Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

This is what Yahweh who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring; and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.
Isaiah 44:2-4 (emphasis added)

Why is my plant dead? I have said this so often in my life. Indoor plants. Outdoor plants. Potted. Rooted deep. It seems to be a pattern that I have witnessed a LOT. Perhaps it was prophetic. Because the reason they died so often was for lack of watering. I forgot to water the plants. I gave them good soil. Gave them sunlight. Gave them pruning and trims. Anointed their roots with compost. But water? That thing that sustains life? Not so much. Evidence for that: dead plants. In my weakness, in my forgetfulness, perhaps the Lord was telling me something?

The first thing to establish is what we – or another living being, like a plant – needs to live. The shortest list of factors is air, water, food, shelter, and rest. Water is pretty high on that list. Under the usual circumstances, a human in comfortable surroundings can live about a week without water. In unusual circumstances (like extreme heat or dehydration), we can die within hours. Water is a vital resource for our bodies. About 55-60% of our bodies are made up of water. Water is huge for us. Makes you wonder, is the same true spiritually? We have spirit air. God breathed the breath of lives into Adam in Genesis 2:7. And it stays with us as long as we have life (Job 27:3). Seems we have air covered. What about water?

Jeremiah 17:13 says “Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be disappointed. Those who depart from me will not be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.” As natural water has the ability to nurture and refresh us, the spring of living waters can do the same to our spirit. It is interesting to note we can go without food longer than without water and that thirst can be much worse than hunger pangs. It would seem then that a spirit connection to the Lord God Almighty is vital for us to live. While the sacrificial system temporarily covered our sins (Leviticus 16:30), there was no way to truly cleanse us and make us able to dwell in connection with the Most High — though we longed for it (Psalm 51, Ezekiel 36:25). When Jesus came, died for us, and was resurrected to life by the Father, the game changed.

“As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7). Roots are important. They bring nutrients and water from the ground into the plant. One of the more interesting root places of the world is the Yucatan Peninsula. The thin soils of the peninsula appear unable to retain enough water to support the often-dense tropical forests growing on them. Yet the tropical forests are lush and vibrant. The answer is that the trees extend roots into the limestone bedrock, taking advantage of fissures in the limestone, to access water from underground cave pools or directly from the aquifer which extends under the majority of the peninsula. Drought and heat may exist on the surface, but the trees are unaffected because their roots delve deeply. In Jesus, we too need deep roots to survive and grow. The Lord is very invested in our growth.

“Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed, and each as the Lord gave to him? I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). Paul brought the teaching of the Gospel to the church at Corinth. Apollos also taught them. But only God could increase their spirits. We are His harvest and He wants us watered well, feeding on living water so that we can grow. If we aren’t watered, then like plants we will wither and die. No matter how much human teaching, preaching, and feeding we get, it isn’t enough. We are nothing compared to the water that God gives. The increase of that water throughout our spirits. The true food. Man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth (Matthew 4:4 and Deuteronomy 8:3). The Word is the water.

In John 4:10-15, Jesus is very clear about that. We know that the Word became flesh (John 1:14). “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink.’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water”” (John 4:10). Jesus is that living water. It is a free gift of God. He is a free gift of God. Given by Grace because He loves us. We can’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. But He is offering up Himself to each and every one of us as a source of Living Water. A source of spiritual nutrients to nurture and refresh our spirits, and through our spirits to our entire being (body-soul-spirit). “Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified” (John 7:37-39). So Jesus offers Himself by His Spirit to anyone who is thirsty. Anyone means ANYONE. And since He speaks of it as flowing, we can trust that it is an ever-renewed source of water. Something that will always be available to bring us refreshment.

Jesus doesn’t hoard this. It isn’t some super secret thing just for the chosen few. Jesus said ““I am the Alpha-Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life” (Revelation 21:6). It is an integral part of Jesus and His ministry. Which means it is also an integral part of the Church itself. Jesus sacrificed Himself for the love of us, giving Himself up for the Church (who are those who believe in Him), His bride. And He did it “that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without defect” (Ephesians 5:26-27).

This is the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah 44:2 “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring; and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.” The Holy Spirit is given to us (Acts 2:38) for many reasons. To teach us and guide us (John 14:26). To enable us to bear fruit in Christ (Galatians 5:22-23). To give us access to power, love, and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7). And to be the main vehicle through which we are renewed, refreshed, and nurtured (Acts 3:19-21).

We need a close relationship with the Word. We need to access it through the Spirit. Not reading it as words on a page or sounds through a device. But as the Living Word. As the power of Holy Spirit flowing through us, bringing peace and rest. Renewing our minds. Refreshing our spirits. Flowing from the Throne, through the Word, by Holy Spirit, directly into and through us (Ezekiel 47:1-12 and Revelation 22:1-5). Through us to those around us and the world. This is part of our mission. Part of our calling. To spread what we have as freely as has been given to us. “Freely you received, so freely give” (Matthew 10:5-8). It’s too good to keep a secret, don’t you think?

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Genesis 28:15

God promises not to abandon us more than once in Scripture. To stay with us through thick and thin until what He has promised to us has come to pass. To take us to where He wants us and to bring us back to Him when we’re done with our task — and everyone needs protection on a journey. Specifically Yahweh said that He would be with Jacob ‘until I have done’ and in Hebrew this is a conditional clause. It covers possible situations and it covers impossible situations. God’s promises will come to pass when we give Him free reign in our lives. And during that process, He promises in addition to the double promise of being with us and protecting us until it has all been done. Until it is finished. Until we are in His land again. That’s dedication to well-being. That is love.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.