THE RIVER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
(First part)
Memory verse (John 7: 38-39): " He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive "
The Holy Spirit has characterized all workings of God through man on earth since creation. All men who were used by God, like Moses and in his ministry we see the Holy Spirit’s dealings, when Moses brought 70 elders to God, He took of the Spirit upon Moses and distributed to the 70 men and they began to prophesy (Numb11: 16-30).
The Scriptures talk of Joshua as a man full of wisdom because Moses had laid his hand upon him (Deut34: 9). We read of the Judges, like Gideon, Samson, Jephthah etc upon whom the Holy Spirit came mightily and they did great things. We see kings who were anointed and the Spirit of God came upon them, like David, Saul, and Jehu etc. The Bible has record of the prophets who spoke not by themselves but by the Holy Spirit (2Pet1: 20). In fact Prophet Zechariah spoke to Zerubbabel that it is not by power or by might but by the Holy Spirit (Zech4: 6). We have the record of John the Baptist, the man who received the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. We read of our savior Jesus who was baptized by the Holy Spirit after being baptized in water in river Jordan (Luk4: 1,14-19). John the Baptist made this point clear that Jesus would baptize us who believe in with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mtt3: 11). Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he commanded his disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until they were filled with the Holy Spirit and he promised them that when the Holy Spirit come upon them they would receive the power and they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the utmost parts of the earth (Acts1:8). On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples of Jesus and from that day they began to turn their world upside down. They preached the gospel and multitudes were converted, churches were planted from city to city, the hands of the apostles performed miracles, signs and wonders, healings happened and demons were cast out. God works through man by the Holy Spirit.
Do you want to be used by God to touch your generation; then open up your heart wide and let him fill you with the Holy Spirit (Ps 81: 10).
Tomorrow’s subject: “ Are you thirsty and hungry? ”
(Second part)
Memory verse (Matt5: 6): " Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled ".
Jesus Christ baptizes in the Holy Spirit, but it takes spiritual thirst and hunger for any one to receive. Hunger and thirst are the greatest signs of spirituality. On the great day of the great feast that had taken 7 days, Jesus stood up and cried out: “all ye who are thirst come to me and drink” (Jn7: 37). The river of the Holy Spirit has been flowing from the day of Pentecost and it will continue to flow until Jesus comes again to take the church. It is flowing in all nations, cities, churches, communities, families where people are thirsty for God. Thirst and hunger attracts this river of Life. Wherever people are hungry for God, this river flows. This river gives life and joy. This river carries the very essence of God’s being, life and nature (Jer2: 13).
My brother, are you filled? If not then, when will you be hungry for the right thing? You can’t afford to miss out on God’s blessing for our generation. This is the generation of the Holy Spirit. There is no time in history when the Spirit of God ever moved like he does in our days. The Spirit of God is moving in China, India, Latin America, USA, Canada, Africa... and mighty things are being done through the believers who are hungry and thirsty enough to open up widely for the Holy Spirit to flow through their lives and touch their generation. Miracles are happening, lives are being radically transformed, healings are taking place, churches are planted etc. God has a feast for our generation, he’s serving the last wine to those who believe in him, men and women are getting drunk in the Holy Spirit, it’s time to feast and celebrate as we enjoy the heavenly drink.
It’s awful and sad to find believers in our day that are miserable, cold, lifeless while God is serving the best wine to all. What are you hungry for? What are you pursuing? Your hunger determines your pursuits. Are you missing what God is serving just because you are hungry for the perishable things of this world? What you need are not those passing joys of this passing world, you need the Holy Spirit. He is everything you need (Mtt6: 33). When you have this river flowing in and out of your life, then you have everything your life could ever need. Thirst for this and thrust your self into God’s river.
Tomorrow’s subject: “ searching and seeking ”
(Third part)
Memory verse (Ps63: 1-2): " O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory ".
Thirst and hunger lead us to relentless seeking and searching. Men always pursue what they are thirsty for. Can you imagine a person who is so thirsty and he just sit or lie down lousily and just keep telling anyone who passes by: “ Am thirsty, oh, am very thirsty”. He walks to the bedroom or through the corridors of the house just telling every one how thirsty he is! Thirst and hunger have so great power that no one can afford to hunger or thirst and reluctantly carry on with any other businesses. Thirst will stop you from whatever you do and seek for what to quench it. It will distract your routines, it will disrupt your sleep in the middle of the night, it will take money out of your purse to purchase what will quench it; it will discomfort your comfort.
If you want Jesus to release the mighty gush of this river of the Holy Spirit, cry out to him to fill your heart with thirst. Once the thirst is there, then begin to seek him vehemently, search for the fullness of the Spirit relentlessly. Never settle for anything less than the fullness, don’t settle for just a cup, don’t settle for just a dose, but go for the overflow. David said: " you’ve anointed my head and my cup over flows ”. Jesus has a river to let to flow into and through your life. He has more than what you need. The degree of your thirst is the limit. Don’t settle only for a well that can only satisfy you alone, but go for a river that will fulfill your needs and flow out of you to touch your friends, neighbors, family, workplace, community, nation and your generation.
I don’t know what measure of the river of the Holy Sprit is functioning in your life, but I challenge you to stretch out for more, thirst for more, seek and search for more, cry out to the Lord for more, pray if you have to, fast if you have to, whatever the Lord leads you to do, do it for sake of keeping this river of life flowing in and out of your life. Seek the Lord in the morning, seek him in the night watches, my friend, seek, seek and seek. Stop being complacent, stop being lazy about your Spirit heritage (Heb6: 12).
