“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:38
Recently when reading this Scripture I was reminded of Abraham. Abraham had dug wells throughout his family’s land so that they could have access to fresh water. These wells were a life source for Abraham and his family.
Over the years, however, the Philistines (an enemy) would come and fill up Abraham’s wells with dirt in an attempt to cut off their life source. How frustrating to have to clean out the wells over and over again!
Just like the Philistine army did to Abraham, our enemies – the world, our flesh and the devil – want to clog up our wells with dirt too. A little bad attitude here, disobedience to the voice of the Holy Spirit there, murmuring, complaining, backbiting, comparing yourself with others, lying, etc etc… whatever the issue may be, our wells are under attack.
As a worship ministry, we value uncontaminated relationships. A number of years ago, we did a teaching on this with our team and made time to allow the Holy Spirit to bring to our mind any time we had spoken negatively of other team members. Any time we had participated in gossip and back biting, we had clogged the well of living water that we had been charged with to keep clean so that our ministry could be effective. With humility and transparency, our team went and asked forgiveness to those who they had sinned toward in this way. It was a defining moment for our team.
We can’t compartmentalize sin. We can’t be foolish enough to think that our private sin remains completely separate from who we are as ministers. The Spirit of God flows into us so that it may, in turn, flow out of us to refresh and bless those around us. When we allow sin to go unchecked in our lives, our sin dirties the water.
Ask yourself today, “Is the living water that is flowing out of my life flowing through a clear filter, of a life surrendered to God and walking in obedience to His voice? Or has it been clogged up and made dirty by known sin I’m allowing in my life?”
You are loved.
