Influencers Weekly Devotional

Drink Deeply by

Rocky Fleming

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14

I've been in the Middle East. I know how arid and dry the climate is. I also know how precious water is to the people there. Water is a big deal. I realize from my own experience with deserts, whether playing golf on them, or having flat tires while traveling across them, water is a big deal. Water allows golf courses to grow grass, and gives animals needed fluids, and keeps humans alive. Without water, anywhere a human lives, he will die without it. However, he will die much more quickly in a desert without water, for it is an unforgiving, harsh climate. Those people who live where water is scarce are the greatest fans of water. Believe me. Play 18 holes of golf in August in Palm Desert and you will get my drift. You will have a greater appreciation of water and you will join the fan club. Water is a big deal. The woman at the well was a fan of water for the reasons mentioned, and Jesus had just told her that He would give her a Source of water that would never run dry. He also told her that once she tasted it, she would never thirst again, for the water He gives would become a well spring in her to continue nourishing her. Once she heard this, she was ready to jump in the deep end of the pool. Who wouldn't, if they had to carry a bucket down a dusty road everyday to a well, and haul water back to the house like she did? The truth is, Jesus knew her deepest need, and it wasn't about the liquid He used as a metaphor to expose it. Hers was a spiritual need deeper than the well Jacob dug, and she drew water from. Her need was so great that unless she took the living water Jesus offered her, she would die a spiritual death along with a mortal death. Being a smart Samaritan woman, she took the water her Messiah offered her. Jesus said that it would continue to be a Source for her, and she would no longer thirst. I wonder if she drank all He would give her, or if she took only a few sips and remained thirsty? What would you think of her if she did this? If Christ wanted to give her an unlimited Source, why would she only take a limited amount and still stay thirsty? Doesn't make sense does it? The questions I have for you men are, “Why are you still thirsty? Why are you drinking out of a shot glass instead of a bucket? Why not take the generous, unlimited flow of water that Christ wants to give you, and allow it to cascade over your head, your body, and quench your thirst? Why not drink so deeply from His well that you are satisfied to the point that you give other thirsty people around you the living water you are drinking from? If you don't know the answers, let me share how I answered the same questions: The first thing I said to myself is, “You are stupid for staying thirsty when you do not have to be!” That's always a good start … to get honest with yourself. Then I asked myself, “Why are you doing this? Why are you taking only a few sips instead of jumping in and drinking deeply?” Now don't lose me with this, for I will connect an answer to these questions, and it will be ones most of you men need to have answered as well. The answer came to me with a question spoken to my heart, “Why are you asking so little of ME when I want to do so much more for you? Ask and receive that your joy may be full.” Actually, I am abbreviating the revelation a bit by getting to the question asked of me by the Lord. You need to read the very thing that awakened my thirst and created the question, “Why are you still thirsty?” It started with the following devotional that I read in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. I read: .. . one of His disciples said to Him, ’Lord, teach us to pray . . .’ —Luke 11:1 Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person’s life will suffer if he doesn’t pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished. Our common ideas regarding prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself. “Ask, and you will receive . . .” (John 16:24). We complain before God, and sometimes we are apologetic or indifferent to Him, but we actually ask Him for very few things. Yet a child exhibits a magnificent boldness to ask! Our Lord said, “. . . unless you . . . become as little children . . .” (Matthew 18:3). Ask and God will do. Give Jesus Christ the opportunity and the room to work. The problem is that no one will ever do this until he is at his wits’ end. When a person is at his wits’ end, it no longer seems to be a cowardly thing to pray; in fact, it is the only way he can get in touch with the truth and the reality of God Himself. Be yourself before God and present Him with your problems— the very things that have brought you to your wits’ end. But as long as you think you are self-sufficient, you do not need to ask God for anything. To say that “prayer changes things” is not as close to the truth as saying, “Prayer changes me and then I change things.” God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person’s inner nature. Men, do you get it? Did you catch the wisdom of Chambers when he said, “Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished.” Jesus said to the woman and to you and me that He has deposited within us a Source that will be a continuous wellspring of Living Water and will keep us from ever thirsting again. Why then do we remain thirsty, empty, defeated, deflated, debilitated? It is because we have not nurtured the life of God in us with prayer. Chambers said that a child “exhibits a magnificent boldness to ask”. Jesus said we should become as little children. What does a child do when he is thirsty, scared, hungry or needy? He doesn't think about how his parent will react to his selfish behavior. He simply cries out and asks for what he needs. Chambers hit me between the numbers when he wrote, “We complain before God, and sometimes we are apologetic or indifferent to Him, but we actually ask Him for very few things.” It was then I heard the Lord speak to my heart, “Why are you asking so little of ME when I want to do so much more for you? Ask and receive that your joy may be full.” I tell you men, I have come to a change of heart and a new direction. I admit I am thirsty and I want more. I want more of God and more of what He wants to show me that He can, and is willing, to do. I feel His invitation to ask, and ask BIG prayers. I feel he wants me to grow His presence in my life by His answering the prayers that are most challenging, in my mind, for Him to answer. If there are hindrances in my prayer life, I am asking Him to reveal them. That's my first prayer so I can rid myself of prayer hindrances. You start there as well. I feel it is time that all His men become a magnificent expression of the God we serve. This expression has begun for many of us when we received Him into our life. But many of us have also become stagnant water since our conversion, for we have been afraid to pray to Him as we should, and ask of Him greater things that will grow our faith. It is now time to do this, Men of God. Will you join me and ask our King to fill us up and enlarge His presence in our life? If so, we need to pray big prayers, for that is how the Source swells up within us, and overflows to others. If you are as thirsty as I am, come, and let's go Drink Deeply of the Living Water Christ offers us. I’m jumping in! Download file