My Dear Friend,

In John 7:37-38, Jesus gave us this amazing promise: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water."

It is so crucial that we understand this message that Jesus left nothing to chance. After introducing the metaphor of "living water," He immediately interpreted it: "But this He spoke concerning the [Holy] Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39, NKJV). Let's examine this very important promise more closely.

• "If ANY man" - Jesus offers this, His richest blessing besides salvation, to "any" person who believes in Him. All can receive, and be blessed.

• "THIRST" - Spiritual "thirst," however, is required. One must suffer from a deep, constant, unsatisfied yearning for more of Jesus and His inward, spiritual soul-blessings. Usually spiritually thirsty ones have tried to satisfy their souls' deep thirst - for peace, joy, meaning in life - at all the various "wells" this world offers, and are still unsatisfied, still thirsty.

• "COME unto ME" - Spiritually thirsty ones must then "come" - come near Jesus, come to His cross, come receive His salvation by receiving Him, the Savior, in their hearts. No mere commitment, pledge, sacrament, credal confession, or joining of a church, this is a faith-prompted, full, final, personal surrender to Jesus. It is the New Birth experience Jesus described (John 3:3-8). It is supernatural. It is divine - God's work in us. It is life-changing. Religion cannot duplicate it. And heaven is unattainable without it.

• "And DRINK" - Not sip or taste but drink. Take into one's soul freely the full measure of the living water of the Spirit the Savior offers. This is nothing other than the mighty Baptism with the Holy Spirit, which Jesus personally ministers to any believer who asks (Luke 11:13; Acts 2:33) and which brings new power in living and effectiveness in ministry (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8).

What follows this miraculous infusion of the profusion of the Spirit?

• "He that BELIEVETH ON ME" - We should simply continue believing on Jesus! Why? We not only receive the Spirit by faith, we also release the Spirit by faith . . . if we persevere! Jesus' verb - "believeth" (KJV), "believes" (NIV), or "is believing" (YLT) - clearly implies not one brief moment of mental assent that Jesus is God's Son but a continuing reliance upon Jesus over time. Why must our faith continue? Doubt diminishes the Spirit's flow and unbelief quenches it. So, we must believe steadfastly, through good times, bad times, and every other time. When doubt or unbelief press in, we must press on and press through. We do so by simply choosing, as often as necessary, to trust in the unfailing faithfulness and holy covenant love of Jesus' unchanging nature.

• "OUT of his innermost being SHALL FLOW" - The Spirit's fullness creates the Spirit's flowing. The same faith that makes the Spirit flow into the believer to bless him causes the Spirit to flow through him to bless others. What flows into us from heaven is to flow out of us on earth - from our "innermost being," or spiritual core, to the outermost places and people.

• "RIVERS of LIVING WATER" - A river is a steady, sustained waterflow. It is unceasing, not intermittent. It does not flow and stop, and flow again and stop again. The rivers Jesus promises are the flowing, sustained blessings of the Holy Spirit's supernatural presence and work released through the natural conduit of the believer, often unconsciously. "Living water" is fresh, oxygenated, clean, healthy, life-renewing water, the opposite of the stagnant, dirty, sometimes sickening waters in ancient cisterns with which His listeners would have been familiar.

• "As the SCRIPTURE HATH SAID" - Jesus said what He was discussing was found in the Old Testament. Specifically, it is the river of the presence, or the river of revival (or Millennial river) described in Ezekiel 47:1-12. (And in Isaiah 35:6-7; Joel 3:18; Zechariah 14:8.) It gives us a perfect description of the characteristics of the rivers flowing through the abiding, Spirit-baptized believer. Its source is God's presence. It increases gradually in depth, or current, which symbolizes spiritual power. It begins insignificantly, just ankle deep, easy to pass over. But it gradually increases until it "cannot be passed over," or symbolically, it cannot be ignored or overcome. Not only sustaining, it creates life: "everything will live wherever the river goes" (Ezekiel 47:9, NKJV)! Its transformative power is so great that even thoroughly dead and barren things, once touched by it, suddenly become alive and fruitful.

