged and was replaced with the Holy Spirit and with a joy that I could not explain.  Smith Wigglesworth, a healing evangelist from the 1900s, said that when the Holy Spirit comes, He brings tears, weeping and wailing.  Grief is poured out and then wondrously replaced with joy. 

When we cry out for the Holy Spirit, He comes, and He comes with power, purging and fruits of the Spirit.  We are never the same. 

 

The Holy Spirit is described as a River or Living Water.  And wherever this Living Water flows, everything there becomes healed.  It is Emanuel, God with us.  This passage describes the glorious blessings that come from this precious Water.  Remember, I was cursed, living in a parched land with no water, but because of Jesus and His forgiveness, I am now a tree planted by the Living Water.   

 

But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.  He will be like a tree planted by the Water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when the heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 

 

This passage is so powerful, because as we drink daily of this Water, we become healthy, strong, confident, peaceful, faithful and bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  I want to be that thriving healthy tree by the stream, because I know what it was like to be worthless living in a salt land where nothing grows.  To be cursed because curses is what I desired.

 

THE RIVER

Years ago when I was plagued with an illness and did not fully understand Jesus’ healing, I was given a dream. 

I was following my youngest daughter through a forest alongside a stream. That stream started from a building and was at first ankle-deep, then knee- deep, then to my waist and then over my head.  It was now a river that I could not cross and there were many trees on each side of the bank. My daughter jumped into the river and concerned for her safety, I jumped in after her.  This river that flowed eastward from the building, was now a waterfall cascading down into a peaceful pool of crystal clear blue water. It was the most refreshing water I had ever seen.  As I stood knee-deep in the beautiful pool, I wanted to become one with this water and drink and drink and never be full.  However, as I desired this, a thought came to mind. “I can't drink this water, for behind me is saltwater from the sea and the saltwater will mix in with this refreshing water and be undrinkable.”  the river, now a waterfall, created this breathtaking pond of fresh, blue water which eventually flowed into the sea - the Dead Sea. Immediately, as I believed that the saltwater would overcome the fresh water, I fell asleep. When I awoke, it was dark and I was standing in mud up to my knees. That beautiful water had turned to muck and mire. Consequently, from my fear of the saltwater, I got mud instead. However, my daughter was standing on the shore, happy and joyful, just waiting for me to wake up. 

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Two weeks later, Jesus led me to Ezekiel and then to Isaiah, and the dream was interpreted. 

He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east and the water was trickling from the southside of the temple.  As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep.  He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep.  He measured off another thousand and led me 
through water that was up to the waist.  He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 

When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river.  He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, (the sea of death), where it enters the Dead Sea.  When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh (healed).  Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows.  There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh (healed); so where the river flows everything will live.”

 Ezekiel 47:2-5, 7-9 

 
But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud.  Isaiah 57:20 

 

The wicked have unbelief.  I believed that death would overcome Jesus' life.  The river represents His Holy Spirit.  Jesus said to me, “Beth, you have it upside down. You believe that death overcomes life.  Not so.  It is the other way around; Life, My life, overcomes death because I conquered death.  ‘Fresh’ in Hebrew means healing.  So, this river water makes the saltwater healed/fresh and wherever this water flows there is healing and life.  Death does not overcome life.  Jesus’ life, overcomes death.” 

As I believed and praised Him for His Word and the power of the Living Water in me and through me – the Holy Spirit, I was healed! 

 

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 
Psalm 40:2 

 

Jesus longs for us to be thirsty for His Holy Spirit.  To want Him above all things.  There, we will find life and healing, becoming one with the Living Water; Emanuel, God with us.  

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https://youtu.be/maT4phfTXR4 

Jordan Feliz – The River