A Well of Living Water

Jesus said "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." (John 4:14)

The bible gives such wonderful word pictures. Sometimes we ad lib to bring out His truths, and sometimes the word picture is already provided…

[Read] Joh 4:3-41 The Woman at the Well…

The typical focus tends to be on the Samaritan woman and her transformative interaction with Jesus

·       And why not? Amazing stuff: Samaritan woman, Words of Knowledge, lives changed by it, new believers added, etc.

But what about the Well? vss 13-14

A Well of Living Water

• No longer thirst…

• A Well of living water springing up to eternal life

  
  

The temptation is to think of eternal life as a long time; a forever time

But eternity is the absence of time; and it’s the realm in which God lives

“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Joh 17:3; in this context “eternal life” is divine life itself

·       “Is”, not “will be”

“And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” 1 Joh 5:11

Jesus Himself is eternal life for us when we partake of His Spirit

·       I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life

·       All present tense

However, there is clearly a future state what awaits us when we are completely changed into new bodies and live in eternity…not time; changed into our heavenly state.

But His eternal life is already in the Well of Living Water

[Read] Joh 7:37-39: a river of living water to flow from our innermost being (feast of Tabernacles)

·       When? Once we die and live in heaven?

·       Or now, when it matters most in our human state?

To us

And to others

Eze 47:9: “so everything will live where the river goes”

·       A vision of a river of life flowing out of the eastern gate of the temple

[Read] Joh 5:1-8 To paraphrase: healing was not being dipped into the water; healing was in the life of Jesus imparted to the lame man. Take up your pallet and walk!

·       Said another way: it’s the water Jesus pours into us through Holy Spirit that becomes a well… springing up to eternal life

If every believer receives a ‘well of living water’, why do we often seem to lack His life at various times and places?

In the natural, a well can be extraordinarily deep, or sometimes more shallow. The water in the well is replenished as needed, and is there for our use. But there’s a problem…getting the water from the depth of the well into our hands. (suction/displacement)

This is the very issue raised by the Samaritan woman to Jesus. She noticed that He had no way to bring water up from well. So the water was there to be had, but of no use.

A well needs a pump (unless using old timey baskets to draw water)

·       E.g. A mechanical pump forces air down a pipe into the water deep in the well. As the air leaves the pipe, a valve closes to create a vacuum in the pipe. When the value re-opens, the vacuum pulls water into the pipe…releasing water from the depths of the well into the intended use…be it to drink, to wash…whatever.

If we believe what Jesus said, then we believers have a well of living water within us. That well contains eternal life, i.e. God’s divine life ready to spring up within us and from us to others.

So what is our pump?

Joh 6:63: "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Speaking God’s word into a situation is like engaging a pump to release living water…His Spirit…to impact lives with His power. His eternal life.

Rom 10:10 “ for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

The Roman centurion in Mat 8: you don’t need to come to my house, I recognize authority when I see it. Just speak the word and my servant will be healed. 

Consider Moses in the desert with the Israelite’s desperately needing water. God told him to do what?

“Speak to the rock and it will pour out its water”. Num 20:8

However, what happened next? Moses struck the rock (twice). And he was radically penalized for it…

Human effort can never release God’s living water. Be careful!

Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord (Zec 4:6).

Remember, Jesus said “My words are spirit and they are life”

We are rocks of the Lord. We house precious treasure. (2 Cor 4:7) Deep wells of water are placed within these vessels of stone, placed in us when we believe in Jesus

That’s what He said...

The water in our well isn’t released by “working up our faith, striving harder to believe… trying to strike this rock with human effort.

Living water is released when God’s word acts as an activator

So we’re called to speak it out; to say what God says; to speak His Word of life into the situations before us.

Mar 11:23  "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.

Believe Mat 8:17 and speak His word (took our infirmities, carried away our diseases)

We can get locked up thinking that “all we need is more power” from God.

While I certainly believe in the power of anointing/fresh infilling used to blast down the gates of Hell, and the need to have our well replenished (Eph 5:18) “be continually filled with the Spirit”

I also think we can equally be guilty of quenching the Spirit

Obstructing the flow of living water by disobedience or shutting out the Lord

... or failing to engage the pump

Confessing the enemy’s words rather than speaking out God’s words

Its not mind over matter; its eternal truth over natural lies (lies of this “world”)

Its even conditioning our heart to actually believe

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God

It seems to me that Faith is the key mineral (substance Heb 11:1) found in living water. When the water is pumped from the well, faith is contained in that water, and mountains are removed, chains broken and lives transformed by the power of God!

Lack faith? Release living water from your well.

Consider Heb 4:12

"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

It seems so simple, yet we often fail to “walk” in eternal life:

Do we really understand and appreciate what God put inside us?

·       This treasure in earthen vessels

·       This eternal life available to spring up and flow in us and through us

·       Or are we always thinking we don’t have enough water?

How much divine water do we need to do His works?

o   Do we have enough?

o   Is it being replenished as its used? Eph 5:18…be continually filled

It may not just be a matter of understanding the truth:

Gal 5:17  For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 

o   The flesh: the residue/influence from our sinful nature; old patterns of thinking, old habits, our mind/will/emotions (soul) conditioned from years of serving our old nature; and our bodies…the recipients of these wrong patterns and habits all make up our flesh

o   The old nature was crucified with Christ; dead and buried. And we were resurrected in Christ with a new nature. Yet the scriptures tell us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

When we agree with the Flesh, we give power to it. The prince of this world is eager to support our agreement with the Flesh. And this compounds as we live out by our words and actions the residue of this old nature.

o   Our soul and bodies have no choice but to respond to the will of the Flesh

·       But when we agree with God and testify to His truth, we give power to our spirit, and our soul and bodies must align with God’s truth…His facts.

·       So do we sow to the Flesh or sow to the Spirit. Remember…we reap what we sow!

Again, its not mind over matter. Its stating God’s truth rather than declaring what our emotions and bodies are telling us. Its declaring God’s settled facts so that our soul and body learn to respond to a new master…the work of Holy Spirit within us, and the living water that brings life wherever it goes.  [Read] Mat 8:16-17

Summary

God put a well of living water within us. But  its seems our well often needs a pump, an activator, to bring the water up from the well of God’s Spirit within so that it transforms our soul and our bodies; renewing us from the old residue of our worldly, sinful nature into the truth of our new nature.

Speaking God’s word to ourselves and to others is a pump. It displaces the old and replaces it with the new. Corrupted patterns are replaced with new, living patterns and experiences.

·       Jesus said: “My words are spirit and they are life”.  So we should speak them!