Now here is a wonder. Note in our text Jesus spoke in the plural, not the singular; not of one river, but many “rivers.” How does this happen?

As this prime heavenly river flows into the earthly believer, it diffuses, breaking up into many distributaries, or secondary "rivers" of blessing so desperately needed in this unblessed, sinful world. While the blessings these rivers minister are separate and distinct, their source and "water" is one: the Holy Spirit, who bears His "fruit" (Galatians 5:22-23) and operates His grace-gifts through Christians to help other Christians and non-Christians in need. What are these rivers?

• The river of faith, by which Christians live, maintain union with God, and rest in secure God-confidence in this faithless world.

• The river of truth, the Word of God, which feeds Christians' faith and exposes false teachings, gods, and religions.

• The river of compassion, which brings Christ's healing, deliverance, and provision to the sick, oppressed, and needy.

• The river of uncompromising righteousness, by which morally compromised sinners and Christians are directed or redirected into Jesus' straight and narrow way.

• The river of holiness, which restores purity to the defiled and separation to the unequally yoked.

• The river of justice, which restores fairness and equality where bribes, biases, and favoritism have harmed the innocent.

• The river of peace, imparting peace with God to sinners and the "peace of God" - His very own unquenchable, divine tranquility and contentment - to Christians, which bypasses our finite minds' ability to understand.

• The river of joy, that enables us to rejoice greatly in Christ even when suffering great adversity for Christ.

• The river of strength, or inner fortitude, by which we overcome long tests of injustice, persecution, or other troubles, and demonstrate before all the courage and endurance they, too, may have in Christ.

• The river of the fruit of the Spirit, or the wonderful, varied manifestations of Christlikeness (Galatians 5:22-23) that flow while we the branches maintain union with Christ the Vine (John 15:1-8).

• The river of the gifts of the Spirit, Christ's supernatural grace-gifts to the church operated by the Holy Spirit through members of Christ's body that cause people to know firsthand how real, powerful, present, and personally interested in them Christ still is today.

• The river of ministry gifts (gifted ministers) - to evangelize, pastor, teach, prophesy, or operate in apostolic authority and wisdom (Ephesians 4:11-13) - that sustain, grow, train, and mature us until Christ comes for us.

• The river of Bible prophecy, which gives us the only sure, lasting hope in our hopeless, directionless, increasingly antichrist culture and world.

• The river of "true" worship and praise, offered "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23-24) by obedient Christians solely to bless God.

• The river of humility, that shows proud sinners and carnally minded Christians the truly selfless, essential spirit of Christlike Christians.

• The river of faithfulness, which through faithful Christians reflects on earth the unfailing faithfulness of our covenant-keeping, lovingly loyal Father in heaven.

• The river of forgiveness, that refuses to hold any grudge for any offense by any person to please Him who forgave us and ordered us to forgive (Mark 11:25-26).

• The river of thanksgiving, our New Testament "sacrifice of praise" offered "continually" (Hebrews 13:15), which fulfills Paul's command to "give thanks" in "every" situation (1 Thessalonians 5:18, KJV), quenches every murmur, deeply pleases God, maintains vital touch with Him, and enables us to see His hand in every situation.

• The river of missions, which inspires us to send, support, intercede for, or become missionaries, foreign or domestic.

• The rivers of revival and renewal, which flow from wholly consecrated men and women of faith and, once released, lastingly impact people, places, nations, and continents far beyond anything they ever dreamed.

These are just some of the mighty, supernatural rivers Jesus promised would flow. From the River of life above. Through Spirit-baptized believers. Every day. In every circumstance. For Jesus' delight. To bring life and fruit to this God- and Spirit-deprived desert we call the world. To grow the body of Christ. To prepare the bride of Christ for His imminent appearing.

Are your "rivers" flowing today, my friend? If not, why not? If so, flow on!

Flowing,

Dr. Greg Hinnant

GREG HINNANT MINISTRIES