Tomorrow’s subject: “ Holy Spirit activity in your life ”
(Fourth part)
Memory verse (Ezek47: 9): " And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes ".
The Spirit of God is life. The Holy Spirit is the river of life. Wherever his presence flows, things begin to receive life and they begin to live. The entrance of the Holy Spirit into your life brings life. When the Holy Spirit comes into your life, there is a holy activity that begins to take place in every area of your life, he turns dead hope into living hope, he turns dead faith into living faith, he makes your dead prayer life into a vibrant living prayer life, he even makes alive your mortal bodies (Rom8: 11), people who used to be sickly and weakly begin to have great health. The Holy Spirit uses God’s word to renew their minds, he brings life in dead relationship and marriages, he brings life in dead families, he brings living joy and peace. He is the river of God’s very nature of life. When he begins to flow and work in your life, dead things begin to resurrect. Do you see those dead limbs in your life, marriage and family? Please let me prescribe the true treatment you need, it is the Holy Spirit. Open up your mouth wide and allow Christ to let flow this river into your life. Stop running to wrong sources, wrong people, Jesus said all those who are thirsty should run to him and he alone can meet their spiritual and eternal need.
The Samaritan woman had run from man to man, she thought that men would meet her thirst but Jesus told her it was not so, but told her that he had what would satisfy her need. Many beloved children of God are running after many things in life and they only get more troubled and empty and dry within; I pray that you would discover the gift of God, i.e. the Holy Spirit (Jn4: 10). Life will be a total different thing with the Holy Spirit activity in you. He will bring life in your life, family, business, ministry and preaching.
Allow the river of the Holy Spirit to flow into every area of your life, family, business and ministry. Your family needs this river to flow in it, many families have dead relationships among them, pleases gather your family every day morning or night daily and call upon the Lord. A family with river of God in it is a vibrant place to live in.
Tomorrow’s subject: “ Living in overflow ”.
(Fifth part)
Memory verse (Ps23: 5): " You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over ".
God has a bigger plan for his church; his plan is abundance (John10: 10). David experienced something of this dimension and testified that God anointed him to overflowing measure (Ps23: 5). Jesus called people on the feast to come to him and drink and every one who would drink from him, rivers of living waters would flow out their innermost belly. God wants to fill you until you experience an overflow of his life.
Don’t limit yourself, hunger and thirst for more. Don’t settle just for some measure in your cup, stretch out until your cup runs over. When it comes to the Holy Spirit, Jesus does not sprinkle some drops on our foreheads, he does not give just a little drink, he does not give us a cup, or a little bottle but he baptizes us in the Holy Spirit, i.e. he immerses us in the river of the Holy Spirit. He immerses us in the river of the fire of the Holy Spirit. In Psalms he says: “ open your mouth wide and I will fill you ” (Ps81: 10). In other words, God is ready to fill your spirit until you overflow and immerse you until you are lost in the river of the Holy Spirit.
My brothers and sisters, what are you settling for? A cup? or just a measure, a little bottle, a little experience, a little move of His Spirit or just speaking with other tongues? I counsel you by the mercies of God, stretch out for more. Where have you stagnated in your walk with God? It is sad how dear saints just settle for religious traditions of men that are life less. Many dear servants of God have just settled to their own man made cisterns that contains no living water instead of seeking the Lord who is the source of this river of life (Jer2: 13). Apostle Paul was one man, who stretched out for more from God. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.(Phil3: 14). God’s will for your life is overflow. When you live in over flow that’s when you’ll begin to be a blessing to other people around you. God has not called you just to be blessed but to be a blessing to other and this comes when you live in overflow. Go for more. Go for overflow.
Tomorrows subject: “ Let the river flows out ”
(Sixth part)
Memory verse (John7: 38): " He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water ”
God has redeemed us through Christ to be channels of life and blessings to this hurting and dying world. We are not the end of everything that comes from God. The blessings of God should not end with us, purposes of God should not end with us, healing should not end with you, the joy of the Lord should not end with you but should go out of you to touch your friends, neighbors, relatives, children, spouse, workmates, school mates...
Jesus said the rivers should flow out of our hearts, this means that before rivers flow out of your heart, it should have flowed into your heart. This river has its source in God himself, God is the fountain of this river of Life (Jer 2:13), so it flows out of God into our hearts and then out of our hearts to the people God brings us into contact with. Your river must touch and impact your world. Don’t shut in this river of God, please let it flow out of you to other people. All living things receive and give out life. The Dead Sea in the Middle East is dead simply because it receive water but it does not have an outlet to allow water to flow out it. Whenever water stagnates, it becomes dead. The river of life should flow into our lives and we let it to flow out to other people's lives. Many churches have lost the fire and the river of life because they could not allow this river to flow out of the church to the world. Jesus instructed the Apostle and told them that when the Holy Sprit comes upon them, they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world. This river of the Holy Spirit flowed from Jerusalem to many parts of the world through preaching of the Apostles. Many lives were healed, multitudes turned over to the Lord our God, churches were planted etc.
Dear ones, Let us allow the river to flow out of the church to the world. Many churches are locked up into their religious prisons, so called denominations; they think they are enjoying their big day. Their eyes are not seeing the dying people for whom Jesus died. They are just busy sharing their big cake of the heavenly blessings, other are claiming their cars, lands, wives, children, houses etc. This is not wrong, but if we think this river only come to bless my tummy, my wallet, my womb, my, my, my then am wrong and it won’t take long before such a church begin to stink. Don’t allow the river to end or stagnate with you.
Nice weekend
