"On the last day, that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone
thirsts, let him come to Me and drink." John 7:37
LISTEN UP
Open wide the ears of your heart,
Drink deep the WORD of the LORD;
Choose this day to claim your part,
In the inheritance of God's reward.
Open full the ears of your soul,
Drink deep the Blood of the Cross;
Choose this day to be made whole,
In the promise of the love of God.
Open right the ears of your mind,
Drink deep the Holiness of Scripture;
Choose this day to believe in Christ,
The faith of God who is perfectly pure.
Open free the ears of your life,
Drink deep the \W/arning of Jesus;
Choose this day not to be left behind,
When the skies open up and He comes!
He who believes in Me, as the
Scripture has said, out of his heart
will flow rivers of living water' " (–38).
Water for Your Soul
by Max Lucado
Where do you find water for the soul? Jesus gave an answer one October day in Jerusalem. People had packed the streets for the annual reenactment of the rock-giving-water miracle of Moses. Each morning a priest filled a golden pitcher with water from the Gihon spring and carried it down a people-lined path to the temple. He did this every day, once a day, for seven days. "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water' " (John 7:37–38).
He "stood and shouted" (NLT). The traditional rabbinic teaching posture was sitting and speaking. But Jesus stood up and shouted out. Forget a kind clearing of the throat. God was pounding his gavel on heaven's bench. Christ demanded attention.
He shouted because his time was short. The sand in the neck of his hourglass was down to measurable grains. In six months he'd be dragging a cross through these streets. And the people? The people thirsted. They needed water, not for their throats, but for their hearts. So Jesus invited:Are your insides starting to shrivel? Drink me.
Internalize him. Ingest him. Welcome him into the inner workings of your life. Let Christ be the water of your soul.
Toward this end, I give you this tool: a prayer for the thirsty heart. Carry it just as a cyclist carries a water bottle. The prayer outlines four essential fluids for soul hydration: God's work, God's energy, his lordship, and his love. You'll find the prayer easy to remember. Just think of the word W-E-L-L.
Lord, I come thirsty. I come to drink, to receive. I receive your work on the cross and in your resurrection. My sins are pardoned, and my death is defeated. I receive your energy. Empowered by your Holy Spirit, I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. I receive your lordship. I belong to you. Nothing comes to me that hasn't passed through you. And I receive your love. Nothing can separate me from your love.
Don't you need regular sips from God's reservoir? I do. I've offered this prayer in countless situations: stressful meetings, dull days, long drives, demanding trips, character-testing decisions. Many times a day I step to the underground spring of God and receive anew his work for my sin and death, the energy of his Spirit, his lordship, and his love.
Drink with me from his bottomless well. You don't have to live with a dehydrated heart. Receive Christ's work on the cross, the energy of his Spirit, his lordship over your life, his unending, unfailing love. Drink deeply and often. And out of you will flow rivers of living water.
From "Come Thirsty" By Max Lucado
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004)
BEEN THINKING ABOUT: LISTENING
"Houston, we've had a problem."
Two days into the Apollo 13 moon landing mission, and almost 200,000 miles from earth, a spacecraft oxygen tank exploded. Cabin air, water, and power supply were suddenly in danger. Mission Control had to overcome enormous challenges to get the crew home.
Since that crisis in space, the expression "Houston, we have a problem" has taken on a life of its own. Usually we say it with a smile, but always with the echo of a life-threatening moment.
Is heaven our Houston? The Apollo astronauts' words come to mind while thinking about this question: What if we see heaven as the mission control whose instructions will get us safely home if we follow directions? Here's my reaction: If getting "home" safely depends on our ability to do what we are told to do, then "Houston, we really do have a problem."
I can't think of one law of Moses, Christ, or Paul that I have not, in principle, broken or left undone. There's no way I can respond, "Patience? Done. Don't worry? Done. Love enemy? Done." If the checklist is important, mine is a mess.
