Friday, October 17, 2008

Our Future According the Living Water




In the Lord of the Rings, when Frodo and his companions stop in the elvish city, Frodo is drawn to a basin of water. Galadriel tells Frodo to look into the water. As Frodo looks into the water he sees into the future. He sees things that could happen, but it is up to him and his friends how the future turns out. The water Frodo is looking into is nothing like the living water Jesus so freely wants to give.

God wants us to drink of His living water. When we drink of this water we can be assured of a future that is ordained by God. We still have to make the right choices in our lives, but we will have what Frodo and his friends didn’t have; the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We tend to make the free gifts of God too complicated. All He desires of us is total surrender to Him. Ask Him into our lives. Commit our hearts to Him – all our desires, our frustrations, and our will. This is really not such a hard task if we desire to know Christ more. As we get to know Him more these tasks will become a natural part of our lives.

Let’s take a look at water for a minute. What all does it do for us?
One thing, water is cleansing. It washes away impurities. It removes the dirt in our lives. Imagine a tall glass of cool, refreshing water. You take it in your hand, lift it to your mouth, and begin drinking. As you drink you feel refreshed. It is satisfying your thirst.

But imagine it doing one more thing; cleaning out your body. When you are fasting you drink lots of water. If you drink and eat nothing else it will cleanse out your entire digestive system. It takes out all the impurities, all the junk we have eaten. I remember several years ago, when my children were small, reading a book by Stormie Omartian about fasting. I don’t remember the title, but I do remember her saying it would do us good to fast once a month, just to clean out our bodies.

This is what the Living Water from God does. It cleanses us of all the “junk” we have let accumulate in our lives. When we ask Jesus into our lives He starts cleaning out our spiritual body. It is a slow process that is not perfected overnight. In fact it is a lifelong process. We will never be finished cleaning out our spirits. It is a constant purification.

What kind of a future do you see in your spiritual eyes? Are you allowing the Living Water to cleanse you and lead you daily?

If you are a woman in ministry what have you let creep into your spiritual system that is unhealthy? Have you begun to harbor hurt feelings toward the elders in your church, because they do not trust your husband in the decisions he feels God is leading him to make? Is there a woman that is jealous in your congregation and she is making it difficult for you?

This happened to me and that affected how I ministered and how God spoke to me. It began to harden my spirit. This is not a great place to be. Guard your heart. Being in a church that has been established a while and has a lot of history is a very challenging task.

Ask God for patience, guidance, and endurance. Do not let it destroy your spirit. If you find that is happening talk to your spouse. Go to someone for spiritual guidance in your situation. It might be that you have done all you can in that ministry and God is moving you elsewhere. It might mean you need to allow the Holy Spirit to develop you more.

Everyone has a unique situation. You do not want to stay somewhere that you will eventually lose heart and give up all together.

Join me next time when we talk about the Holy Spirit being the purification system of our lives.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for posting this.

LAURIE said...

thank you for this post - it was very timely for me. -blessings.