Water Part 8

Exodus 23:25 NKJV

So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. 

(Some translations use the word "worship" instead of "serve." You cannot truly worship God and not serve Him.) God promised to bless the food and water of those who served Him. When something is blessed, it will do only good, no harm.

 Spiritual parallel: Although the Word is already blessed in general, what is it doing for us individually? When we get into the Word, is it blessing us? Are we being changed from glory to glory. Do we see progress we can measure? We cannot get into the water of the Word haphazardly and expect positive transformation. We must get into the Word as servants of the Lord. When we do, He will bless it and it will do us good. A servant waits on his master. He listens for instructions and carries them out. James explains the right attitude toward God’s Word. (James 1:22-25) He said the doer, not the hearer is blessed.

God told Joshua to approach the Word as a servant – ready to do everything He saw in it. (Joshua 1:8)

Before telling the parable of the house on the rock, versus the house on the sand, Jesus asked a question emphasizing the importance of those calling Him Lord being people of obedience to His commands.

Luke 6:46 NKJV

“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?”

Despite the extreme value of the Word, we need God to bless it to our spirits just like we need His blessing upon our natural food and water for our physical bodies. In both cases, we need to commit to being His servants. We are sons by birth and servants by choice.

Water Part 7

Exodus 17:6 NKJV

Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

When the Israelites were in desperate need of water, God supplied it for them miraculously. He had Moses strike a rock. It was through this rock that the physical need of the people was met. 

Spiritual parallel:  The rock represented Christ who would be struck (crucified) for us. Just as the physical rock, a representation of Christ provided natural water, the living Christ provided spiritual water. He brought us the water of the Word and the water of the Spirit. He was the Word made flesh. He is the anointing that lives in us by way of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Speaking of Jesus, John said the following:

John 1:1 NKJV: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Father confirmed that Jesus was the One we needed to listen to.

Matthew 17:5 NKJV: While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” 

While speaking to a Samaritan woman, Jesus professed that He was the source of living (spiritual) water. (John 4:13-14)

Jesus described Himself also as the One who would give believers the Holy Spirit.

John 7:37-39 NKJV: On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

As John wrote to believers to help them avoid deception, he pointed out that we have received an anointing from Jesus to teach us truthfully about everything. (1 John 2:27)

Water Part 6

But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and they have rolled the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.”

Jacob met some people who were waiting by a well in a field to water their flocks. He encouraged them to go ahead with their task so the sheep could return to pasture before it was time for them to be gathered in for the night. It was still plenty of daylight left and he thought they should be enjoying their pasture instead of just hanging around the well. They explained that someone needed to roll the stone from the well. Since it was their common practice to roll the stone away, water the flocks and then return the stone to its place, they waited until everyone was present with their sheep to begin the process.

Spiritual Parallel: This reminds me of corporate watering through the church. There is definite benefit in joining together to receive the water of the Word and experience the water of the Holy Spirit. It is not a substitute for the personal, individual watering we should be participating in all the time. Both the individual and corporate spiritual watering are important. One compliments the other. Just as the natural sheep had to gather together for watering, spiritual sheep must do the same. Someone has to open the doors of the meeting place (like the rolling away of the stone) and then lock them again after service is over (like the returning the stone cover over the well). It is not practical for someone to open the church building every time a few people want to enjoy corporate worship. So times are designated, and people gather and wait on everyone else so the person opening and closing the facility can do it at the same time for everyone. God gave wisdom to natural shepherds for orderly and effective watering of their flocks. He did the same with His spiritual shepherds.

Water Part 5

Genesis 26:18 NKJV

And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them.

Abraham had dug wells to provide water for his household and animals. After he died, wicked people stopped up the wells. So, Isaac repaired the wells so they could give water once again, and identified them by the names Abraham had given them.

Spiritual Parallel: Sometimes we may find that sources of the Word and the ongoing filling of the Holy Spirit have been stopped up in our lives, and we must once again dig the spiritual wells and regain access to the water we once had. We must dig out the things that are in the way so we can get the water again – the water of the Word, the water of the Spirit.

Water Part 4

Genesis 24:32 NKJV

Then the man came to the house. And he unloaded the camels, and provided straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

Laban brought water to wash the feet of Abraham’s chief servant and the other servants that accompanied him on his mission to find a wife for Isaac. The washing of the feet was common in their culture because a lot of people traveled by foot, wearing sandals. The openness of the shoes would permit the feet to get dirty as they walked on dusty roads. What a relief it must have been to rid themselves of the dirt and feel the refreshing the foot washing brought to their tired feet.

Spiritual parallel: Traveling on earth amidst the dirt of humanity influenced by the devil requires a regular washing. Jesus used this parallel with His disciples before He left the earth. (See John 13:3-17)

Peter was resisting Jesus who was washing His disciples' feet. Peter thought it was inappropriate for Jesus to be doing the lowly task of foot washing. Jesus told Peter He had to wash Peter’s feet or Peter would have no part with Him. The Amplifies version adds “we can have nothing to do with each other.”

We know from the scriptures that water is a type of the Word and Ephesians specifically uses it as a method of washing.

Ephesians 5:25-26 NKJV

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 

Jesus said when we are clean, we only need our feet washed. It could mean that once we are saved – washed in the blood of Jesus, all we need is a periodic washing to free us from the constant contamination we are exposed to as we live in this world. Periodic washing means from time to time each day – based on how much exposure to the world we experience. Because we are constantly exposed to the world’s ways, news and propaganda, without the washing of the Word, we can begin to conform to the world’s system. If we conform to the world’s ways, we can reach a place where we have nothing to do with Jesus and He has nothing to do with us.

 There are other reasons we need the Word. “Washing our feet” is just one of them.

Water Part 3

Genesis 21:15-19 NKJV

And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, "Let me not see the death of the boy." So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation." Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.

When the water Hagar had for her and Ishmael was used up, she knew they could not survive. She did not know where any more water was. They could go a long time without food, but not without water.

Spiritual parallel: Water is a type of the Word. When He was tempted by Satan to turn stones into bread, Jesus quoted from the Torah which says:

Deuteronomy 8:3 NKJV

“….man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

What water is to the physical man, the water of the Word is to the human spirit.

God opened Hagar’s eyes and revealed a well of water to her. Apparently the well was there but she did not see it.

Spiritual parallel: We need our spiritual eyes opened to see the Word of God – to get revelation of it. It can be just ink on paper or digits on a screen without the Holy Spirit illuminating our spiritual minds to understand the Word so it becomes flesh in us. When we approach the Word, let us pray for the Lord to give us revelation of it.