A River of Life

Isaiah 41: 17, 18 -"The Poor and Needy seek water but there is none, Their tongues fail for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers in desolate heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water."

Following last week's blog, I just kept feeling so strongly to continue along the topic of God doing amazing things here and now. Isaiah 41:17-20 jumped off the pages of the Bible at me. I've done studies on this portion of scripture before and preached on it before, but it is so relevant now.

When I read verse, 17, I thought, "I sure do feel at time that I am thirsty in this place." There is so much around to satisfy the mind, body and emotions but nothing to really quench the spiritual thirst. God sees the thirst. He hears and He will not forsake us; He will quench our spiritual thirst.

It is amazing to see God so willing to pour out water into every area of our life. In verse 18, He puts refreshing water in areas which are normally impossible to reach- the desolate heights, the midst of valleys, in the wilderness and in the dry lands.

John 7:37, 38, 39-- "....Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him' By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believe in Him will later to receive." (NIV)

He is pouring out His Spirit, the refreshing water, for all those who are thirsty. We don't have to be spiritually dehydrated; He wants to pour out the refreshing waters of His Spirit. What does that mean? How will His Spirit quench our thirst?

The Fruit of the Spirit will bring peace where there is turmoil, joy where there is sadness, love where there is hate. It will fill up the empty places in our heart. It will bring healing where we need healing.

The Gifts of Spirit will cause us to not only be whole ourselves, but to allow that living water to flow out to touch others. As we walk in the Word of Knowledge, Word of Wisdom, and Discerning of Spirits, we will be able to let God use us to touch other people's lives. There are so many who are thirsty for the real thing. They've been given imitations and they are tired of the fake; they want the authentic power of God to touch their lives. As His Spirit flows from within us to those around us in our work place, at school, or even at home we will be able to see the Gift of miracles, Gifts of healing and Gifts of Faith in action. Nothing will be too hard for God to do. When we are tired and drained, we simply throw ourselves on God and allow His Spirit to pray through us the way He only knows how to. (Romans 8:26,27)

The refreshing water of the Holy Spirit is only the beginning. As I look through the rest of verses in Isaiah 41, I see God has so much more for us.