We are in an e-teaching series titled “Functioning in love”.   As the Lord builds us up as His spiritual house on earth, He desires we function in our unique parts together in His love.

Part 1- Christ’s Love was an overview of His expressions & key demonstrations.

Welcome to Part 2 – “Christ’s Water of Love”.   How can we directly contact Christ’s presence, love, & power?  How does it relate to His living water?  Read on to find out about:

1) Christ’s supply of water
2) His invitation to you
3) Benefits of His water
4) How to start drinking
5) How to keep drinking
6) Barriers to His water (optional)

Note: Section 6 – Barriers to His water clarifies and addresses common misunderstandings & roadblocks to Christ’s water. This section is optional (extra 3 min), but is strongly recommended to be read prior to Section 4.

1- Christ’s Supply of Water

After washing their feet with water, Christ ended an intimate dinner with friends telling them about His going away and the coming Holy Spirit (John 14:14-31). They sang a hymn together (Matthew 26:30) and departed for a mile’s walk toward a garden in Gethsemane under a full moon.

After going down the stone steps into the Kidron valley, Jesus likely stopped by a vineyard to teach on fruitfulness, relationship (abiding), and to reveal to them a new commandment: “I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit…. this is my commandment that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15).

To their left in the valley would have been the spring of Gihon – Jerusalem’s only natural water supply.  Streams from it meandered throughout the valley.  It also fed the pool of Siloam.

The ‘Gihon’ waters have two Hebraic meanings: “bursting forth” & “valley of grace”.  Jesus likely stood near these flowing waters for His next teaching on the Spirit. We read, “When He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will take of Mine and make it known to you…” (John 16:13-14).

By the vineyard, He revealed His demands.  By the spring waters, He revealed the supply needed to meet His demands.

What did He mean, “take of Mine and disclose it to you”?

Like a leaf is carried downstream, the flowing waters of the Spirit would carry to them what was of Jesus’ while He was away.  Jesus would put His word, truth, love, & glory in the spring water from Heaven.  Then, that stream would transport it to those who stood in the same waters on earth.  Like water, the person of Spirit does not have a physical form.  Yet, He is alive and flowing all over the earth, dwelling within billions, and is coming out of Heaven as a clear river.

Shortly afterward, they crossed the valley to go into the garden where Jesus’ arrest soon followed (John 18:1).

This was the pattern of truth Jesus revealed that night in the valley:

Just before the valley: The supply: Holy Spirit as Helper – Ch.14:16-26

While in the valley: The demand: fruitfulness, productivity, abiding, & love (the vineyard) – Ch. 15:1-25

Before leaving the valley: The supply again: the Holy Spirit (spring waters) – Ch. 15:26-16:15

Christ revealed His demands once (#2) & His supply twice (#1 & #3). 

Why did He do this?  Because, any attempt to meet His demands without His supply will result in condemnation, shame, & bondage.  But a focus on His water supply brings freedom, grace, life, & power.

2- His invitation

Fast forward sixty-plus years later.  The last surviving disciple in the Kidron valley that moonlit night has been exiled to a small Greek island.  While standing in a mighty river of the Spirit on the Lord’s day (Rev.1:10), the water carries to Him the last words of Jesus as recorded in the scriptures.  As he is penning the final pages, he hears this:

Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. – Rev 21:6

Then shortly later, Christ’s final recorded invitation is given: Let the one who is thirsty come and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. – Revelation 22:17.

Does this pattern look familiar?  Christ, once again, doubly emphasized His supply of living water to His people. This time from Heaven.

To be clear, His invitation is to His Bride (Revelation 22:16). 

You may be thinking, didn’t we receive His water (Holy Spirit) during salvation?  Why would He keep offering it to us afterward?  Below are some reasons why (see also section 6 for more info).

