Life Giving Flood Waters

UV 565/10,000 Isaiah 44 v 3 The Life Giving and Life Enhancing Flood Waters “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring” A thirst or a deep desire for God and the things of God is essential for a seeker to find God. If we take God for granted, He will take us for granted. If we ignore Him, He will ignore us. The thing about thirst is that the more time we take to quench it with water, it deepens and intensifies. Substitutes for water do not work that well. Once He sees that we are truly thirsty, He will satisfy us with the water of life. Jesus promised the Samaritan woman at the well, “ I will give you water that will never make you thirst again.” Her conscience and her past as well as present lifestyle was searing her mind and being with guilt, fear, sorrow and helplessness. The words of Jesus were like water that quenched or put out that fire burning in her and created a new zeal in her for life. The Holy Spirit is at the same time a fire and a quenching spirit: a fire to purify our spirits, minds and bodies as well as the water of life to quench our thirst for righteousness and eternal life. The properties of water is that it cleanses and washes that on which it is applied and that it quenches thirst. Once we are washed in the blood of regeneration of Jesus, it is the function of the Holy Spirit to wash and cleanse us on a daily basis, to anoint us and to apply the Word in our lives. We need to bathe in the Spirit just as a sun-bather soaks in the sun’s light to get warmth or like a bather soaks in water. We need to examine the dry or needy or deficient areas of our lives and expose it to the manifestation of the spirit. Our enthusiasm for God should not be half-hearted or listless in order to have a soaking experience. Virtually every human being has an innate desire to live forever and not to taste death. That desire cannot be fulfilled by worldly or earthly pursuits, however noble or worthy. Substitutes do not satisfy. It can be satisfied or met fully only in Christ. Just as the ground in drought conditions becomes parched,hardened, dry and cracks up, our lives crack up without the moisture, softening and consolidation that water provides. Water is used as a metaphor to describe the role played by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit as it is given freely and abundantly in many types of sources in nature. Similarly, the Word and the Spirit are poured upon us freely and abundantly from the supernatural and spiritual realms. The reference to the “ ground” shows that we need to be grounded in reality and our faith and the manifestations of the Spirit are practical and real. Hurricane Sandy over the past few days devastated the eastern coast of the USA. It was a destructive super storm and flood that can bring any superpower to its knees. But, when the Spirit is poured upon us, He does not leave us powerless, paralysed and maimed. It is a life-giving and life-enhancing flood. Storms are accompanied by floods but the spiritual flood will calm the storms in our lives. We are flooded with the blessings of the Lord, with peace and joy. Not only us but our children and their children, too. If we want to see our children blessed, we must raise them up to be also thirsty for God. The Lord promises to fill them also with the Holy Spirit and enable them to grow to their full potential. The reference to “ floods” shows that our blessing and the blessing of our generations will not be in dribs and drabs but it will be in varied ways and would be amazing, astounding and abundant. Prateep V Philip