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The Living Water

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In the book by Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, the author records the following details regarding the feast of Sukkot as it was celebrated during Jesus’ Earthly Ministry: The festivities of the Week of Tabernacles were drawing to a close. ‘It was the last day, that great day of the feast.’ It obtained this name, although it was not one of ‘holy convocation,’ partly because it closed the feast, and partly from the circumstances which procured it in Rabbinical writings the designations of ‘Day of the Great Hosannah,’ on account of the sevenfold circuit of the altar with ‘Hosannah’; and ‘Day of Willows,’ and ‘Day of Beating the Branches,’ because all the leaves were shaken off the willow boughs, and the palm branches beaten in pieces by the side of the altar. It was on that day, after the priest had returned from Siloam with his golden pitcher, and for the last time poured its contents to the base of the altar; after the ‘Hallel’ had been sung to the sound of the flute, the people responding and worshipping as the priests three times drew the threefold blasts from their silver trumpets—just when the interest of the people had been raised to its highest pitch, that, from amidst the mass of worshippers, who were waving towards the altar quite a forest of leafy branches as the last words of Psalm 118 were chanted—a voice was raised which resounded through the temple, startled the multitude….It was Jesus, who ‘stood and cried, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ (Jn. 7:37) 

Yesterday we observed that John 8 contained a reference to Sukkot when Jesus announced He was the Light of the World. What has caught the attention of many scholars and Bible enthusiasts has been John 8:6-8 But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger.7 However, when they persisted with their question, He raised Himself up and said, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.8 Then He bent down and went on writing on the ground with His finger. AMPC

What many fail to notice is how this event is connected to John 7:37-39 Now on the final and most important day of the Feast, Jesus stood, and He cried in a loud voice, If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! 38 He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water.39 But He was speaking here of the Spirit, Whom those who believed (trusted, had faith) in Him were afterward to receive. For the [Holy] Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honor). AMPC

How are these two connected? Jeremiah 17:1,13 The sin of Judah is written with a pen or stylus of iron and with the point of a diamond; it is engraved on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars,…O Lord, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be put to shame. They who depart from You and me [Your prophet] shall [disappear like] writing upon the ground, because they have forsaken the Lord, the Fountain of living waters. AMPC

Most likely Jesus was referencing this verse as He wrote in the dust. The prophet Jeremiah notes further: Jeremiah 2:13 For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, and they have hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns which cannot hold water. AMPC

Sukkot is a reminder to forsake our empty cisterns that cannot hold the Living Water of Jesus and the Spirit. But are we thirsty for more of Him? Are we thirsty for more of the Spirit? C.S. Lewis wrote: “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” Empty cisterns are created from half-hearted children making mud pies in the slum. We fail to realize He has offered us a holiday by the sea. We are far too easily pleased. Leonard Ravenhill exhorts us: If the Holy Spirit is power, we need to learn how to operate the throttle. And if the Holy Spirit is a Person (and He is), then we really need to learn how to let Him operate us. 

Rend the Heavens

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“Can a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle while men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you damned? – Leonard Ravenhill

“What God’s truth demands, His Grace will provide.” – Francis Frangipane

“I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace, day or night. You who call upon the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes….” – Isaiah 62:6-7

“The Scottish revivalist John Knox cried to God, “Give me Scotland or I die!” The cry of the Moravian Fellowship could well have been, “Oh God, give us souls or take us now!” – Frank Di Pietro

“See what the Moravians have done? Cannot we follow their example…and preach the Gospel to the heathen?” – William Carey

“This small group of people, in twenty years, called into being more missions than the whole Church has done in two centuries.” – Dr. Warneck

This missionary work, that would soon fill the Kingdom of God, was birthed by intense intercessory prayer. Perched atop a prayer tower, these nearly forgotten prayer warriors took turns praying 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from 1727-1827 – 100 years nonstop! “This intense intercessory prayer pioneered the richest and most daring missionary work in the history of the Church.” – Jim Goll

Rend the Heavens

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“A dead ministry will always make a dead people, whereas of ministers who are warmed with the love of God themselves, they cannot but be instruments of diffusing that love among others.” – George Whitefield

“Men who long ago lost their anointing still minister, using the same cliche’s and mannerisms. But they are not feared in hell; they are just ‘clouds with out water.’ Lord have mercy.” – Leonard Ravenhill

“And as the circumcission in the flesh, and not the heart, have no part in God’s good promises, even so they that are baptized in the flesh, and not in the heart have no place in Christ’s Blood.” – William Booth

Rend the Heavens!

