I Choose to Guzzle!

My God is so faithful to teach me through His Word. Even when I'm slow to understand what He's saying, He keeps on teaching me! The past couple of weeks I've heard the story of the Samaritan Woman at the well over and over again. Finally, I decided that I needed to spend some time studying that passage, just to see what God wanted me to learn. 

Today during my quiet time, God blew my mind with this same passage I've read at least 10 times over the past couple of weeks. As I read about the Samaritan Woman, who was usually shunned by Jews, meeting Jesus and being forever changed after being offered living water, I heard God telling me to look up the word "water" in the index of my Bible. So I started reading every verse in the Bible that contains the word "water." I was amazed by what I found!

Even in the "old days" before Jesus came on the scene, folks desperately longed for a Savior. They didn't know it yet but they yearned for a relationship with God just as you and I do. Psalm 42: 1-2 says, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

Did you see that? Our souls thirst for God just as a deer pants for streams of water. This verse was written hundreds of years before the story of the woman at the well. The men and women of the old testament were thirsty, just like her. Their souls longed for Jesus.

Revelation 7: 16-17 says, "Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."  This verse is a picture of Heaven. When we get there, we will no longer be hungry or thirsty. We will not be worn down by the heat. Jesus will be our shepherd and He will lead us to the springs of living water and our tears will be wiped away. Revelation 21:6 says,"It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life."

So, its pretty obvious that when we get to Heaven we will be given so much living water that we will never be thirsty again.  It also seems clear that Jesus knows how much we need the water of life and He is going to give it to us freely, with absolutely no cost.

Ok, so God showed me that we desperately long for "living water" and always have. He also revealed to me that there will be an abundance of this water in Heaven. We will be able to drink as much as we want and we will never be thirsty again. So we've always needed it, longed for it, and it will be freely available to us in Heaven. But read John 4: 14 again, " but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus wants us to have this living water NOW! We need it, we'll have it in Heaven, but we CAN HAVE IT HERE AND NOW! Oh my goodness! Is that what could be meant by "Your Kingdom Come?" I hear him saying though, "Tori, it's your choice. Each day you can decide whether you'll drink from the world's well that will leave you thirsty or drink from My spring, that will satisfy and well up within you." 

It's my choice. Wow. Well, obviously I should choose to guzzle from the spring that Jesus offers! It isn't always that easy though, is it? Sometimes choosing Jesus' living water means that I have to sacrifice what the world offers, or give up what I want or think I need. This is where I feel conviction and the desire to draw closer an closer to the Holy Spirit, so He can give me the strength to continuously make the choice to drink from the spring of living water. And when I do, His Word promises that it will well up to eternal life. I believe that as it wells up, it will spill over and others will be drawn to the spring also. 

Today I am thankful that God teaches me. I needed these words; this reminder. Having my God be the One that has revealed this truth to Me is so special, and so touching. I am also grateful for the Living Water that Jesus offered the woman at the well. He offers it to you and me also. We've always needed it. We were created to long for the ONLY thing that will satisfy us. We will have it in abundance in Heaven. But Jesus is so good to us. He offers this living water now, for free! We just have to choose each day to take a drink and when we do, we are filled to the brim and it spills over into our lives, relationships, jobs, etc. God has been teaching me this and I just know He wanted me to share it....Let's choose to drink from the spring of Living Water! Let's chug it! Let's bathe in it! And see what He does in our lives!