Water Part 26

A lot has happened since I posted my last blog - projects, traveling, etc. One thing that occurred that caused me to increase my desire to read and study the Bible was a trip to the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. While I was there, I realized that for thousands of years, people did not have personal Bibles. They learned about God's Word from going to school (males only), or from hearing it read by the religious leaders. There were individual scrolls of each book, then individual books. The Bible was large. The first books were large and  heavy. Finally, after the invention of printing, someone got the idea to produce personal Bibles. I thought about how I own several Bibles. Although I regularly read my Bible, I felt ashamed that I did not read more. I did not have the appreciation I should have had for having a Bible at home until I realized it wasn't always possible. So now I'm reading more and loving it. My increased hunger is causing me to get more out of it.  Now, back to sharing about "water."

Psalm 63:1 NKJV

O God, You are my God; early will I seek You. My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.

Once again we see David likening his search for God to a search for water. This time he describes his desperation as that of one who finds himself in a dry land where water is not available. In a situation like that the thirsty one would have a great longing that would propel him to keep moving in a direction he hopes will lead him to a water source. A desperate thirst will lead to a determined pursuit. It will be a pursuit without distraction because there is no time for anything else as far as the pursuer is concerned. There are things God cannot give us until we get there. Consequently, He may pull away from us if we get complacent to allow us to feel that emptiness that has to be fulfilled only by Him. Then He can have our attention at the level required to receive the rich deposits He wants to make. When our souls are in such a state, we will receive the Word with the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and have life-changing experiences.

Water Part 25

Hello Brian,

I'm encouraged to know you are being blessed by the "Throne Room" blogs.

Psalm 42:7 NKJV

Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows have gone over me.

David said that when the noise of the waterfalls of God was heard, the deep called out to the deep. When we sense the strong effects of the Word and/or the Holy Spirit, we will hear the call of the deep to the deep. The depth of God will call to the depth of our spirit and great things will happen when we answer the deep from the deep. If we allow reasoning and doubt to control our response, it is like answering the deep from the shallow, and we miss the supernatural experience God intended for us to have. David said “Your waves and billows have gone over me.” That could be an experience where he had an overwhelming experience that caused him to be keenly aware of the reality of the Lord. It will be good for us to have times of being soaked and drenched in the Word and the Spirit. It will cause us to be able to say, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” We need to be hungry and thirsty enough to experience that. 

Water Part 24

Psalm 42:1 NKJV

As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

David likened his thirst for God to a deer panting due to thirst for water. When the deer is thirsty for water, he will search for it. When he finds it he will head for the water source with focus. When we thirst for God’s water, we will search for the Word and the Holy Spirit. When we have the means to get to the Word and the Holy Spirit in our sight, we will head for that source with focus. Like the deer, our attitude will be, “I must have some right now. Do not get in my way.” When we are slack about getting in the Word and fellowshipping with the Lord, we need to ask for a fresh thirst.

Water Part 23

Psalm 29:3 NKJV

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The Lord is over many waters.

 David had a close relationship with the Lord, which can be seen in his writings. It is interesting to see how he talks about the Lord and waters. He speaks of God and His voice over waters. When it comes to the spiritual interpretation of waters, we can see that the Lord speaks by the Holy Spirit in line with His Word. A minister can preach a good and moving sermon, but if it is not based on the Word and there is no anointing on it, it's just the man or woman speaking. When the Holy Spirit is in charge and the anointing is added to the Word, it is God speaking through the person. When the anointed Word goes forth, Jesus shows up and confirms it. So we must never depend solely on our knowledge of the Word when we try to help people. We must seek God's anointing on us to be more effective in helping others. All it takes is asking God to help us and speak through us, then trusting Him to do just that.

Mark 16:20 NKJV says., "And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

Water Part 22

Job 38:34 NKJV

“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
That an abundance of water may cover you?

God stunned Job with revelations of God’s omnipotence and grandeur. One of the questions He asked Job was about his ability to cause the clouds to produce heavy rain. Although in science we learn the technicalities about how the clouds produce rain, God created the process. Furthermore, He can speak and clouds can bring rain even if they were not technically supposed to at the moment. Jesus demonstrated God’s power over nature when He walked on water and calmed a storm.

Spiritual parallel: We can know technically how to cause the Word to produce in our lives. We can know technically how to create an environment for the Holy Spirit to minister to us. However, only God can lift up His voice and produce an outpouring of the water of the Word and the Spirit that is beyond the normal. So we can just be satisfied with what we can do ourselves, or we can look to God to do beyond what we can and soak us in the water of the Word and the Spirit. That takes diligence. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. There are benefits for seeking the Lord. But there are greater rewards for those who do so diligently. (Hebrews 11:6) There is rain for one and a downpour for the other.

Water Part 21

Job 24:19 NKJV

As drought and heat consume the snow waters, So the grave consumes those who have sinned.

As Job spoke about the plight of sinners, he used for example the drought and heat consuming water. If we experience a natural drought the only thing that would save us from suffering the damaging effects would be stored up water that could be used while we await the end of the drought. A back up water supply will help when the normal water supply is unavailable.

Spiritual parallel:  The heat of life uses up the spiritual waters we have taken in. We cannot live today off of yesterday's watering. We need a constant supply to handle the constant challenges we face. Living in the world exposes us to heat. We face persecution and other types of adversities without looking for them. It is good to take in extra water sometimes to build up reserves for times when we may not have the ability to get much water. For example, a pregnant woman needs to stock up in the latter stages of her pregnancy to help her when she has a drought after giving birth. It may be days or weeks before she can begin to catch up with prayer and Bible study. It will be years before she can return to what it was like before children came along. So she will need to be creative when it comes to getting sufficient water even after she recovers from the birthing process. A pregnant woman who prepares properly will not have postpartum blues. This principle applies to anyone dealing with situations that require coping with the stress of trying to recover from trauma or extreme circumstances. We must take advantage of times to take in extra water. It will help us during the times when the opportunities may be scarce.