God’s desire is to be the fountain of living waters to His people for them to drink, have their thirst quenched, and spontaneously live a life for God’s purpose.
In order to become the fountain of living waters to us, God became a man and, in Christ, He was smitten on the cross (as the rock was smitten in the wilderness) so that blood and water may flow out of Him – blood of redemption and water for the impartation of life.
When we open and drink of Christ, He comes into us as the fountain of living waters and He gushes out from us to water others, flowing into eternal life (John 7:37-39).
Now the entire Triune God is in us as a fountain of water of life springing up into eternal life, and all we have to do is to speak to Him and He will give us to drink! Speak to the rock. Sing to the Lord, and living water will flow!
Sometimes, however, the well of living water in our being is covered with dirt, and we do not have a clear flow of water of life within us. Sometimes we feel dry, thirsty, and without much strength. In order to release and increase the flow of water of life in our spirit we need to dig away all the dirt in our mind, emotion, will, conscience, and heart.
We need to have a daily practice of digging away anything that hinders the flow of life. This happens mainly in our personal and private time with the Lord, as we open to His shining.
It’s not by introspection or looking into ourselves according to our self-made artificial light that we can clearly see what to dig, but it is when we come under the Lord’s shining light that we can cooperate with the Lord in prayer to dig away the dirt.
May we be those who come in the Lord’s presence and remain there for Him to expose the dirt in our inner being so that we may dig it away through prayer! May there be much digging today so that the living water may flow in our being and out of us to water others also!
Lord, may life flow freely in our being! Keep us speaking to You as the water-giving-rock cleft for us on the cross. Keep us singing to You as the well that gives us water of life. Keep us digging away all the dirt and barriers that would hinder the flow of life. May living water flow! We want to cooperate with You to dig away all the dirt in our mind, emotion, will, conscience, and heart so that living water may flow out of the innermost part of our being!
Speak to the Rock and Sing to the Well to Get the Living Water!
In Exodus 17 God stood on the rock in Horeb and charged Moses to strike the rock so that water may come out for the people of Israel to drink. The rock typifies the crucified Christ, the Christ who was struck by the power and authority of the law, and blood and water flowed out of His side for His people to be washed and to drink (John 19:34).
In Numbers 20 God charged Moses to speak to the rock; the rock has already been smitten, now all he needed to do to get the water was to speak to it. With Christ today there’s no more need to be smitten: Christ has already been struck on the cross, now we need to “speak to the rock” by speaking to Christ!
Today we can get living water by speaking to Christ. Ask Him, Lord, give me water to drink! I am thirsty: give me to drink! You have already been smitten on the cross and the living water is flowing – flow into my being and quench my thirst!
Hallelujah, the veil has been riven, the rock has been smitten, and we now have direct access to the rock – all we need to do is just speak to Christ, call on His name, and He will flow out living water!
In Numbers 21:1 we see yet a further development: the people of Israel sang to the well, and the leaders dug the well. Through regeneration the Triune God as the fountain of living waters has been “installed” into our being; now Christ is in us (not merely outside of us), and the fountain of water of life is in our spirit.
A very simple way to get the living water is to Sing to the Well! Sing to Christ! Sometimes speaking to the Lord may not work; so sing to Him! Sing with grace in your heart to the Lord every day (Col. 3:16). We can sing to the Lord,
Spring up, O well, within my spirit!
Rise up and tell, so all can hear it!
Spring up, O well, so I experience
That life abundantly. [Source: hymnal.net]
and the living water will flow! However, along with speaking to the rock and singing to the well we need to cooperate with the Lord by digging.
Digging the “Dirt” in our Mind, Emotion, Will, Heart, and Conscience so that Living Water may Flow!
We need to dig away all the dirt in our inward being so that the divine life may flow
Speaking to the Lord and singing to Him are two very simple and easy things to do; however, many times we cannot sing to the Lord because there’s dirt in our being. Sometimes we sense that we don’t have the free flow of living water and our prayers are not so free, our testimony is not so strong, and we feel defeated.
There are many barriers to the flow of water of life in our being, and in order for us to have the flow of life restored and strengthened we need to cooperate with the Lord by digging away all the dirt. As Hymns #250 by brother Witness Lee says,
Spring up, well, with water; / Dig Thou, Lord, completely; / Dig away all barriers / That Thy stream flow through me.
Christ, the Rock, is riven; / Living water’s flowing; / But within my heart now / It is blocked from going.
I will dig by praying, / Dig the dirt entirely, / Thus release the Spirit, / Let the stream flow freely.
The well is within us but it is possible for it to be covered by dirt. We need to dig the dirt in our conscience, our heart, our mind, our will, and our emotion.
If you find in your life that you’re not so flowing, there’s not much living water, you’re spiritually weak and not victorious, you feel dry and thirsty, etc it is time to DIG AWAY! We need to go to the Lord to be under His shining light and dig all the dirt He exposes.
Our conscience may not be clear but full of guilt, accusations, offenses, and dirt. Our heart may not be pure but with mixed intentions, complications, having other goals and impure objectives that we don’t even know about.
Our mind may not be focused on the Lord but be full of imaginations, delusions, thoughts, dreams, opinions, and philosophies. Our will may not be subdued before the Lord but disobedient, stubborn, and unwilling to submit to God and His arrangement. Our emotion may not be one with God but fluctuating, having ups and downs, filled with self-love, self-pity, self-occupation, and shedding tears for the self.
We need to come into the Lord’s presence and ask Him to bring our inner being into the light so that we may dig away all the dirt that His light exposes. We shouldn’t be introspective and dig the dirt that our own self-made light exposes, but follow the Lord’s inner shining and dig away the dirt He exposes in us.
The more we dig away the dirt, the more the living water will flow. Our continual digging unlocks the flow of water of life. The best way to dig is through prayer in our personal time with the Lord. We need to seek the Lord personally in our time with Him and let Him shine in us, then pray according to His inner leading.
As we confess our sins, shortcomings, and failures, we dig away the dirt in us and the living water flows again. We need to have a daily practice of digging away the dirt in our being in our personal time with the Lord.
Don’t make excuses for yourself to not spend time with the Lord saying that you’re busy. Even as you travel to work, walk on the street, do this and that, you can inwardly open to Him and let His light shine in you, then confess and pray.
We have so many issues and problems in our inward psychological being that needs to be dug away. For our going on with the Lord and for the flow of life in us to be restored and increased we need to spend private time with the Lord to dig until the living water gushes out of our innermost being!
We need to dig until living water flows in us, and we become “a fountain in gardens, a well of living water, and streams from Lebanon” (Song of Songs 4:15). In the Lord’s light we dig away the dirt until living water flows in us and out of us to water others! I treasure these lines from Hymn #1214, which are also my prayer as a conclusion to this article,
Dig away, dig away, dig away, Condemnation in my heart dig away! All my vain imaginations dig away! All my troublesome emotions dig away! All resistance in my will dig away! All self-seeking in my heart dig away! All the guilt has to go! All my dreams have to go! All self-love has to go! All self-will has to go! All my hopes have to go! Now, life can flow, praise the Lord, life can flow, from the fountain in my heart, life can flow! When my heart’s wholly free, Christ can flow through me – Hallelujah!
References
Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chan’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Economy of God (ch. 10), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 10 / msg 10, Two Wells — Two Sources of Living.
So that His life will flow true us Halleluyah