“Now on the last and most important day of the feast, Jesus stood and called out [in a loud voice], “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! 38He who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Me], as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being will flow continually rivers of living water.’” 39But He was speaking of the [Holy] Spirit, whom those who believed in Him [as Savior] were to receive afterward. The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honor).” John 7:37-39 AMP

Continuing our exploration of the Gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls out to the lost, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” Of course, He was talking about the void that is in us since the departure of the Holy Spirit because of the entry of sin. There is within each of us a piece that belongs to God and nothing can fill it. As a former addict, I was driven by a thirst for the drug that was never fulfilling. I would do or say just about anything to get my high. The problem was that I was trying to put the drugs in the space that belonged to God! I was thirsty for the drug, but it was not quenching the thirst I had or God. I didn’t know at that time that it was God that was missing from life! Jesus is identifying to the lost what is missing, Himself! Look again at the verse. If the person comes to Him and drinks, they will never be thirsty again plus, out from them will come living water. Before the cross my life brought forth but living water. Nothing but death and destruction came from it. 

We see clearly that those who will drink from the water of life will themselves bring forth new life and source of that life will be the Holy Spirit! “39But He was speaking of the [Holy] Spirit, whom those who believed in Him [as Savior] were to receive …” I am reminded of the woman at the well. Jesus identified the void in her life which she used sex and relationships to fill.

“Then a woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink”– 8For His disciples had gone off into the city to buy food– 9The Samaritan woman asked Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew [about] God’s gift [of eternal life], and who it is who says, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him [instead], and He would have given you living water (eternal life).” 11She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with [no bucket and rope] and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?” 13Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for God] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life.”15The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not get thirsty nor [have to continually] come all the way here to draw.” 16At this, Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17The woman answered, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I do not have a husband’; 18for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your husband. You have said this truthfully.” John 4:7-18 AMP

The source of all our addiction and destructive behavior is linked to the empty spot that belongs to God. Let me ask you today, are you thirsting for God? I must ask myself daily the same question, am I pursuing God with the same determination that I chased the high? Let me encourage you today to press in and know the power of the Holy Spirit and life-changing power of surrendering to Him. Have a blessed day, Pastor Ken