Flow from Within

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

FLOW FROM WITHIN

John 7:37-39

37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."  39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
NIV

Although we know as it is told to us that Jesus was meaning the Spirit, there is a truth here as well about all of mankind, us being thirsty. There is something within every human being which causes them to thirst after something. The problem is that some thirst after their own desires, while others thirst after something greater than themselves. Even those who thirst after something greater, thirst for the wrong thing. Jesus is telling us we need to thirst for him. If a person is thirsty enough they might do just about anything for a drink and a drink of just about anything, save of course poison. Yet there is so much in life which people do thirst after that is poison to their souls. Jesus said that if we thirst, not just sip from him, but thirst, gulp in the drink he offers, we will be so filled with the Spirit it will be flowing from within us. That is not just being filled the Spirit in which the Spirit is contained within us, but is is flowing from within us. That surely implies that the Spirit will be flowing out of us, overflowing from within us. That has to mean we cannot walk around with the continence of a zombie with all gloom and doom on our faces, but if we are happy and we know it we should like our faces show it. If we thirst for Jesus, and therefore have the Spirit flowing from within us, we need to be living as such. We should have that bounce in our step type of continence. We should be an example to all around us of a person who knows without a doubt his destiny. We should continue to be overflowing with the Spirit even when we face difficult situations in life. Whether we want to admit it or not, non-believers are watching us, and if they do not see the Spirit overflowing from us, they know we are just like them, without hope, trapped in the control of the world’s grip and that our words are just that, words, but not real. Sure we can be honest about having difficult times in life, but at the same time if we are thirsting after Jesus, and truly drinking in his offer, the Spirit will still be overflowing from within us. What can this world do to us that would cause us to not have the Spirit from within overflow out? The Spirit has been given if we thirst after Jesus. We need to make sure we have not been tricked by Satan to thirst after the things of this world instead of Jesus. We cannot drink from both cups, we cannot serve both God and money, or this world, or the things of the world. We cannot do both, it is one or the other. We cannot afford to be deceived by those false teachers who claim we should have all the things of the world because we are children of God. Sure he blesses us with stuff, but we cannot thirst for them, we must thirst for him, then the Spirit will flow from within us.