Living In The Flow of the Holy Spirit

We are hearing much these days from the prophetic voices in the Body of Christ about living in the flow of God’s river of life, and I believe this is absolutely a right and good perspective. In fact, it has been Jesus’ desire for us literally forever, one that He articulated clearly in John 7:38 – “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.”

This theme of the flowing river as a metaphor for the Spirit-filled life is found throughout Scripture in places such as Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17, Ezekiel 47, and Revelation 22. It’s a beautiful picture, and one that moves our hearts with anticipation to see that never-ending stream of God’s life flow into us and through us as His people.

Here’s the practical reality of it for you and me as we seek to live in that flowing dynamic: This life is absolutely rooted and grounded in an ongoing, fresh relationship of intimacy with Jesus through the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. The flow of living water in and through us is not a doctrine, it is a reality of intimate friendship with Jesus, a day-by-day encounter with Him that fills us to overflowing, again and again and again.

Jesus lived this way. He did what He did and said what He said because He was in a constant, dynamic relationship of intimacy with His Father through the presence of the Holy Spirit in Him. He lived in the reality of Isaiah 50:4, where the prophet speaks of Him:

The Lord God has given Me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning He awakens; He awakens my ear to hear as those who are being taught.

Do you see the constant, daily dynamic of the life of the Spirit? First of all, the Spirit-filled believer is a listener, a receiver of something from God. Jesus said in John 8:28 that everything He said was from hearing the Father say it, and in John 5:19-20 that everything He did was from watching the Father do it!! Secondly, the voice of the Father to Jesus was filled with instruction in how to strengthen the weary ones around Him – a collaborative effort between Father and Son to speak life in every situation. Third, this was a day-by-day reality to Jesus, morning by morning being having His human spirit awakened by the Holy Spirit in intimate, fresh communion for the encounters that the day would bring. This is how Jesus lived the Spirit-filled life, how He experienced “the river of life” flowing into Him and through Him for those around Him.

Everything is rooted and grounded in this reality. We are designed to live from the place of encounter with Jesus. Our positional standing means little if we do not have the listening ear of the ones being taught. How does this happen? It’s really very simple: sit at the feet of Jesus and listen. It’s the one necessary thing for which Jesus praised Mary of Bethany and instructed us in Luke 10:38-42. Everything flows from intimacy. The River is simply a life of intimate friendship with Jesus by the Holy Spirit, listening to the Father’s voice, and then following His instructions for the day ahead.

Do you want to live in the dynamic of the river of life? Then do the main and plain thing of cultivating intimacy with Jesus – being with Him, listening to His voice in the Scripture, listening to the Holy Spirit as He whispers to you through the day, and following His direction as He leads you to the weary ones that you encounter as you go.

Listen up! And be blessed.
Gary Wiens