Living Water and New Life

Today, my thoughts from God’s Word coincide with Chambers’ last lines in his devotional reading. He says, “God does not build up our natural virtues and transfigure them, because our natural virtues can never come anywhere near what Jesus Christ wants. No natural love, no natural patience, no natural purity can ever come up to His demands. But as we bring every bit of our bodily life into harmony with the new life which God has put in us, He will exhibit in us the virtues that are characteristic of the Lord Jesus.”

The Bible refers to this new life in many ways. One of them is ‘living water’ or ‘springs of water’ and this water is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ . . .

Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.” (Psalm 87:7)

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.” (Isaiah 12:3–4)

And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.” (Revelation 21:6)

That some of my family members plus millions of other people do not have or even seem to thirst for this incredible living water makes me sad. I’m also downcast because the news is filled with the most horrid stories. A father shoots his two teen sons then himself. A mother stabs her adult daughter to death. War is destroying entire cites and leaving millions dead or homeless. Children are sold as sex slaves. Families die in fires. Seldom do we hear good news. Most of it is about death and tragedy. Chambers speaks of natural love and other virtues, yet these seem to be sliding into oblivion.

People close to me who once seemed to believe in Jesus now mock Him. Unless their faith is made new, they are living apart from God and separated from those of us who “wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” (1 Thessalonians 1:10)

Even as a Christian, I know what it is to anger God. He cares far more about my purity than my comfort and does whatever is necessary to rid my life from sin.

How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:29–31)

Those ‘springs of living water’ gave me this burden for those who turn away from Jesus. If it were not for Him, I would not care about the eternal destiny of others. Instead, I would be like them — and not care about it for myself either.

Thank You Jesus for good news. You grant forgiveness and new life to those who seek You, not just a change in our innermost being which is wonderful, but also the gift of the life that lasts forever with You in Your perfect eternal home.

Spiritual Exhaustion

Most pastors take Monday as their day off. Physical fatigue is part of it, but the biggest reason is spiritual exhaustion. This is an odd thing about serving others. It doesn’t matter if it is preaching, teaching, encouraging, working in a soup kitchen, giving time and other resources, leadership, or showing compassion, the actions of genuine biblical service are rooted in the Spirit of God but at the same time exhaust the human vehicle.

It happened to the disciples, even Jesus, but not as much for Him. He knew His source of supply and was often in prayer renewing His spiritual energy. The disciples had not yet learned the need for that, but they would.

As Chambers says, the process of being “broken bread and poured-out wine” means that I will be nourishment for other souls until they learn to feed on God themselves. For this, they will drain my spiritual energy and I must continually restore my supply or soon become utterly exhausted.

Sometimes the motivation for service can betray me. That is, if I serve others out of sympathy for them, or guilt, or just to get them off my back, I will wind up with no right to say — ‘Oh Lord, I am so exhausted.’ I might get tired, but it will not be the same fatigue that comes from serving God. Jesus saved and sanctified me so He could use me. I can be exhausted for God, but must remember that both motivation and supply come from Him.

Worship can also be a service, not to other though. This is for God. As in the Old Testament, singers and dancers alike will say, “All my springs are in you.” (Psalm 87:7) That is, every expression of devotion and joy is from the Lord.

Also, all spiritual fruit also comes from Him . . . “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” (Isaiah 12:3) And I have learned that fruit-bearing will make me feel drained, even though love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control come from the Holy Spirit and not from me. (Galatians 5:22–23) I’ve also noticed that when Jesus invited people to come to Him that they might find rest, it was “rest for your souls” — He was not guaranteeing rest for our bodies.

Renewal of spiritual energy requires spending time with the Lord in His Word, but especially in prayer. Jesus went often to a place of prayer. So also have those known as the most energetic of His servants. Without prayer, I don’t know who to serve or how, much less have the energy to do it.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28–31)

Key here are the words “they who wait for the Lord” in which ‘waiting’ means to ‘eagerly look for in hope’ — something that cannot be done if I decide to renew my strength with a nap, or extra sleep, or anything else but spending time with hopes only source!

