John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
Dear God,
Truly Your words, recorded for us in scripture are words of life. Food for my soul, that I find precious and a ‘must have daily’, to contemplate as the Holy Spirit leads me into thoughts necessary for my spiritual life and growth. This includes reproof sometimes, or showing me that I need to repent, confess and change by the strength and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. In John 7, I have read a word picture of the priests, which portrays their reliance on their own knowledge about scripture and religious observance. Yet they just did not ‘get it’, so to speak, even though this obviously right living Man, was love in action and teaching words that enlightened and energized the simple folk, as well as doing loving supernatural actions, like healing sick people and raising the dead to life. Not to forget that His coming into the world in a miraculous way in answer to prophecy, as His whole ministry and eventual death were also.
Like me and many religious people, we run the risk of doing as the priests in the days of Christ, by ‘hanging on’ to traditions and our own importance in religious circles. Even though many of us, as the before mentioned priests, know the words of scripture, but have not recognized their true meaning, or had/have not in humility applied them to our lives or were/are filled with attitudes from another source other than the God of the scriptures.
Please God, show me when I am so taken up with my thoughts, that I allow attitudes like jealously, wounded pride or just pride, etc. etc., to keep me from fully seeing and reflecting Your wisdom, love and glory. Which all adds up to blocking You from speaking Your love or reproof into my soul, so that I can be taught by You and then come closer to You during my earthly walk. As a consequence of this growth, we (I) will be so filled with Your ‘living water’, the Holy Spirit, that He will flow out of me to others. I find such an occurrence to be an exciting prospect, with rewards internally and externally anticipated as promised in Your word.
I give You all the praise I am capable of; as I ask that You walk with me through this day.
Amen