SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/14/2016 12:42 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 The Invitation
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 7:37-39
Message of the verses: “37 Now on the last day, the great day of the
feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him
come to Me and drink. 38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ’From
his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’" 39 But this He
spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the
Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
We stopped
our last SD looking at the three different key words that were spoken by Jesus
on this last great day of the feast of Tabernacle. The words were thirsty, come and then
drink. Not everyone who has a desire to
drink will receive the water of life as we saw with the rich young ruler, as he
left because his riches were more important than drinking of the living water, he
even went away grieving. The story is
seen in Mark 10:17 and 22. As he left grieving
his thirst was still not quenched and as we compare this with the woman at the
well we know that her thirst was quenched as she ran into town to tell others
about this living water. She drank,
while the rich young ruler did not drink.
It is only those who do receive the living water in Christ that will be
saved, all others prove themselves as false disciples as we saw in John
6:53. John MacArthur writes “Those who
manifest genuine repentance acknowledge the deep thirst of their personal guilt
before holy God, realizing that they can do nothing on their own to avert His
judgment that they deserve. Thus they
rely on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (as payment for their sins), affirming
Him to be the only Savior (John 14:6; Acts 4:12), and the Lord of their lives
(Rom. 10:9-10). In this way, they drink
the living water that He provides, which becomes in them ‘a well of water
springing up to eternal life (John 4:14).
In the words of Horatius Bonar’s hymn, ‘I heard the Voice of Jesus Say,’
I heard the
voice of Jesus say
Behold, I
freely give
The living
water; thirsty one
Stoop down
and drink and live.
I came to
Jesus and I drank
Of that
life-giving stream;
My thirst
was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in
Him.
Now we see
what believers are to do with this new found faith in Jesus Christ as He says “He
who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow
rivers of living water.” One of the
things that I have talked to God about on different occasions, especially in
recent days is my desire is to be the hose in which the water flows through. Now look at a hose and think about watering
your plants with it. The water flowing
through the hose is surely not as important as the hose itself as the hose
cannot bring nourishment to the plants it is only the vehicle that the water
comes through. Leon Morris is quoted
from MacArthur’s commentary “The believer is not self-centered. As he receives the gift of God, so he passes
it on to others. Or to put the same
thought in another way, when a man believes he becomes a servant of God, and
God uses him to be the means of bringing the blessing to others.” MacArthur goes on to write “By evangelizing
the lost (which is the primary emphasis here) and edifying the saints (1 Cor.
12:4-11; 1 Peter 4:10-11), believers allow the spiritual life within them to
spill over and impact those around them.”
As
mentioned in my story of the water and the hose it is the Holy Spirit which
represents the water and He is used by someone who is a believer to tell others
the way of salvation, and then that person is used by the Holy Spirit to tell
still others about salvation and this is the way it has been going on since the
church began. Now when Jesus spoke those
words the Holy Spirit had not yet been given, but on the day of Pentecost He
would be given to all those who would believe.
Looks like we will need one more day to finish this section,
and so we will continue with it in our next SD.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I desire
to be used of the Holy Spirit to tell others who He brings into my world to
tell them of the way of salvation.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: To trust the Lord to show me
more about Himself as I read and study His Word, and to love Him more as I
learn more of Him.
Answer to yesterdays Bible question: “No” (2 Kings 5:7).
Today’s Bible question:
“Who is the author and finisher of our faith?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/14/2016 1:12 PM
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