Friday, April 20, 2007

The River of Life

GOD was at the beginning. First this: God created the Heavens and Earth - all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. Genesis 1:1-2 The Message.

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. Genesis 2:7-8 NKJV.

Like a river, His Presence continues to chart history, yours and mine. "Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus says the LORD who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you: 'Fear not, O Jacob My servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; they will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses.' Isaiah 44:1-4 NKJV.

"This one will say, 'I am GOD's,' and another will go by the name Jacob; that one will write on his hand 'GOD's property' - and be proud to be called Israel." Isaiah 44:5 The Message.

The same Spirit lives on. Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again (or from above), he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3 NKJV. "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?" John 3:4 The Message.

Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation - the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life - it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch - the Spirit - and becomes a living spirit. John 3:5-6 The Message.

Spring of living water. So He came to a city of Samaria...now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well...A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." John 4:5-10 NKJV.

"If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37b-39 NKJV.

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20. Parents will never stop loving their children wherever they are. How would you feel as a parent if your child rejects your love? Will it break your heart? What about our Father, our God? When He knocks, are we willing to open the door of our heart to Him?

Sv ".+

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