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In these busy days of taking care of my hubby and trying to keep that to-do list short, fatigue comes easily. With a long list of responsibilities, renewal in prayer could easily slip to the bottom. However, it must not do that or I wind up wanting to sleep long hours and take several naps a day in an effort to battle fatigue, and wondering why those solutions do not work. My source of strength is Jesus. This does not mean that I can do without physical rest, but it does mean that if I neglect to draw my energy from Him, I will faint and be weary.

Every virtue must be His

I’ve long ago given up saying things like, “So and so would be such a good Christian,” for I know now that natural virtues are useless in the kingdom of God. I’ve realized this in the most difficult possible way --- by having them stripped away leaving me helpless.
 

Oswald Chambers says this is a sure sign that God is at work. He destroys confidence in natural virtues because they are not what He is building in His people. These are remnants of what God intended and may look good on the surface, but He knows and He shows me how even the best I have has been thoroughly ruined by the Fall.

Yet I cling to natural virtues. They not only seem right, but they are expressions of my self, giving me some value before God even as I say that I fall short and need Jesus Christ. From experience, I am learning how sad and how frustrating to try and serve God depending not on His grace but on what I have by the accident of heredity. It is a most difficult lesson to learn that God isn’t going to build up my skills and abilities or even transfigure them --- for nothing in me can ever come anywhere near what Jesus Christ is and wants. Unsaved or saved, I fall short.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested . . . through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . .  (Romans 3:21–23)

The life God planted in me means a development of a new creation. He isn’t remaking even the virtues Adam had before the Fall, but the character of Jesus Christ. As He withers up my confidence in anything in myself and in any power I might have, He wants me to learn to draw my life from the resurrection life of Jesus. He wants me to say what all who worship Him must learn to say . . .

Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.” (Psalm 87:7)

Natural love, patience, and purity cannot measure up to God’s demands. His life in Christ is so much more than I can imagine, never mind duplicate. Even my best interferes with His plans.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Galatians 2:20–21)

The only way to experience it is by dying totally to my old life --- even yielding the best of me, so that Jesus Christ rules entirely.

The source of Joy

A mild sinus infection is giving me a dull headache. After a few days, I’m feeling grouchy and impatient. Nothing like a slight nagging pain to reveal what I rely on for my joy.

I’ve tried extra sleep, pain killers, salt water sprays (which will eventually fix the infection), and as a distraction, writing, sketching, sewing, television, reading, and music. Instead of helping, none of these have made me feel any better.

This morning, the Lord directed me to a short verse that identifies the source of Christian joy and reminds me that even in this, my comfort and joy is not found in pills, medications, using my skills, or even in music.

Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.” (Psalm 87:7)

Here, the Word of God points to those involved in worship. They sing and dance, but they know that the source of their ability is God, not themselves.

With this verse, Oswald Chambers reminds me that all natural talent has no value when it comes to serving Christ. That is, any abilities that I have apart from Christ cannot produce eternal fruit. I must rely on Him and the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in me to effectively serve God.

This principle is also true regarding my own spiritual condition. That is, to be joyful I cannot rely on my own resources. They may not be wrong in themselves, but my “solutions” cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit in me. Joy is never the result of things I can do apart from Christ.

Isaiah said, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3), echoing the praises of the singers and dancers in the psalms. That is, he knew that their music was lovely and gave them much delight, but it was God who supplied the very life within them.

In that same vein, God supplies my life too. Because of that, He is the joy of my life, the very source of it. Before I was saved, I did many things to give me peace and a sense of well-being. However, those are nothing compared to the joy of salvation and the power of the Holy Spirit to produce joy, even when life is upside-down.

I’m convicted by this. Instead of going deeper into self-pity over present discomfort, God wants me to go deeper into Him, to find the joy that He gives, the joy that overcomes the world.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” (John 7:37–38)

This living water, this joy, is in Him. It is not in anything else, not my abilities nor the pleasures and “fixers” of life. They might work for others, but He shows me that if I want true joy, even when my head aches, I need to run to Him. He also reminds me that this living water is to flow outward; it is for others as much as it is for me.

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Jesus, it is easy to trust You and enjoy life when all goes well. You have undergirded me in the past with the power of Your Spirit to produce peace and joy in my heart, even in tough times. Today, this fruit of joy can be mine also. While I need to take care of the physical needs, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I need to be filled with Your Spirit that I might praise You and be a blessing to those around me.