The River of Life

UV 895/10,000 The River of Life “And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh” Ezekiel 47 v 9 Jesus is the great river of life, the spiritual Amazon. The story is told of a ship that got marooned and floated on without water and provisions for many days. Finally, it floated onto the vast expanse of the Amazon river that looks like the oceon itself. The sailors who were dying of thirst did not recognize that they were now floating on a river full of fresh water and life. They could have had enough water and fish to revive their lives. But sadly, all the sailors were found lying dead aboard the ship after some time. Likewise, we might have been marooned and floating aimlessly without nourishment and water for part of our lives but now we are in the midst of the amazing spiritual Amazon. We are healed, delivered, strengthened and nourished. But we need to show the intiative by letting down a pail to collect the water and to angle to catch the fish. All who come in contact with Jesus and believe in Him will live for He is the quickening spirit, the One and only One who has the words of eternal life. The water of the river is a metaphor that stands for the Word of God. The great multitude of fish that will be healed of sin and mortality are none but those who believe in Him. I write this in our upper room in the midst of some torrential rain. I can hear the intermittent roar of the water on all sides. The voice of Jesus too is described as the voice of many waters. Indeed, Jesus has a Word for healing and saving us in all types of situations. The Lord has also spoken this uni-verse that we too would be like this great river and all the people who hear and believe our words of testimony and truth will be healed and saved. When we believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will dwell in us and rivers of life-giving water will always flow from our hearts. The Lord transforms the pattern of our lives from fight or flight like the fish in the water to “flow and glow”. People who come in contact with the rivers of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control in us will themselves asked to be healed and saved forever. We who were once destined to be dying fish have become “fishers of men. ” We will be instrumental for spiritually famished people being served the bread and wine of the Lord’s table. Once the Lord told us in a time of prayer, “ I am like the line that runs through the fish’s body. I am the lifeline of your lives.” Prateep V Philip