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“A dead ministry will always make a dead people, whereas of ministers who are warmed with the love of God themselves, they cannot but be instruments of diffusing that love among others.” – George Whitefield

“Men who long ago lost their anointing still ministers, using the same cliche’s and mannerisms. But they are not feared in hell; they are just ‘clouds without water.’ Lord, have mercy.” – Leonard Ravenhill

“What would the devil say about your life – Do they know you in hell like they know your Christ – Are you boiling hot or are you cold as ice. You live your life like a compromise – Holding on to this world you faith slowly dies – The spiritual battle that we fight every day – Are the demons concerned when we get down and pray – Tell me…What would the devil say about your life – Do they know you in hell like they know your Christ – Are you boiling hot or are you cold as ice…?” – Steve Camp, What Would the Devil Say?

“And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded… – Acts. 19:15-16

“And as the circumcision in the flesh, and not the heart, have no part on God’s good promises, even so they that are baptized in the flesh, and not in the heart have no place in Christ’s Blood.” – William Booth

One Thing Is Needful

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Luke 10:39-42 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at [k]Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” 41 And [l]Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (NKJV)

If you are student of missions, or were involved in a church which emphasized missions, you may have heard of a missionary by the nick name of “Praying Hyde.” John Hyde was born in 1865, in Carthage, Illinois. His father was a Presbyterian minister who proclaimed the Gospel often exhorting his members to respond to Jesus’ prayer that the Father would thrust forth more laborers into the harvest. Rev. Smith Harris Hyde prayed this prayer not only from the pulpit but in his home, around their family altar. One of the biggest answers to those prayers came from one of his two sons.

The prayers of John’s father made a powerful impression upon his life leading him to attend college, and proceed to seminary, graduating in 1892. It was during this time that he began some major heart searching, turning himself to God in prayer. During this time of seeking it became clear that God wanted him on the mission field. In October 1892, he set sail for India. On his way to India he received a letter from a close friend saying, “I will not cease praying for you until you be filled with the Holy Ghost.” Frank JJ Di Pietro stated: “This made John extremely angry. After all, he was a seminary graduate and on his way to pursue his destiny. John threw the letter in the trash and angrily walked out of the room. As he was walking along the deck of the steamer, he could not get the thought that he must be filled with the Holy Ghost out of his mind. After much soul searching, John decided that his dear friend was right. Going to Scripture (Acts 1:8), he then knelt by his cabin bed in prayer and surrendered to God’s will and was wonderfully filled with the power and fire from on high.”

John’s ministry of prayer and evangelistic work would last over the next 20 years. He was so given to prayer that the natives did not refer to him as praying Hyde, but as the “Man who never sleeps,” and the “Apostle of Prayer.” His prayer life was radically changed as a result of the Baptism. Often he would spend 30 days and nights in contact prayer, and many times was on his knees in deep intercession for 36 hours at a time. His fellows missionaries thought he was fanatical and crazy, yet he could not understand why prayer was such an isolated experience in the Church. True prayer is Spirit-born. True prayer is praying in the “Holy Ghost.” In his mind those who are filled with the Spirit are filled with prayer. As Leonard Ravenhill said: “There is something very questionable and unbiblical about those who claim to have had a baptism of the Spirit and yet know nothing of extended periods of prayer.”

John Hyde was soon joined by a few fellow intercessors. They saw that there was one method to obtaining spiritual awakening in India, and that was intense prayer. “They set themselves deliberately, definitely, and desperately to use this means until they secured the result. They prayed non-stop for days and nights. Their prayers were answered through a series of outpourings of the Spirit in the northwest part of India, especially in 1904 at Sialkot….Upon seeing the results of a deeper prayer life, John gave himself even more to prayer.” During this deepening of his prayer life men would often walk by John’s room overhearing him weeping breaking out in tears over the sins of the world and especially God’s children. John would often pray for 40 hours non-stop and then go to a series of meetings without rest. Such a spirit of intercession was on John that when he walked past others, they too would begin to groan in agony for the lost. John’s cry began to be, “Give me souls, Oh God, or I die!” – Di Pietro

