Spiritual Water

~ Have You Checked Your Water Lately? ~

Water Entering In  ~  “Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’” (John 3:5). Jesus the Messiah was explaining to Nicodemus the process of new birth.

Water Springing Up  ~  There is a key lesson from the account of a Samaritan woman meeting the Messiah at a well. “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life’” (John 4:13-14). The natural outcome of this water springing up is worship. 

Water Flowing Along  ~  “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). Jesus is interacting with the religious leaders of His day.  The concept of “rivers of living water” is about the role of the Holy Spirit and this passage relates to our service for Him.   

A Watered Garden  ~  “The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail” (Isaiah 58:11). A watered garden brings to mind the concept of maturity. 

concluding thought:  A key characteristic of physical water is that it seeks its own level. Left to our own devices we continue to sin because of our sin nature. When we follow the steps listed above, we rise from our old natural level to our new spiritual level. The new birth is just that—we are new creatures (not fixed old creatures). “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). As we worship and serve Him through the power of the Spirit of God, we mature towards Christ-likeness. “But we all [Christians], with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image [the image of the glory of Christ] from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). 

A second key characteristic of water is its value in cleaning. Of course we know that it is the blood of the slain Christ which has the power of washing away sin—however water is also seen as a cleansing agent. “Jesus answered him [Peter], ‘If I do not wash you [speaking of physical water], you have no part with Me’” (John 13:8b). The Psalmist prayed, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:2). One of the symbolisms of the waters of baptism is that of washing, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16).

How’s your spiritual water level? Has it entered in? Is it springing up? Is it flowing along? Are you a well-watered garden?

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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