Rivers of Living Waters

Rivers of Living Waters

In John 7:38 God’s Word says, "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water"  Some translations  say ‘belly’ instead of ‘heart’. Either way, ‘rivers’ implies more than just one river. 

One river is the Spirit of Grace. It is the river of God’s favour: His supernatural ability to do what we can't do in our own strength; He enables you to do it. God’s grace kept me for over 20 years while I was in a desert place. It was grace kept my wife similarly, but whilst mine was simply a desert of wandering, of going nowhere, rudderless – hers was a desert of abuse and suffering. Yet that grace kept us both within His love and care. It kept us and prepared us for the adventures to come – that are only now just beginning.

Another river is the Spirit of Wisdom and faith, which is a special impartation or river of belief and the ability to function in what God is calling you to do. If we give Holy Spirit our permission, then He will lead us into knowledge and experiences we could never begin to imagine were we to have been told earlier. He builds our faith within us and uses our own testimony to teach us that in Him – all things are possible.

There is a river of healing, where we enter places of suffering and affliction only to emerge not just healed but cleansed, healed, delivered, and whole. We can, with His hand upon us, come to a place not just of hope, but of expectancy for whatever He is going to do next. This is a place of never-ending mercy, and never-ending glorious surprises at His miracle provision and kindness. The river of healing really is boundless.

Then there is a river of joy. When we experience the joy of the Lord, it is not limited to just happy, bouncy, holy laughter. It is a place of complete peace that passes all understanding. Joy can be a fleeting moment, or it can last a lifetime. Joy can be in the simple sunshine or in a baby’s smile, or in prayer, or healing, or salvation – anything.

There are probably many more rivers of God – far more than my limited experience even knows about. What I do know, however, is that any river of God is a good river. It is not a river that brings anything to hurt or harm us but a river that brings “life and life abundantly” that holds us in the will and pleasure of our Father God.

This is why the Word talks about them as ‘rivers of living water’. They all flow out of our hearts or our bellies. They all have the same objective – to draw us closer into the presence of God. As nothing unclean or impure can dwell there, the rivers serve to heal us and clean us ready for being in His presence, not just for this life, but for eternity.

Time for all of us to get into the river?