Here’s where we’ve all come to when we feel dry or brittle or helpless.
We haven’t learned to soak.
Psalm 46:4-6 (NIV)
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; He lifts His voice, the earth melts.
Revelation 22:1-2 (NIV)
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Ezekiel 47:1-12 (NIV)
:7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river.
:8 This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Jordan Valley, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh.
:9 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; so where the river flows everything will live.
:12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.
These passages from the bible are so rich with hope and promise. When we live by the river, which I believe to be the Holy Spirit, we soak up what comes from the river, and are nourished. The river brings us all that we need to be plump and full and rich with harvest. It quietens. It brings peace and well-being. Nothing else has the power or ability, or love, to nurture and restore what lives in and around it. Everything close to or inside of the river, is soaked and sustained by the water and the life-giving properties in the water.
Just like eating and drinking, we need to spend time with God every day to be replenished in the way these scriptures illustrate.
Why do we need to go to God?
Why can’t we find peace, balance and purpose some other way?
We have a Creator. Someone who designed us to be, and do, and achieve, and become. It’s not self-driven. Anything from self has limitations. If you try and access well-being by yourself, you won’t be able to find anything that is sustaining. It is limited because we are limited as human beings.
Ephesians 4:6 says there is “one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all” (NLT).
That means He sustains all things.
Verse 10 says, “And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that He might fill the entire universe with himself” (NLT).
The one who ascended higher than all the heavens has governance over all things, good or evil. That’s why He had to descend, and He had to ascend to the highest, and there He remains, in all and through all.
Psalm 24:1,2 says, “The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. For He laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths” (NLT).
For God “chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” Ephesians 1:4 (NIV)
This is why we can’t feel complete without God. This is why other kinds of meditation won't bring us to completeness and fullness. We need to acknowledge the Creator, and draw from His continual refreshing in order to be supple and strong.
That's also why, when we harden our hearts to Him, it becomes harder and harder to draw near to Him. When we are not near to Him, we are separated from Him. When we are separated from Him, certain emotions can become dominant. Like longing, regret, failure, worry, hopelessness, helplessness, defensiveness, strife, impatience, rage, intolerance, lack, deficiency – all of those feelings that cause us to feel wounded in some way.
We need to recognise the importance of finding our identity in our Creator. Acts 17:26 says we were set apart for Him, on this earth, at this time in history, for a particular purpose.
For what reason? To glorify Him in all things. He hand-crafted us, sculpted us and positioned us where we are for a specific reason. He made a way for us to have an intimate, personal relationship with Him so that we would achieve what He designed for us, so that we’d be satisfied and fulfilled doing it. Nothing else can bring that level of contentment or purpose.
God is the giver of ALL things. As we go to Him, HE will provide everything we need – materially, emotionally, mentally, physically, giving us capacity to handle what we need to handle.
If we’re not being impacted by Him, we haven’t planted ourselves close enough to the river. We need to move our roots close to His life-sustaining water.
When we go to Him, it’s like turning on a tap and allowing the water to flow. We can’t expect water to flow if we don’t actually go to the water source, and then turn on the tap.
We have to go to the water source, spend time, seek Him, meditate on His Word, learn who He is and what He says. Soak in Him. We have to go to the water source and turn on the tap, taking time as the water flows and fills our river bed. Then we can expect to have what we need and be able to give out of His increase – this is the life more abundant. We can be like a tree planted by the water. Solid. Deeply rooted. Beautiful.
Prayer: Lord, help me to see my need to draw from you, daily. Help me to bring myself close to the river of the Holy Spirit and welcome Him in to my world, to soak me in your goodness. Fill my river bed. I want to draw in more of you and less of the world . Nourish me, hydrate me and fill me completely, that I would know what it is to abide in You. In Jesus Name, Amen.
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