Our God, the Fountain of Living Waters

I began a running program when I was 46 years old with some trepidation.  Would my body be able to handle it?  I had my doubts.  At the beginning, my heart would beat faster than I had ever felt before.  My shins rebelled against this new exercise with sharp pains.  My ankle would give out on me every now and then.  And I couldn’t sleep at night for the severe aching in my legs.

After a few months of this, I got tired of my worrisome pains.  I was either going to quit running, or find a way out of this pain-and-worry cycle.  I had started my running program because I wanted to get stronger. And I had thought it would provide me with more much needed energy.  I didn’t want to quit.

So I asked for and received lots of advice:  drink more water, stretch more, relax more.  Employing all this advice availed me slight improvement, but not enough.  Then, finally, the answer came to me—God!  His Word!  The power of holy spirit working within me!  I decided to change my focus off of my own fears and how my body felt, and on to God’s promises of renewed strength.  Here’s my favorite:

Isaiah 40:31:
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

I also remembered that God says in His Word that He is a fountain with a continual and unending supply of living water—and I was going to trust my heavenly Father. From that point on, whenever I started to feel pain as I ran, I would “drink in” the refreshing “water” of God’s promises from His Word and pray in the spirit.  The pain began to fade as I kept running!  I thought, “Nothing can hold me back now, I am free to run.”

By the end of that training year, I could run two miles faster than I ever had in my life.  I trusted in God for renewed strength and gained in confidence as I built endurance.

Why is God a Fountain?

God declares Himself a “fountain of living waters” in Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 2:13:
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters…

This figure of speech beautifully depicts God as a fountain, a spring rising up out of the ground from which water flows freely. As a fountain, He freely and abundantly supplies living waters for His people.

Jeremiah 2:13 continues to contrast a fountain with broken cisterns—“…and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”  Cisterns are merely containers for water, and when they are broken, they cannot even hold that.  Fountains, on the other hand, are the very source of water that is made freely available as it springs up from the ground.

God describes Himself as a fountain which figuratively symbolizes “the permanent and inexhaustible source of spiritual blessings.”  He declares this in His Word to demonstrate His great desire to supply readily available, overflowing abundance in life for His people.

Deuteronomy 8:7-10 paints a picture of how God bountifully provides.

Deuteronomy 8:7-10 [English Standard Version]:
For the Lord your God bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills,
A land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,
A land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 
And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

God: Our Unfailing Fountain

Not all fountains or springs, however, flow unceasingly.  Some dry up in the heat of summer.  In Biblical times, these were considered deceitful waters, and were called “waters that fail.”  Others, faithful springs, never failed to flow year-round.  God’s faithful, unlimited waters continually flow freely to His people.  Our God is faithful, never failing, as we read in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 7:9 [ESV]:
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.

Yes, our God is a fountain of living waters Whom we can trust.  He faithfully provides an unlimited flow of living waters.  Our heavenly Father encourages us to trust in Him for all we need.

Psalms 37:3-5 [ESV]:
Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

Living Waters

We can trust God, knowing that He wants to give us the desires of our heart. He is faithful—how delightful to drink of His fountain of living waters! But what are these living waters that God gives so freely?

John 7:38 and 39 [ESV]:
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’
Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit [holy spirit] had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Jesus was telling his listeners that in the future—after he had finished his work on earth, was raised from the dead, and ascended to his Father—those who believed on him would be born again and receive the most wonderful birthday present, God’s gift of holy spirit.  Furthermore, this would not be just a gift to put on a shelf inside, but a gift of power, overflowing into manifestation on the outside, for “out of his [the believer’s] heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Living water, the gift of holy spirit, is God’s power.  The Gospel of Luke speaks of the gift of holy spirit as “power from on high.”

Luke 24:49 [ESV]:
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

Let Your Fountain Flow!

Acts 1:8 further verifies the power that is received in the gift of holy spirit: “But ye shall receive [show outwardly] power, after that the Holy Ghost [the gift of holy spirit] is come upon you….” 

God endued us with power when we believed on His Son, Jesus Christ and received God’s gift of holy spirit.  Our God, the fountain of living waters, completely filled us, His children, with holy spirit power when we received His gift at the new birth.

When anyone receives power from on high, the gift of holy spirit, it is not evident in the five senses until it is shown forth by the freewill choice of the one who has received.  Spirit is invisible and cannot be seen or heard until it is manifested in the realm of the senses.  This holy spirit power received within is potential power until we, by our believing, exercise our authority as God’s children and put it to work.

“Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” in John 7:38 signifies the outward demonstration of the gift of holy spirit in the life of the one who receives the fullness of the spirit.  The believer receives the spirit into overflowing as he by his own free will chooses to manifest it.  As he believes and acts, God energizes the gift within, providing the overflowing abundance of holy spirit power from within the believer.

In Acts 10, we read that the gift of holy spirit was “poured out” on the Gentiles.

Acts 10:45,46 [ESV]:
And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit [holy spirit] was poured out even on the Gentiles.
For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling [magnifying] God.

God poured out the holy spirit on them as water is poured out—living water.  These Gentiles received the holy spirit into manifestation.  Peter, and those with him, realized that the Gentiles had received the gift “for they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.”  They were demonstrating in the senses realm the power of the holy spirit within.

When I show forth the holy spirit, I am drinking from the fountain of living waters, the power of God, allowing it to flow freely and abundantly in my life.  I trust Him Who faithfully and bountifully provides all the power I need, when I need it.  He is the fountain of living waters and is always present with me, “for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”  (Hebrews 13:5)

Drink freely, my friends, from the fountain, the very source of living waters, the power of God within, the permanent and inexhaustible source of all spiritual blessings. Refreshing!