living water
In Jeremiah 2:13, the Lord refers to Himself as “the fountain of living waters.” He is the supply to quench our spiritual thirst. However, the picturesque image that runs through my mind when I hear this term doesn’t always match my experience. When distractions invade our lives, it seems impossible to experience the Lord as a flowing fountain. Despite this concept, there is a process to drinking the living water that is so scientific that you can test and prove it for yourself.

God’s purpose is to live through His believers, making us His expression. The way in which God can accomplish this is by coming into us to become our life. Thinking about the Lord coming into us may seem strange or mysterious, but this process can be depicted with a stream of water. 1 Corinthians 12:13 shows that baptism places us in the ideal position to drink this water. Once we enter into the Body of Christ, we “were all given to drink one Spirit.”

Even if we are in this position, we may not be thirsty. In this case, we have to ask the Lord to increase our desire to drink of Him. In John 7:37, Jesus declares, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” Rather than enumerating a list of religious practices or “good things” we have to do before fulfilling our thirst, Jesus simply invites us to come to Him and drink. Attempting to quench our thirst with anything other than the Lord will leave us with a broken cistern, which holds no water (Jer. 2:13). Similarly to how we drink water continuously throughout the day, we need to come to the Lord all the time in order for the supply to flow.

Call on His Name

A specific way we can drink the Spirit is by calling on the name of the Lord. We are placing the Lord on the throne and recognizing that He transcends all our outward situations. Revelation 22:1 says that the flow of the water of life proceeds from the throne. When we enthrone the Lord the water of life is immediately flowing to us. Even when we are angry or disappointed, we can find refuge in receiving the living water by proclaiming that Jesus is Lord.

Believe into Him

The water of life can also be consumed when we believe He has been made fully available to us. Without faith, we have no capability of experiencing this drinking. However, believing into Christ is the key to receiving the Spirit as living water (John 7:39). Our ability to take the water of life freely is furthermore declared in Revelation 22:17: “Let him who is thirsty take the water of life freely”

Speak to Outflow

Suppose we have been drinking and suddenly the water is no longer there. We ask the Lord for more thirst, and there seems to be no response. Drinking is in a directly proportionate relationship with flowing. As we drink more of the living water, we flow more of it out. As the “spring within us welling up into eternal life,” we can overflow our portion of Christ to others (John 4:14). Both components of drinking and flowing rely on each other and are therefore inseparable in our experience. Without flowing out, our drinking will be inhibited.

To maintain our thirst, it is vital to utilize our speaking for the Lord. We can practice this by speaking to Him on our own, with others, or to others. Flowing out will increase our capacity to drink. Even though we may feel unmotivated to speak at times, talking to or about the Lord is the means for us to have an enriching experience of flowing out the spring of water within us.

Ask and Receive

The continuous process of drinking and flowing has a scientific proof. If we meet the required conditions, we will obtain the guaranteed outcome of drinking the living water. First, we must ask the Lord to increase our thirst. We also need to believe into Him by receiving Him and come to Him in an open way. These steps will install a fountain in our spirit. With this fountain in our being, we will spontaneously flow out our enjoyments of the Lord.

By: M. Cannizzo

Mikaela Cannizzo
Latest posts by Mikaela Cannizzo (see all)