John 7:38-39 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
A year or two ago I spent quite some time studying Ps 51. I was particularly intrigued by verse 6, "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom." You can read more detail about that in my blog, but the main thing God showed me is that that the inward parts include every little cavity of my inner man. Interestingly, the word "belly" used in John 7 above also means the whole thing, every cavity.
I also learned that the hidden part means "to stop up, shut up and keep closed." I get an image of God pouring His Spirit into me at the time of salvation, much like the top of the waterfall in this picture. However, my river is down to a trickle because of the "rocks" in my inward parts -- those things that are hidden.
At the time God first revealed this truth to me, I prayed earnestly that he would show me anything hidden. I believed those hidden things to be mostly related to sin in my life, and indeed, sin does play a big role in blocking the rivers of living water. However, I am convinced it is more than this.
When the children of Israel were finally allowed out of the wilderness brought on by their sin of unbelief, they were commissioned to go and inhabit a land of abundance promised to them generations before by God Almighty. However, this promised land was already inhabited by enemies, and many of those enemies were very intimidating. Read about their history sometime. You will find that although they did have some amazing victories through God's power, they fell short of complete victory. They did not persevere to conquer all the enemies in their land. Instead, they chose to dwell with them, thinking there was room enough for everyone. Inevitably, this would affect their walk with God and they would fall into sin. This was a pattern in the nation of Israel all throughout the Old Testament. They failed to press on to completely destroy every enemy in the land and thus never fully occupied the promised land.
2 Corinthians 10 says that our battle is not against our flesh but our battle is spiritual. Many of the big sins we think about that might block our flow of living waters are sins of the flesh. Yes, those do need to be removed. But 2 Corinthians 10 says our battle is spiritual and the weapons of our warfare are mighty through the pulling down of strongholds. What is a stronghold? In combat, it is an area of land that actually belongs to one army that has been fortified and occupied by the enemy army. This stronghold may be big or it may be small, but any that is left in place, represents an incomplete occupation and an incomplete victory.
Spiritually speaking, we are in dangerous territory when we allow these strongholds to go unchecked. May I be bold enough to say that I believe a vast majority of true Christ followers do just that? 2 Corinthians 10 talks about casting down imaginations and EVERY high thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing EVERY thought into obedience. This is not limited simply to those thoughts we would automatically label "sinful". Hebrews 12 says that we are to lay aside every weight and sin as we patiently run this race. There are weights, rocks, blockages that are not purposeful sin, but that weigh us down in this race and serve to stop the flow of living water.
Satan is the father of lies. Jesus says this in the gospels. In a recent blog I wrote about my "dandelion rejection". From that small incident as a child, I bought into a lie that said I would be rejected when I tried to do something kind for people. From that point until the day I recognized the lie, my behavior flowed from the fear of rejected acts of kindness and I was not even aware of it! Thus, the flow of living water was slowed down. How many other lies are there that block that flow? I suspect a great many!
It is easy for me to understand how children who grow up in abusive or otherwise traumatic environments would have a lot of rocks to remove from their rivers. Unfortunately, I have been very slow to realize that we all receive injuries that lead to lies and ultimately to enemy fortresses in territory that rightfully belongs to God. Thus, the flow is slowed to a mere trickle, a shadow of what it should be if we allowed God to identify and remove the hidden parts from our inward parts.
I know I have mixed metaphors throughout this blog. It is, admittedly, fairly poor form in terms of writing. However, I pray that the readers will take heed to this message. How many otherwise strong, committed believers in Jesus Christ do you know who truly flow with living waters? Personally, I don't know many at all. I know a lot who trickle, myself included. I challenge you to pray a simple prayer and then persevere with God to complete victory, His total occupation of your inward parts. I am praying this prayer...
God, reveal to me the enemy strongholds in your blood-bought territory of my inward parts. Make me to be completely and thoroughly occupied by you so that your rivers of living water may flow from me and refresh all those whose paths you allow my path to cross. I thank you and praise you in advance for doing this work in my life and pray many of your children will arrive at this truth as well.