IN 1908, John prayed what was seen as an impossible task: that during the coming year he would save, one person a day in India. At the end of that year it happened. That year he had prayed over 400 people into the Kingdom of Heaven. The following year it doubled to 2 souls a day. The year following that he moved his goal to that of winning four souls a day. John said, “If on any day four people were not converted, that night there would be such a weight on my heart, I could not eat or sleep until I prayed through to victory.” What many do not know of Praying Hyde is that following his prayers of lying prostrate on the floor, he would often come off the floor clapping his hands, dancing, and shouting filled with holy laughter.

See only one thing is needful and that is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Are you a Martha or a Mary? Can you see that even though the disciples saw Jesus raised from the dead, had visited His empty tomb, and experienced a visitation of angels and Jesus Himself – that it was not enough? Their lifestyle remained the same. It wasn’t until the Baptism that their lives began to change. You may say, “Well I’ve been baptized in the Spirit.” Maybe that is so – but are you praying like John Hyde? Better yet, Are you praying like Jesus? We casually claim the name of Christ (Christian) failing to examine our deficiencies in His Light. If something is missing do not be like the Laodiceans who claimed to have no need. Return to your knees until what is missing is met with the reality of Heaven’s Answer. Its in the wrestling that we are changed.

Lagging Behind

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Luke 24:9-11 And having returned from the tomb, they reported all these things [taken together] to the eleven apostles and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who reported these things to the apostles.But these reports seemed to the men an idle tale (madness, feigned things, nonsense), and they did not believe the women.

From the Garden to the Crucifixion, from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection men seem to be lagging behind women. Eve met satan as tempter in the Garden. Where was Adam? Right there beside her not saying a word. At the cross of Christ’s crucifixion the women stood at the foot of Jesus’ cross, while the men – Jesus’ Disciples, except one, ran away and hid behind closed doors. At the resurrection the women got up early and went to the tomb, only to find Jesus resurrected from the dead. Where were the men? Back at home, behind closed doors. When the women came and reported Jesus had risen from the dead they thought the women were outside their minds. Why? They did not believe. From Adam, to the Disciples at Jesus’ Crucifixion, to His Resurrection, till now – men lag behind women in belief. Men lag behind women in action. Men lag behind women in follow through. What’s the solution?

Leonard Ravenhill: THERE’S NOTHING MORE transfiguring than prayer. People often ask, “Why do you insist on prayer so much?” The answer is very simple – because Jesus did. You could change the title of the Gospel according to St. Luke to the Gospel of Prayer. It’s the prayer life of Jesus. The other evangelists say that Jesus was in the Jordan and the Spirit descended on Him as a dove – Luke says it was while He was praying that the Spirit descended on Him. The other evangelists say that Jesus chose 12 disciples – Luke says it was after He spent a night in prayer that He chose 12 disciples. The other evangelists say that Jesus died on a cross – Luke says that even when He was dying Jesus was praying for those who persecuted Him. The other evangelists say Jesus went on a mount and He was transfigured – Luke says it was while He was praying that He was transfigured. There’s nothing more transfiguring than prayer. The Scriptures say that the disciples went to bed, but Jesus went to pray – as was His custom. It was His custom to pray. Now Jesus was the Son of God – He was definitely anointed for His ministry. If Jesus needed all that time in prayer, don’t you and I need time in prayer? If Jesus needed it in every crisis, don’t you and I need it in every crisis? The story goes that a group of tourists visiting a picturesque village saw an old man sitting by a fence. In a rather patronizing way, one of the visitors asked, “Were any great men born in this village?” Without looking up the old man replied, “No, only babies.” The greatest men were once babies. The greatest saints were once toddlers in the things of the Spirit.

Jesus, as a man never lagged behind anyone. He made the way for us to follow. But like Jesus’ disciples who chose to go to bed while He was transfigured with Light – are you sleeping in the “Light?” Are you sleeping in the Light – while the Lord is calling for us to fight? It’s time to seek the Lord to be transfigured by prayer, and His Presence. Will it cost you? Absolutely. Remember, it cost Jesus His life – what’s a little lost sleep?