Let the rivers flow!

Genesis 26:18-19 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

There are times in our lives that we are going through a spiritual valley and we want to obtain victory — we want to have answers — we want God’s power to flow through us again.

In this passage, Isaac found springing water after digging up the wells of his father Abraham again. In Hebrew, the phrase springing water is “mayim chayeem”. It literally means “living waters”.

Yeshua (Jesus) made us a promise during the feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles), “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” – John 7:38

The Lord promises us rivers of living water — not a puddle, not a pond, not a lake — He said rivers! These waters are not meant to be stagnant and not meant to be dammed up! They need to be flowing — unrestricted!

We, who are believers in Messiah, have those living waters within us — but we must clear out the obstacles in our lives that prevent them from flowing! Sins of unforgiveness, resentment, bitterness, and clinging onto pet sins are just a few of the barriers which can damn up the “rivers” of living water! Let’s seek the Lord and ask him to search us deeply and thoroughly that we know how to destroy those obstacles that clog the free movement of His Spirit in our lives!

Let’s seek the Lord this Sukkot — and purpose to re-dig our wells again! And I expect the Lord has a great blessing for us if we do!

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The baby that came into the world through the scenario above was named Ishmael. According to Islamic belief, it was Ishmael that was offered as a sacrifice by Abraham, and through him that they became the rightful inheritors of the promises of God. In other words, Ishmael was the seed through which Islam was born. Hmmm.

When Jim Burke became the head of a new products division at Johnson & Johnson, one of his first projects was the development of a children’s chest rub. The product failed miserably, and Burke expected that he would be fired. When he was called in to see the chairman of the board, however, he met a surprising reception. “Are you the one who just cost us all that money?” asked Robert Wood Johnson. “Well I just want to congratulate you. If you are making mistakes, that means you are taking risks, and we won’t grow unless you take risks!” Apparently, Mr. Johnson wasn’t joking! Years later, Johnson & Johnson remains one of the largest multi-national manufacturers of pharmaceutical, diagnostic, therapeutic, surgical, personal hygiene, baby and biotechnology products.

In her book, Let Me Be a Woman, Elizabeth Elliot records the story of a friend who had great difficulty accepting the looks God had given her. While everyone this girl knew had grown beautiful golden hair, hers was black. And while they were all still growing, she had stopped. She grew to be only about four feet ten inches tall.

“A young man enlisted, and was sent to his regiment. The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen other young men, who passed the time playing cards and gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and throw boots at him. So it went on the next night and the next, and finally the young man went and told the chaplain what had taken place, and asked what he should do. ‘Well,’ said the chaplain, ‘you are not at home now, and the other men have just as much right to the barracks as you have. It makes them mad to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say your prayers in bed and don’t provoke them.’

A United States Army officer who trained pupils at Fort Sill for over 20 years once described the different qualities of the students during the two decades of his tenure. During the 1950’s, he observed the students’ attitude as being so lax that the instructors had trouble keeping their students awake during their lectures. This drastically changed in the mid 1960’s. The students began taking meticulous notes and absorbing every word of instruction. So, what changed?

As we continue to celebrate the God-ordained Feast of Tabernacles — this is a prophetic feast, and one which will be kept by all the people of the world in the coming age. In resurrected bodies, we will be celebrating this feast, year to year in Jerusalem during the millennial reign of Yeshua (Jesus)! Can you imagine it — celebrating with the King of Kings! If that’s not something to anticipate, I’m not sure what is!

The Lord is quoted in this scripture in Matthew. It contains an important principle which believers sometimes tend to overlook. Many believe and even teach that if you’re blessed, your life will be filled with material prosperity, and that if you are undergoing extreme trial, it must be because you have sinned or that you lack faith. The Lord says that the sun rises and the rain falls on both the righteous and the unrighteous alike.