3- Benefits from Christ’s water
 

Blessing	Results
To grow vigorously	Water on earth causes life to flourish.  Christ offers water to us (also made of earth) so we can flourish and grow vigorously in Him and in His purposes, “Life will flourish wherever this water flows.” – Ezekiel 47:9
Fruitfulness	Like in the Kidron valley, water flows from the spring of the Father to the vine of Christ.  As we (Christ’s branches) receive it from the vine, restored relationships, gifts, ministries, callings, functions, purposes, and His love gets produced in and through us. He can produce more than we can imagine, but it is only according to the level of power flowing and working inside us.
Fullness	Drinking allows us to directly taste Christ.  This brings fullness of life and power:  May you experience (taste) the love of Christ…THEN you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power..”  – Ephesians 3:19a.
Unity	His water brings unity – with God and each other.  It also causes us to abide in Him and He in us.  His water allows us to taste God’s divine nature in real-time.  When we do, we become one with Him (2 Peter 1:4).  Note: Dwelling and oneness are very different.
Receiving from Christ	Water is used to move people, goods, boats, etc. from one place to another. His water transports to us everything Christ has for us – His love, word, truth, voice, direction, gifts, & most importantly – His glory.
Purity	His water purifies our hearts from the dirt that we all collect as we go throughout life. It produces holiness of the heart which flows outwardly.  Ultimately, His water helps us be the same person on the outside that we are on the inside.
Soul Restoration	The Good Shepherd leads us beside quiet waters to restore our soul (Psalm 23:2-3).  The word “soul” is translated as “psyche” – the totality of the mind. God uses His water to heal us of emotional wounds & mental distress.

4 – Who His water is for

Christ offers water to both individual believers (as branches) & entire assemblies (as clusters in the Father’s vineyard).  Paul wrote that Christ supplied His Spirit to the entire Galatian assembly. 

“Does He (Jesus) who supplies the Spirit (water) to you (the Galatian assembly) and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?” – Galatians 3:5

‘Supplies’ comes from the Greek word epichoregeo, which means to “give to regularly”.  The image is of an open faucet supplying water. This led to great miracles among them.

Ultimately, the world is longing to connect to the Christ in you.  It is hard to fathom, but within our clay temples inhabits an eternal and living Person full of hope, truth, life, and love who longs to be known by the people around us.

God’s people have outside spickets.  As He opens wide the valve of the mainline coming into our house, He not only wants to do a work in us but that His living water would ultimately flow out of us to bring others to Christ.  This is one of the great works of His water.  It is for us, His body, & the world.

Let us move on to drinking.

5- How to start drinking

When you first believed in Christ, the living water (the Holy Spirit) entered into you.  On His way in, He applied the blood’s power to temporarily renew your heart and to permanently purify your spirit from the stain of sin. He made your spirit holy forever, sealed it for redemption, and made it His new dwelling place.

All believers have Christ’s water (the Holy Spirit) dwelling in their spirit already. A stream flows into it whose source comes from the throne of God and Jesus in Heaven (Rev. 22:1).  Water trickles out of our spirit and into our soul occasionally (Ezekiel 47:2).  At times, more flows out (Ezekiel 47:3-4). 

It is important to realize you have a spirit, soul, & body (1 Thess. 5:23).  These are interconnected yet separate parts.  Your soul is the same as your heart.  It is your mind, will, emotions, desires, & ambitions. Your soul is the interfacing connection between your spirit and the physical realm (your body & the world). Your soul envelopes your spirit, and your body envelopes both.  The OT temple reveals our design in detail (perhaps to be discussed in future teaching). 

But, God doesn’t just want to dwell in our spirit. He wants to flow through and fill up the whole house – our soul and body.  Why?  Because it is only in our soul that we can taste and experience His love, power, & life.

His gift of water is when His water flows upon, in, through, & then out of you.

His water is in us.  His gift of water is when it is flowing through and out of us (Ezekiel 47:5).  How does this happen?

First, Jesus pours out His water upon us from Heaven.  It then goes into our spirit.

Then, from our spirit, it flows out like rivers into our soul, filling it up fully.

As Jesus keeps pouring from Heaven, the water overflows from our soul, into our body, & out of us.

Every part of us becomes immersed in His living water. As Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being (spirit) will flow rivers of living water.’ – John 7:37-38.

While physical manifestations are common, they are not the essence of His gift.

