He is my fountain of living waters

Many of us were taught from young that God requires us to serve Him in order to receive our salvation. However, the truth is that Jesus did not come to be served by us. He came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for us (Matthew 20:28). We often think that we cannot keep taking and taking and taking from the Lord. However, He is refreshed when we draw from Him.

A very good illustration is found in John 4:1-42. This is the incident where Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down by a well in Samaria and rested there while waiting for His disciples to buy some food. Let me share the story with you:-

"When the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.

But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

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.”

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word.

Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”"

When we are physically thirsty, we need water to quench our thirst. In the same way, our soul needs living waters to to quench our thirst for the Lord and to heal our spirits. Jesus is the living water and only He can give us this gift to satisfy our soul's desires (John 4:10).

Just like the deer pants for the water brooks, our soul pants for the Lord (Psalm 42:1). Only Jesus can fill our souls with life. He is the fountain of living waters (Jeremiah 2:13).

The Lord wants us to have abundant life. He says that "everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk. Without money and without price." (Isaiah 55:1). Why do we not have to pay for this? It is because Jesus has paid the price for our health, our healing and our victorious life. His work at the Cross is finished. That is why after He died for us, He sat down at the right hand of the Father.

Jesus, the fountain of living waters, is available to all who believe in His work at the Cross. When we accept Christ, a fountain shall be opened for our house to wash away our sins and to take away all our sicknesses and diseases (Zechariah 13:1).

As our bodies hunger and thirst, so do our souls. Our souls need spiritual food and water. The living Word (Jesus) and the written Word (the Bible) can satisfy our hungry and thirsty souls and give us everlasting life (John 4:13-15). Jesus did not come to take away challenges from our lives. He did not say that arrows will not be formed against us. However, His Word says that any arrows that have been formed against us will not hurt us if we abide in the shadow of His protection. He will change us on the inside and empower us to deal with problems from God's perspective.

When we draw from Jesus, He becomes refreshed. His food is to do the Will of God (who sent Him) and to finish God's work (John 4:34). Jesus has done it all. That is why at the Cross, He cried out, "It is finished!".

Sometimes, even though we believe the Word of Christ and we are trusting Him for our breakthroughs and miracles, nothing seems to happen. At times like this, we often wonder why this is happening to us. We begin to question whether this is because our faith is insufficient. However, it cannot be so. Jesus said that even if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, that faith can move mountains because with God, nothing is impossible. As such, do not let others confuse you and do not listen to their well-meaning words of comfort to the effect that you need to have more faith. It is not true! If it is true, then where is the boundary? How much faith is needed to have the breakthrough? Jesus has more than enough faith to carry us who have faith in Him.

When we have done all that we know to do and still nothing happens, as difficult as it can be, we have to learn not to focus on the problem and instead remember always that God is faithful. A dear sister in Christ told me that at times like this, we have to put our praise high and begin to praise God like he has already done it. Sometimes we are not focusing on God but on our situation which can be a big barrier. As such, we need to try praising God more in the midst of all that is happening. Is it a challenge to praise God and to worship Him when on the inside of us, we do not feel like singing and giving praise because we feel so broken? It is but we have to try. Even when no words of praise come to us, listen to praise & worship songs and sing along. Read Christian books that are full of the grace message. Faith comes by hearing and hearing of the Word of Christ. Faith is not something that we can conjure up on our own and build up using our own efforts. Faith is a gift from God when we accept Christ into our lives. The more we listen to His Word, the more faith builds up in our lives.

Thank You, Jesus for being my fountain of living waters. Even when I am feeling broken and I do not understand why my breakthroughs are not happening even though I am believing God for them, I will trust You that You will do what is best for me and You have prepared my victory. Come into my life. The battle is Yours. Amen.