Insecure Water

Lately, I've been talking about Jesus and faith to people who know very little about Christianity. They live in the deserts where Living Water is scarce. I try to relate to them and honor their strengths. I humble myself and learn from their expertise, but I do drop little nuggets of truth into our conversations.

However, I feel clumsy. I try to communicate the amazing attributes of God and illustrate my personal relationship with Him, but it seems that my words get muddied up in the desert sand. There is a well-spring of pure Living Water in me, but once it pours out of my lips and life, I have no control over its movement and purity. I watch as the Living Water gets tainted and misunderstood as it travels through the minds and lives of people who don't recognize and respond to it. I wonder if I'm not communicating effectively enough.

I prayed about sharing my faith this morning with God. I told Him about my insecurity because I don't feel like I'm doing a good job. If I could express the beauty of the Living Water more effectively, others would see what I see and drink deeply from its healing properties; instead they mock my words and refuse to taste from the drink I offer them.

I opened the Bible and God gave me Ezekiel 47. In these verses, Ezekiel is taken to the Temple, and he watches as water pours from its doors. The water flows from the Temple through the desert and into the Dead Sea. I imagined as the pure water from the Temple gathered debris, sand and dirt along its path. When it finally gets to the Dead Sea, the water is probably undrinkable. The Dead Sea itself is already so ruined that it cannot provide an environment to sustain life.

To my eyes, it seems that the Living Water has no hope. The purity that once existed has entered into the heart of the Dead Sea where life cannot exist. But a miracle happens. The water is healed!

"Then he said to me, These waters pour out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah (the Jordan Valley) and on into the Dead Sea. And when they shall enter into the sea [the sea of putrid waters], the waters shall be healed and made fresh" (Ezekiel 47.8 AMP).

God taught me something amazing! I am His temple, and His Living Water pours from me into the desert. Once the water flows from me, I have to trust that God is in control of its movements. Because of God's grace, He allows His Son, Jesus, to gather the sins of humanity, so He can reach into our dead hearts with His love. Once He is able to penetrate our spirit, a miracle occurs: we are healed!

The Living Water brings to life what was dead, and an environment for growth begins! Therefore, I can't worry about what happens when I speak truth, I just need to continue to pour forth the Living Water living inside my temple and trust God with the rest.

"And wherever the double river shall go, every living creature which swarms shall live. And there shall be a very great number of fish, because these waters go there that [the waters of the sea] may be healed and made fresh; and everything shall live wherever the river goes" (Ezekiel 47.9 AMP).

"And on the banks of the river on both its sides, there shall grow all kinds of trees for food; their leaf shall not fade nor shall their fruit fail [to meet the demand]. Each tree shall bring forth new fruit every month, [these supernatural qualities being] because their waters came from out of the sanctuary. And their fruit shall be for food and their leaves for healing" (Ezekiel 47.12 AMP).