The essence of His gift is that Christ fills us with Himself as we drink His water into our soul and life (Acts 19:1-10).  As a gift, it is of grace and cannot be earned.  It is free, yet will cost us everything – our pride, independence, self-reliance, & self-interests.

Example of first-time drinkers – the Samaritans

One day around noon, Jesus entered a small Samaritan town and sits down by a well.  Suddenly, a woman walks up in the hot sun to draw some water.  As they talked, Jesus saw her need.  She had been married five times, and the man she was living with was not her husband.  For years she was trying to taste love from contaminated water sources. What did He offer to her for her love woes? Living water!  He said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10).

Jesus knew no earthly person could ever satisfy her thirst.  Anyone attempting to drink from that well would keep getting thirsty (John 4:10).  But anyone who drank from the Heavenly person of the living water would not thirst for unconditional love and satisfaction from any other source (John 4:14). It would become a well of water springing forth within her (John 4:14).

His offer of water was not actually available to her yet. She needed to be born-again to receive it (John 7:38-39).  After Christ went to Heaven, later Phillip went to her town and preached.  All of Samaria heard and believed the good news (Acts 8:12). This would have included the Samaritan woman (assuming she was still alive).

Afterward, Peter and John visited to “pray for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (Christ’s gift of water)” (Acts 8:15).  At this point, “He (the living water) had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized (immersed) in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 8:16). After they laid their hands on them, they “began receiving the Holy Spirit (the gift of the living water)” (Acts 8:17).  It is likely the Samaritan woman finally received Christ’s gift of water at this time.

How to receive (drink) for the first time:

Close your eyes and go to Jesus.  He is in heaven next to the living river of God.

Restate His invitation. He said, “let the one who is thirsty come and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life”.

Express your sincere desire (thirst) for His gift.

Feel free to lift your hands to Jesus in a receiving posture. 

Empty yourself.  Give Christ access to everything: your heart/soul, life, & even your body.

Ask Jesus with faith believing to pour out His water.

Begin receiving.  Keep your eyes on Jesus. It is His gift to you of Himself and His love.

One receives by faith, not feeling.  However, as you drink, your soul will begin to taste and sense Christ coming into it (His power, love, & peace).  

Give Him time to work.  This is essential….

Give Him your mouth and yield to whatever He wants to do inside you.

5 – How to keep drinking

The gift of Christ’s water is both an event and a process.  He encourages us to keep on drinking habitually:

Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit” – Ephesians 5:18

The phrase “be filled” means “to be supplied with liberally”.  Just as Jesus is the beginning and end, He wants us to start, continue, & finish with a continuous and liberal supply of His living water. The person that supplies their soul liberally and habitually with the living water will be the one whose life becomes fruitful (Hebrews 6:7).  The fruit of the Spirit is not just what He produces through us when we seek His filling.  It is the Spirit’s personality.  He is full of love, joy, peace, kindness, & is very gentle.

Like wine, as His water communes with our soul/hearts, it begins to influence the way we think, speak, act, & live.  As we do, our soul gets washed from the inside out regularly.  Wherever His water flows, it creates a highway of holiness. 

The secret to the continual filling of His Spirit is the crucifixion of the flesh and recognizing our ongoing need for Him. To regularly receive His water, repeat steps 1-10 above.

Christ is constantly knocking on the door of our soul wanting to come in and dine with us (Rev. 3:20).  As we empty ourselves and receive Him in, we commune and abide with Him and His love with us.

6 – Barriers to drinking (optional but recommended read)

There are four main types of barriers that prevent His people from accessing His water.  These are theological, mental, sin/the flesh, & doctrinal. 

A) Theological Barriers

To know truth is to know Christ.  His truth however has two expressible forms.  The first leads us to the second.  The second reinforces the first.  Neither contradicts.  The Spirit of Christ provides both. They are:

Scriptural – the written word of God  – for knowledge & application

Experiential – the living word of God – for life transformation

These often co-exist together.  For example, if you’ve ever read a verse and suddenly it came ‘alive’ to you, it is because it actually became alive.  Like a sword, the Spirit brought it to life so you could experience and be transformed by it. Christ’s living water is an experiential truth.  It transforms us on the inside because His water is living (Hebrews 6:5).

