-Written by Benjamin Greuter

Jesus Christ cried out, “If anyone who thirsts, let him come unto me and drink.” Brother Leo continues out study of the Living Water today with the 3rd of the 4 conditions which need be met for Christians to achieve our goal: Live a Spirit filled/affected/led/energized life. After recalling for us the first two conditions, that we must recognize our need of Him, that is to thirst, and that we need to come unto him, that is to set time with Him, for Him, Brother Leo takes us deep into the third condition, that is to drink, or to receive within us the flowing rivers of Living Waters directly from Him, their Source.

In Galations chapter 3, verses one through nine, we are addressed for the very foolishness with which we’ve allowed the world to blind us; if we neither received salvation nor the Holy Spirit by good works in this world and life, then neither can we sustain ourselves or become matured through any good works in this life or world, and how foolish we are to even entertain the thought that we could earn by work either salvation or Spiritual maturation and energy in this world! Rather, It was by faith that we were saved; it was by faith that we received the Spirit who dwells in us; and so much more so is it that we by faith are grown, matured, sustained, and filled with energy and joy.
We have been taught and are taught so consistently that who we are and our value is based solely upon output and production. This deception has capped and quenched the Spirit in us. We so often gauge our own identities or success by our output or level of productivity. We work by our own strength, by the sweat of our own brows, and the strengths of our own backs. We achieve new heights by our own persistence and intellect. As Brother Leo reminds us, God does not need our strength. God does not need our intellect. In Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 13, the Lord spells out our problem: His people forsake Him and the rivers of Holy Water He offers, and instead, build their own cisterns which cannot even hold the waters we so desperately need and which He freely offers!

Turning then to Isaiah, Brother Leo leads us to understand what this third step, drinking of Him, really looks like. In chapter 12, Isaiah expresses how this time of rest and communion works, and explains the benefits therein promised to us. In verses 2 and 3, we are taught that God alone is our salvation, we will trust and not fear. He is our strength and our song. So in joy, we shall come to the wells of Living Water. In our time set apart for Him and for communion with Him, we are not to fill that time with petition and intercession, as we are so accustomed, because those are output. Rather, we are to firstly trust more and fear less. Psalm 46:9-11 celebrate this aspect of our relationship with God, as the Lord commands us to be still and know that He am God, our refuge. So just as if into a refuge, we are to enter into this time alone with Him, seeking shelter from the storms and circumstances of life, asking Him to still our minds and give us rest from our struggles. Having done this, we receive then strength, not from ourselves, but from Him who protects us. In Mark chapter one, verses 29-34, Jesus Himself puts out, healing and teaching so many, but then in verse 35, as in many other places in the Gospel, we see Him get alone with his Father, to drink and be filled just as we are to here, and in that time He was filled with the strength and power to continue on with His mission. So much more do we need to drink Him and His strength in daily to ‘do far greater things than these.’
And finally, just as Isaiah concluded above, there will be joy. Joy in Him, joy in His strength, in His refuge, and in His presence. Brother Leo reminds us that this is necessary in our Christian lives, that we not only fight the good fight, but that we receive from Christ the strength AND joy He wishes us to have, to find joy in Him. Psalm 63 shows us again just what resting in Him looks like, and we are encouraged to speak Pslam 63 and 104 out loud to Him, as we ponder the depth and breadth that is our God the Creator of all things in our time alone with Him, as well as Isaiah 40:25-31.

As brother Leo concludes, he reminds us once more of the significance of this, recalling Jesus final, concluding message to us in the Holy Word of God itself, and therefore SO significant is this: That we thirst for Jesus, that we come unto Jesus, and that we drink in the waters of Life from their Source! (Revelation 22:17)

God Bless