God’s Intention is to be the Fountain of Living Waters for us to Drink of Him Today

This week in our morning revival we are enjoying the matter of drinking and flowing the water of life in resurrection.

In Exodus 17:6, right at the beginning of their journey through the wilderness, the children of Israel were at the foothill of mount Horeb (which was Mount Sinai), and they had no water. It is vitally important in the wilderness to have water: if there’s no water, it is impossible to survive in the wilderness. The Bedouins live “from water to water”, from one source of water to another; if you don’t find water while travelling through the wilderness, you die.

When the people saw they had no water, they contented with Moses, asking him to give them water, and then they tested Jehovah saying, Is Jehovah with us or not? How come we got into this situation? However, the Lord didn’t rebuke His people; rather, He stood upon the rock and asked Moses to strike the rock so that water may flow out for people to drink. This all happened in the beginning of their journey through the wilderness.

Later, toward the end of their journey, when they were close to Canaan, they ran out of water again (see Num. 20); again, they murmured against Moses and cried out to the Lord, and instead of rebuking them, God provided water for them.

This is such a clear picture of our Christian life: in our Christian life we are travelling through the wilderness, and we shouldn’t have any bitterness (see the experience at Marah: bitterness can be avoided!); however, throughout our Christian life we come to times when there’s dryness; we come to situations where there’s no water and we are really thirsty.

Dryness is unavoidable in our Christian life; sometimes because of our family life, our health, or our spiritual situation, we enter into a situation of dryness. We should not consider this as being strange; we can avoid lust, idolatry, the testing of Christ, and murmuring, but God allows dryness and temptation to come over us to test us and cause us to grow in life (see 1 Cor. 10:13).

We should not consider the fiery ordeals coming upon us as something strange; they are part of the Christian walk, and in the midst of all these situations, God is faithful. God is faithful to bring us into the fellowship of His Son that we may enjoy Him and partake of Him (1 Cor. 1:30); in the same way, God is faithful even when we are tempted or when we’re dry.

He will not bring us into a situation that is beyond what we are able to bear; rather, He will make a way out! He may not bring us out of our financial crisis or family problem but He wants us to drink the water of life so that we may endure it.

All the dryness in our family life and church life will be taken care of when we see the revelation of the smitten rock flowing out with water and when we drink the river of water of life! How much we need to drink the Spirit in all our daily life!

God’s Intention is to be the Fountain of Living Waters to Satisfy us for our Enjoyment

As in the story of the children of Israel, God’s intention is to bring us all the way into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land. However, God is not negligent of the means and the process through which He takes care of us and brings us into the good land.

In all our Christian journey “in the wilderness” today God wants to be our provision, the fountain of living waters for us to drink and enjoy to be satisfied and supplied. However, we may be clear concerning this in doctrine and teaching, but when we’re put into actual situations, we may forget everything we know and even question that God is among us, failing to realize that the Lord is within us.

We need to be reminded that, because of the consciousness of God, we need to endure sufferings and temptations (and this is grace). If we have dryness in our situation, we should not complain but realize that God has brought us to this place for a reason. We are not here in this place of dryness by our own choice; God brought us here, He is testing us, He has a plan, and He will provide us whatever we need for our living.

It is important to realize that, even though we know so much in the Word of God and concerning God’s economy, we are still being led by God to situations of dryness in our Christian life, and here He tests us; if we exercise our spirit and say, Lord, thank You: I am here not because of “bad luck” but because You led me here; You are faithful! – and then we will enjoy Him as our supply.

God’s intention in His economy is to be the fountain of living waters to us so that we as His people may be satisfied with Him for our enjoyment and become the church as God’s increase, God’s enlargement, to be God’s fullness for His expression.

Jer. 2:13 is a verse that exposes us all: we may not do many bad or evil things, but we may forsake God as the source of living waters and “hew out” cisterns for ourselves, cisterns which are broken and hold no water.

Nothing in this world can quench our thirst or really satisfy us; nothing but the Triune God in Christ as the Spirit flowing into us as living waters can satisfy us and quench our thirst. This is why the Lord Jesus, at the end of the feast, stood out and cried, If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink! (John 7:37-39)

The Lord became the Spirit who now is the flowing river of water of life: we simply need to come to Him and drink! God’s intention is not for us to do this or that for Him but to come to Him and take Him in so that He may work Himself into our being and flow into us and out of us for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose.