A Word on balance

Like a car, steering only toward one form of truth while completely neglecting the other will cause one to go into a ditch.  Ditches prevent us from moving forward on the road the Father has predestined for us.

The scriptural ditch – One becomes stuck when the primary focus is on the intellect & natural mind.  We resort to carnal, not spiritual thinking. This brings knowledge without transformation.  If we stay there, it results in: 

A rejection of the real things of the Spirit.  Paul wrote: But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them…” – 1 Corinthians 2:14.  He wrote this to believers.  This stunts maturity.  Maturity is not defined by knowledge, but whether our image is conforming to His.

Legalism – Extreme legalism clings to scriptural truth but rejects God’s experiential truth. Some Jews rejected Jesus because of this:  “You search the Scriptures (the written word) because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me, and you are unwilling to come to Me (the living Word) so that you may have life.” – John 5:40.  Legalistic individuals attacked Christ’s body then and still attack parts of it today.  Except for this time, from within. God forbid that the body should give itself self-inflicting wounds.

A form of godliness but a denial of its power – this often leads to anger, embitterment, & major moral failures (the greater the publicity one has, the greater this risk). 

The experiential ditch – Getting stuck in this ditch leads to:

False spirituality, non-sense, & vain imaginations. “Let no one keep defrauding you on…..the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head,” – Colossians 2:18-19.

Believing every wind of teaching that blows their way (false doctrines)

A disregard for assemblies and for Christ’s body

Great moral confusion and a lack of repentance

Stunted maturity

God wants His children error-free by knowing both scriptures and experiential truths together in balance,  “Jesus replied, “Your error is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.” – Matthew 22:29. 

B) Doctrinal Barriers

While the theological barrier is a mindset issue (natural versus spiritual), doctrinal barriers are misbeliefs based on specific verses. Since all of God’s gifts are received by faith, doctrinal barriers can block access to His water.  Below are few common misbeliefs:
 

Misbeliefs	Correction
I received everything in my spirit when I got saved.	Everything needed for eternal life is in our spirit (2 Peter 1:3).  This gave us access to God’s promises but does not guarantee receipt of them (2 Peter 1:4). All His gifts come down to us from Heaven by faith (James 1:17).
There is no subsequent receiving of water after salvation.	Why then does Jesus offer it to His people?  Also see: Acts 19, Luke 3:22-23, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 8:14-16, Acts 9:17, Acts 10:44, 2 Timothy 1:6, John 7:38-39, Galatians 3:14, Galatians 3:2.
I have already received every spiritual blessing from God.	He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in HEAVENLY places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).  Heaven is not inside us, but where Christ is physically.
All I need to do is “activate” what’s within me.	To ‘activate’ means to force to act.  God is not an ATM machine.  He cannot be forced to act on our command.  We do not activate His voice or His hand. Rather, we simply receive in humility whatever the Lord wants to give us, as He sees fit.

C) Mental barriers

Some saints have a mental aversion to genuine experiences with the living God.  This may be due to:

Equating experience with insincerity or emotional hype

Having disingenuous role models or seeing leaders fail morally

Having a fear of being out of control

Christ’s water is not controlling. He is full of self-control and wants us to have it also.  The more one is out of control, the least likely they are to be genuinely drinking of the Spirit.  He wants to influence, not control us, to the degree we allow Him to. The gentle Shepherd never forces His people to HIs river to drink.  His hope is they’ll come because they are thirsty.

D) Sin/flesh barriers

If a particular sin is bearing in our mind, we should bring it out and repent of it. Sin is like concrete.  While it cannot touch our spirit (the Spirit protects it from contamination), it can harden our soul over time.  This makes it impenetrable to Christ’s water. As we bring them to Him, He rolls up His sleeves and wash clean for us and perform His breakthrough work. The flesh cannot penetrate the Spirit.  The Spirit penetrates the flesh. One must crucify the flesh to live according to the Spirit.