“Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”
John 7:38 (NLT)
On the most important day of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted—interrupting an event sacred to the Jewish people because His message mattered more than any moment they were in. When He’s ready to speak, we need to listen. This is Jesus being a peacemaker, not a peacekeeper. His first words were, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me.” They had plenty of physical food and drink, so Jesus was speaking of another kind of thirst.
He was pointing to the Holy Spirit. John tells us Jesus was prophesying about the Spirit who would soon be poured out—once Jesus had been unveiled in His full splendor. I love that phrase because it echoes what happened at the cross when the veil was torn. Access to God was opened. The outpouring wasn’t a trickle. It was abundance—rivers, not drops.
The Old Testament gives us the depth Jesus was drawing from. In Isaiah 44:3, God promises to pour out His Spirit—not sparingly, but generously. In Isaiah 55, we drink freely of what truly satisfies. In Isaiah 58:11, God guides us continually like an ever-flowing spring. That is what living water looks like: poured out in abundance, overflowing into others, satisfying us deeply, and guiding us daily.
Holy Spirit isn’t a 24-pack of water that needs replacing. He’s an ever-flowing spring—always present, always active, always enough. The question today is this: Are you drinking freely from the source that never runs dry, or are you still trying to live in your own strength? The living water way is better.