Lord Jesus, may we see the kernel of the divine revelation; may we realize that You created us and redeemed us for the purpose of working Yourself into us to be our life and our everything! Even in situations of dryness or in temptations, keep us turning to You by exercising our spirit! Lord, we want to drink of You as the fountain of living waters for our enjoyment and satisfaction. Oh Lord Jesus, nothing but You can satisfy us or quench our thirst!

The Triune God was Processed and Consummated to become the Living Water for us to Drink Today

Many genuine believers in Christ read the Bible, love the Lord, meet with other believers, and do their best to “live a good Christian life” pleasing the Lord. Many believers believe that God is God, He created us, we fell, and because of His love toward us, He sent Christ, His Son, to die for us and redeem us back to Himself; then, He sent the Holy Spirit to lead us to repentance, cause us to believe in Him, and receive Him as our Savior.

However, many believers use the Bible as a “book of ethics” and “manual for Christian living”, doing their best to do what the good book tells them to do so that they may please God and, at the end of their life or when the Lord returns, they would spend eternity with the Lord. These are all spoken of in the Bible, but they are not the kernel of the divine revelation.

What the Bible really talks about is God’s desire to work Himself into us to become our life and everything so that He may be lived out of us for His corporate expression. The kernel of the divine revelation is that God created us and redeemed us for the purpose of working Himself into us to be our life and our everything (see Jer. 2:13; Lam. 3:22-24; 1 Cor. 1:9).

The way He works Himself into us is by our eating and drinking of Him. Whatever we take into us as food is being digested and assimilated into us to become part of us, our cells and tissues, even we ourselves. When we eat Christ and drink Him, He is being digested and assimilated into us to become our constituent, our very being.

In order for God to work Himself into us as food and drink, He went through a process. Hallelujah, God was processed to become our food and drink! God became a man; the Word became flesh (John 1:14), and through His death and resurrection this God-man became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17).

God went through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement in order to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit for us to drink today. This is the focal point of the divine revelation of the Bible, and all we have to do as believers in Christ is drink the Lord as the Spirit, the water of life!

God the Father flows in the Son, the Son flows in the Spirit, and the Spirit flows into us and out of us into eternal life as we believe into the Lord and drink of Him (see John 4:14). Throughout the ages and throughout history God has been flowing; today God is still flowing in us and out of us, flowing us all the way into the New Jerusalem, the totality of the eternal life.

We need to see that the Triune God has been processed and consummated to become the life-giving Spirit for us to drink; when we drink God in Christ as the Spirit, this One becomes in us a fountain of living water gushing up into eternal life!

Whenever we have a situation of dryness in our life, we need to turn to our spirit and call on the name of the Lord so that we may drink of the river of water of life!

Thank You Lord for being processed and consummated to become the living water for us to drink, enjoy, and be satisfied with. Lord, remind us to drink of You again and again. Keep us drinking of You until we are one with You to call others to drink of You as the water of life. Hallelujah, God is processed to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as living water for us to drink! O Lord Jesus, we drink of You right now!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 515-518, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1),  week 10 / msg 10, Drinking and Flowing the Water of Life in Resurrection.
• Further reading: recommending, Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John, msg. 14 (by Witness Lee).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Many weary years I vainly sought a spring, / One that never would run dry; / Unavailing all that earth to me could bring, / Nothing seemed to satisfy. / Drinking at the Fountain that never runs dry, / Drinking at the Fountain of life am I; / Finding joy and pleasure / In abounding measure, / I am drinking at the Fountain of life. (Hymns #322)
  # Once I thirsted for a fountain, / Something deep that would satisfy, / But the fountain that I’d drink from, / Left me searching and still so dry. / Then one day I found Him, / He satisfied my thirst, / Became in me a deeper source / Whence living waters burst. / Now I drink Him! / Jesus, Jesus is my life now, / Jesus, Jesus is my life; / I’m fully satisfied now, / Jesus, Jesus is my life. (Hymns #1327)
  # The processed God, the flowing God, / Is the eternal source; / Emerging in a bubbling spring, / An overflowing course. / The Father’s love, a fountain is; / The Son, as grace, the spring; / The fellowshipping Spirit flows / Out from our inmost being. (Song on the processed God flowing in us)