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.
— John 7:37-38
WHEN JESUS SAID this, I believe that the disciples didn’t really understand what He meant. But when John wrote this gospel years later, he had the advantage of hindsight. So in verse 39 he added his own commentary: “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given.”
GOD DESIRES THAT OUR LIVES BE A VESSEL TO CONTAIN THE SPIRIT OF GOD, AND THAT WE WOULD THEN CHANNEL GOD’S SPIRIT TO A THIRSTY WORLD AROUND US.
So often we act as sponges, soaking up all we can get, but without having any overflow. There is nothing left for those around us. God is not just interested in what He can do in you, but what He can do through you.
Paul wrote to the Galatians: “The fruit (or the issue) of the Spirit is love” (Galatians 5:22). The world hungers after true, divine, agape love. That is what the world needs to see in us. When your life overflows with the Spirit of God, then that is what issues forth from you. It issues forth like a torrent of living water, blessing all of those that are around you because of what God has done in you and is now doing through you.
Lord, may we receive the fullness of Your Holy Spirit in our lives until He flows forth from us like a torrent of living water, bringing Your love and Your light to those around us.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.