How can we get home safely? For these reasons and more, I have a hard time understanding those who—for either salvation or spiritual growth—seem so focused on obeying the commandments of Moses, Jesus, or Paul. It seems to me that the people who are really honoring the spirit of the law are those who have been overwhelmed by God's grace, forgiveness, and patience despite our unwillingness and inability to faithfully and fully obey Him (Luke 18:10-13).
So what then is our part in the mission? It's important to understand the spirit behind the commandments of the Bible. When the Old and New Testaments urge us to "obey" God, the first meaning of the original Hebrew and Greek words is often "to listen" or "to give attention to." For instance, the Hebrew word that frequently shows up as "obey" in English Bibles is translated "hear" in the famous, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!" (Deuteronomy 6:4).
In the New Testament, the Greek word translated "obey" means to be persuaded. According to Vine's Dictionary, the emphasis is not on submission to authority, but on action resulting from being convinced by reason and truth. Letting ourselves be persuaded by the truth is the idea the author of Hebrews is communicating when he says, "Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls" (Hebrews 13:17).
How could the shift from authority-based thinking affect our response to God? Would it make a difference if, instead of saying, "Obey Me," Jesus said, "Listen to Me. For your sake, I want your attention. I don't just want your dutiful compliance. I want you to love Me because I love you."
For example, picture the husband and wife who keep talking past each other. With growing frustration, one says, "Look, just tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it. Be specific. Don't make me guess what you are looking for." The other responds, "No, I'm not going to tell you what to do. I don't just want your grudging compliance. I want your heart."
That's the kind of talk that drives some of us crazy. But it's what we need. Even God Himself doesn't tell us exactly how to show our patience, self-control, and love for Him in the specific moments of our lives. He shows us how much He loves us, gives us general principles, and then asks us to respond to His heart from our own.
What would a life and theology of listening look like? To hear more rather than less of God, what if we asked Him to help us hear more than our moral obligation to Him? What if we stopped talking long enough to hear Him whisper, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). What if, while trying to get His help and favor, we began to listen, really listen, to one another, to our spiritual and political enemies, and even to our own hearts? Would we be more likely to hear Jesus say, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27)?
This kind of following is so different from proud or self-righteous rule keeping. When I listen carefully to His voice in Scripture, I don't hear someone consumed by authority and control. Instead, I hear a love that says, "Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).
Even though Jesus has every right to demand our immediate and unqualified obedience, He approaches us gently, appealing not only to our will but to our minds and hearts. In the last chapters of the Bible, He is still saying to His stubborn and distracted family, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).
Father in heaven, we need You so much more than our astronauts needed Mission Control. You understand our problems infinitely better than we do. You have every right to demand our obedience and submission to Your authority. Your commandments are perfect. Your laws are right. Yet You see far better than we do how unable we are to keep even one of Your laws, let alone all of them. Thank You for giving us Your Son instead of demanding something we couldn't give You. Thank You for asking us to listen to Your heart—and for giving us reason to trust You—instead of just telling us to blindly obey.
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My Utmost for His Highest
THE GREAT PROBING
Ye cannot serve the Lord.
Joshua 24:19
Have you the slightest reliance on anything other than God? Is there
a remnant of reliance left on any natural virtue, any set of circumstances? Are you relying on yourself in any particular in thisnew proposition which God has put before you? That is what theprobing means. It is quite true to say - "I cannot live a holy life," but you can decide to let Jesus Christ make you holy. "Ye cannot serve the Lord God"; but you can put yourself in the place where God's almighty power will come through you. Are you sufficiently right with God to expect Him to manifest His wonderful life in you?
"Nay, but we will serve the Lord." It is not an impulse, but a deliberate commit-ment. You say - But God can never have called me to this, I am too unworthy, it can't mean me. It does mean you, and the weaker and feebler you are, the better. The one who has something to trust in is the last one to come anywhere near saying - "I will serve the Lord."
We say - "If I really could believe!" The point is - If I really will believe. No wonder Jesus Christ lays such emphasis on the sin of unbelief. "And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." If we really believed that God meant what He said - what should we be like! Dare I really let God be to me all that He says He will be?
