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Are
you getting your
recommended daily allowance
of the Living Water?
By Trina Paulsen |
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I am a terrible water-drinker. It seems like such drudgery
to swallow that “recommended daily allowance.”
I get busy and don’t even think about drinking—even
when I have a glass right in front of me. It seems the busier
I get, the less I drink. I usually drink a little with my
meals and a little more in between times and call it good.
Occasionally, I become so thirsty that I drink nearly a whole
glass full in one gulp!
Thirst. It’s natural. In fact, it’s
critical. Our bodies can only last a few days without water
and so we have an innate craving for it. The same is true
spiritually. God gave us not only a craving for natural water,
but for spiritual water as well—a longing for connection
and communion with Him.
When we are saved, God satisfies that
thirst for spiritual water, not by taking away the need for
it, but by giving us access to the Source. And He leaves us
the responsibility to drink from it. Isaiah 12:3 describes
it this way: “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water
out of the wells of salvation.” Notice there is still
the need to draw.
With such direct access to the Source,
one might think every Christian would be continually “tapped
in” to the Living Water. Yet, so many times it seems
we follow my “survival hydration” pattern spiritually.
We drink a little here and there. We put in our few moments
of personal devotions every day. We listen to some Christian
music and maybe read a good Christian book or magazine. Then
we go to church, or attend special events, and we take a big
gulp—maybe a spiritual glassful or more in one service—and
feel refreshed, or “re-hydrated.” Yet, on a daily
basis we fall short of the amount advisable for true spiritual
health.
Recently, I was going about my daily routine
and felt an incredible desire to spend time with the Lord.
I could not wait to read my Bible and have my prayer time.
The feeling was so strong it surprised me. I was thankful
for the desire, but at the same time my reaction concerned
me . . . why had I been surprised? Was it unusual that I had
not yet spent time with the Lord and therefore I was missing
that daily meeting? Or had I become so used to “less”
that I didn’t often desire “more”?
In the physical sense, I have noticed that
the more I try to drink on a daily basis, the thirstier I
am when I go without that quantity. In the last few months
I have tried to do better on my water intake. At one point
I even had alarms set in my calendar software at work to remind
me how much I should have consumed by various times in the
day. I did better for a while, but then my life became busier
than ever. It seemed I was always running somewhere and rarely
thought of my water goal. However, it was notable to realize
that, although I was probably drinking as much as I had for
quite a while, I missed the additional amount I had been consuming
of late.
So it is with the Lord. It may not always
be easy to discipline ourselves to regularly drink from the
Lord’s supply, but as we strive to drink more of His
water, we develop a taste for it and it becomes easier to
spend time with Him.
Heat also makes it easier to remember
to drink, both physically and spiritually. It is often the
hard times of our lives that cause us to go to the Source
for relief, and that is a good thing. God wants us to go to
Him in times of trouble. Yet, it would benefit us to remember
that our Living Water is just as readily available in the
good times as in the bad, and that if we regularly drink during
the cool times in our lives, we will be prepared for times
when the heat comes our way.
If we ignore our physical thirst at any
time, there is a risk of dehydration. I recently heard of
a lady who became dizzy and eventually passed out due to a
lack of necessary water intake. That can happen spiritually
as well. If we continually drink less than we need, for whatever
reason, eventually we can become dizzy—confused by the
Devil’s tactics. We may become swayed by a false religion,
succumb to a despondent state of mind, or begin to look to
material things to quench our spiritual thirst. In the worst-case
scenario, we may “pass out” and fall away from
the Lord completely. All of this, simply due to a lack of
filling our vessels with the Water He has so abundantly provided.
God desires that we drink much and often
from His Living Water. If we do that we will be able to take
it to others as well. In John 7:37-38, Jesus said, “If
any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water” (speaking of the Holy Spirit).
Are you doing what you can to draw others to the Source? Do
you regularly drink enough to be a channel for the Living
Water to flow through you, or do you operate under a survival
hydration schedule that is only enough to keep you alive?
Let the Lord satisfy your thirst from the Source! He promised
that, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
Trina Paulsen is the Youth Page editor
at the Apostolic Faith Headquarters in Portland, Oregon.
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