The following is one of my favorite passages in the Bible:
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart (belly) will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:37-39
You can hear the passion in the voice of Jesus as He longs for His people to come to Him and drink. In this passage, Jesus tells us that when we believe in Him, rivers of living water will flow out of us! Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit that was poured out on the Day of Pentecost.
In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came on those in the Upper Room and they were never the same again. They were baptized, filled and drunk in the Holy Spirit! And that same Holy Spirit is in you right now if you are born again. There are not different versions of the Holy Spirit. There are of course many, many different expressions and manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but only ONE Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that came on the day of Pentecost is with you right now wherever you are reading this. As I write this, I can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit like a river in me, flowing out of my belly. I pray that you can feel the same!
The Holy Spirit is a powerful person of the Godhead living inside you that is continually strong, fiery, passionate, gentle, holy, peaceful, full of revelation, loving, tender, full of joy, 24/7! This is the mighty river within us as you can see in the picture in this blog. That’s how I envision this river. Not a creek or a little trickle—no—God, the Holy Spirit is living inside us! That should cause us to dance and shout for joy. He is with us!
This flow of the Holy Spirit, like a river coming out of our belly, should be flowing out of us everywhere we go. This river of God should be flowing out of us at home with our family. There is not a different Holy Spirit at home than at church. There should be a flow of the Holy Spirit with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember that the FRUIT of the Spirit is:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV
There should be a flow of the Holy Spirit coming out of us for the world around us. Jesus said in Luke 17:21 that the Kingdom is within us. So everywhere we go as Christians, there goes the Kingdom of God. There goes a flow of the Holy Spirit out of you. When you walk into a coffee shop, the Kingdom of God just walked in because the Holy Spirit is inside you. And the truth is, everything that every person needs in that coffee shop is inside you! We just have to be vessels for the Holy Spirit to flow through and great things will happen for His glory!
This river within is also for you to enjoy! As we spend time abiding in His presence, we encounter the very presence of God. And in:
“His presence is fullness of and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore” Psalm 16:11
Oh, what we can experience when we are alone with God! His presence sets you free from all that hinders us in this life. This river of His presence flows through trauma, pain and wounded hearts, and brings a tremendous refreshing to our spirits. We must get into the flow!
Your body and soul a lot of times want to do just the opposite of what the Holy Spirit wants. But our spirit craves more of Him.
Again, Jesus said in this passage of Scripture that if we are thirsty to come to Him and drink. You HAVE to come to Him. We MUST spend time with Him. We must drink of Him as He alone satisfies. There is nothing and no one that can satisfy the deepest longing inside you except Him. We must drink deep of Him every day so there is a constant flow of the river coming out of us.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” Matthew 5:6 NIV
A friend of mine has a little cabin that sits right on the edge of a loud, rushing river. We heard the river and admired its force all day as we were camping. Late into the night I had to go outside, and as I opened the door, to my surprise, the river was just as loud and fierce as it had been all day. It never dawned on me that the river does not quite at night! It took me off guard and I thought about how the river of God inside us, the precious Holy Spirit is active in our lives 24/7. He’s just as loving, powerful, gentle, full of love and fire when we are at church as when we are sleeping at night.
The river within can NEVER suffer a drought because the Holy Spirit never suffers a drought of joy, peace, love, kindness, power and the like! We do not want to hold back this River in our lives. As powerful as this river is within us, the flow is subject to our level of yeildedness and abiding. The more we are yielded to the Holy Spirit and say no to the world, and yes to obedience and communion, the greater the flow of the River that we experience out of us.
I hope that you understand from what I wrote, that if you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit living inside you. Jesus related it like a river flowing out of our bellies. Knowing this, that there is a strong, fierce, fiery, passionate, happy, kind, peaceful, healing river inside you, we must do whatever it takes to yield our lives to His presence, so we are able to experience the fruit of the Spirt. Do you want more joy? Jump into the River! Do you need more peace? Rest in the peaceful River. Do you need more love? Lean into the River of love. Do you need more blessing and favor? Yield to the River. Friends, He’s all you need, every day.