Water Part 14

Deuteronomy 8:7 NKJV

For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills;

As Moses described the good land God was giving to the Israelites, he mentioned that it would be a "land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs that flow out of valleys and hills." In other words, it would be a well-watered land - no shortage of water.

Spiritual parallel: A life that is filled with the Word and the Spirit is a good life. A good life is not free of challenges on earth. A good life is full of victory. We just keep winning. In order to enjoy the good life God intended for us to have, our lives need to be well-watered. There must be no shortage of the Word and no shortage of the Holy Spirit. How can we accomplish this? Measure how much we are getting of both and compare it to how much we are getting of worldly and secular things. In our age, God has blessed us to surround ourselves with the Word. It is available to be posted, listened to and watched on electronic devices, and spoken from our mouths as we fill our hearts with it. If we are not enjoying a good life, let us move ourselves to a “land full of water.”

Water Part 13

Numbers 24:5-6 NKJV

“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob!
Your dwellings, O Israel!
Like valleys that stretch out,
Like gardens by the riverside,
Like aloes planted by the Lord,
Like cedars beside the waters.

A prophet was speaking as an oracle of God about the nation of Israel. He talked about the tremendous blessing of God on that nation. One of the things he said was that they were like gardens by the riverside and cedars planted beside the waters. If a tree to is planted near a river or lake, it would never dry up. Its roots would always have access to water. If the tree is always well-watered, it would bring forth fruit continually.

Spiritual parallel: If we want to bring forth fruit continually, we must locate ourselves permanently near our water supply.

In Psalm 1:1-3 NKJV, the psalmist gives us clues as to what it means to be located near our water supply. He points out that the man who refuses to pattern his life after ungodly people, but chooses to delight himself in God’s Word, is one who is like a tree planted by the water. This man meditates God’s teachings day and night. In order to meditate the Word day and night, we cannot be far away from it. It has to be close. With consistent diligent effort, and by staying in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, we can fill our hearts with the Word and thereby keep it close to us all the time. When the Word fills our hearts, even if we lost the written or digital Word, we will be able to constantly draw it out of our spiritual wells and water our soul and spirit. Our spiritual address will become obvious. Trees near water bring forth fruit at the right time. Their leaves do not wither. In like manner, the man close to the water of the Word and the Spirit will experience prosperity in all he does. In other words, our productivity will reveal our location.

Water Part 12

Numbers 20:8 NKJV

“Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals."

As they were traveling to the Promised Land, the Israelites came to a place where they were out of water and could not find any. They verbally attacked Moses and Aaron, blaming them for the dilemma. God told Moses to speak to a rock to get water for the people.

Spiritual parallel: When there is a drought spiritually, the wrong thing to do is look to human beings as the source of your problem or your solution. We need to go to the Rock. The rock in the wilderness was a type of Christ. He is the One who satisfies our thirst.

 John 4:13-14 NKJV: Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

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. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 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.

Even when we go to the Word, it can be just ink on paper or words on a screen unless we get the help of the Holy Spirit to cause it to quench our thirsty hearts.  The water of the Spirit was made possible by Jesus Christ.

John 16:7, 12-15 NKJV: Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

John 14:26 NKJV: But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Water Part 11

Leviticus 16:26 NKJV

 And he who released the goat as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

A man was chosen to send the scapegoat that bore the sins of Israel into the wilderness. The ceremony of atoning for the sins of God’s people involved the High Priest and a suitable man who led the goat to the correct location. After he was finished with his task, the escort of the scapegoat had to take a bath before returning to where everyone else was living.

Spiritual parallel: Sometimes we may have to deal with sin or sinners as we go about our daily lives. It may be necessary for us to help get rid of some ungodly items. Our physical senses may contact things we would not normally approve of. How do we cleanse ourselves before returning to our place to carry on as before? We wash with the Word and the Spirit to free ourselves of any contamination resulting from what we experienced. Speaking the Word and praying with the spirit will help us stay separated from worldly contamination that we cannot avoid.

Water Part 10

Exodus 34:28 NKJV

So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Moses was in the glory of God for 40 days. His physical body was sustained without natural food or water. 

Spiritual significance: The spirit world is more real than the natural world. Everything in our natural world came from the Spirit world. Our spirits will exist without our bodies, but our bodies cannot live without our spirits. Although we need natural water for physical bodies, spiritual water provides more benefit. The power of the water of the Word and the water of the Spirit should not be underestimated. Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman of the superiority of spiritual water. He also told the Jews about spiritual water.

John 4:13-14 NKJV: Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

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.

We cannot experience what Moses experienced in terms of being able to go such a long time without food or water unless God chose to give us such a divine encounter. However, we can learn from Moses' experience and benefit if we take the lesson that spending time in God's presence reaps benefits for our whole being – spirit, soul and body.

Water Part 9

Exodus 30:17-21 NKJV

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, lest they die. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.”

Foot washing was a common tradition in the world where dusty roads were the norm. Hand washing was common in the past and still is normal for sanitary reasons. Hand washing was and currently is also a ceremonial procedure for religious purposes in some cultures. The hand washing for Aaron and his sons may have been for cleanliness, but it would have been primarily for spiritual reasons. The consequence of their failing to do this procedure was severe. The judgment could be death. The main spiritual component was obedience to the command of God.

Spiritual parallel: Our hands represent our assignments, jobs, gifts and talents, etc. It represents what we do on a regular basis.

Ecclesiastes 2:11a NKJV: Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled;  

Ecclesiastes 9:10 NKJV:  Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

Deuteronomy 28:12a NKJV: The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand.  

Ephesians 4:28 NKJV: Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

1 Thessalonians 4:11 NKJV: that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,

God wants our hands to be clean – washed with the water of the Word and the water of the Spirit. All we do must honor Him. We are laborers with God in a joint venture with the same goals.

1 Corinthians 3:9 Amplified Version Classic Edition: For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, laborers together) with and for God; you are God’s garden and vineyard and field under cultivation, [you are] God’s building.

 Since God is the leader, we want to make sure we are not usurping His authority and making decisions apart from Him. He has given us the ability to make choices, but we should not make decisions that are contrary to His plan. Therefore, we must wash our hands with the Word and always be aware that what we are doing must line up with scripture. Then we must lift up our hands to the Holy Spirit, allowing the water of the spirit to soak them so that we only move with His approval. Our desire should be to keep our hands clean in whatever we do, but especially in what we do in ministry.