Because God Himself is our only source of living water – nothing else will do. Fresh water needs to move, it needs a conduit, not just a container. This means that the Holy Spirit flows through us. Into us, and out through us – like breathing. Living water needs to be able to flow, in order to keep it clean, so the Holy Spirit must be allowed to do what HE wants – we cannot organise or control Him. We need to learn to yield. Let’s not waste this precious water by allowing ourselves to have leaky pipes!

Look at Jesus. As He walked with the Spirit sometimes He stopped doing one thing to do another. He was led by the Spirit, and we need to live our lives being led too. We need that flow – a constant supply of fresh living spiritual water, in and out,  in order to sustain the life of God within us. Our active belief in Jesus creates a spring, which springs up inside us, refreshing us, and everyone around us. We need to monitor that internal spring, and check what kind of water is coming OUT of it. (James 3:11)

The way to keep this living water flowing is to let it flow in and out.  As soon as you dam water by taking it in, and not letting it flow out – you run the risk of water contamination. It is the movement of the Holy Spirit through our lives that keeps the life of God active in us, and through us, to others. We need to act on what He tells us, to keep this water of the Spirit flowing. We drink, and then we act. This process is not programmed or static.

Here’s what Jesus said: John 7: 37-39 “Jesus once again speaks of living water, saying, “’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. ‘ By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive.”

We get His living water — the life that sustained Jesus — by obeying the Holy Spirit, as He leads us. And by ridding ourselves of our own human contamination – attitudes, thought patterns, anything that exults itself against the knowledge of God. This means that we can’t carry around our human agendas, foibles and sins and stay full!  Our job is to remain empty of self, by putting to death the deeds of the flesh. Telling lies, or shouting at people, or provoking them, being critical and mean, these kind of things are the deeds of the flesh. My advice is to stop looking at what other people are doing, and start looking at what is coming out of you. The secret to staying full of the Holy Spirit is to remain continually thirsty. It means living this life acknowledging our desperate need for God Himself and His input. 

We don’t have to be ashamed of being inadequate, we just need to acknowledge that we are, and keep the channels of our hearts clean and clear and FULL of His Love with open repentance. Because repentance has fruit and that means CHANGE. Then we put aside our own ingenuity and ability, and come humbly to the Lord for fresh water. Christ’s death made this work possible, and so we must always go to the source, which is the Cross. His life’s blood and water … flowed from His side. Ya might want to think on that. 

We cannot afford to bottle or even try to channel the Holy Spirit. He must be allowed to flow as He wishes. We dare not try to control His flow either. Instead we are totally dependent upon Him. Our belief is that Jesus Himself will always give us this living water so we use our faith to be constantly filled. However, we, ourselves, must actively look after our containers, our inner selves – by keeping short accounts with others and walking with the Lord in obedience. The bible is not full of His suggestions – He is leading us into His new life.

At the same time, we get fresh spiritual bread from the living word – the bible. We need to let the Holy Spirit daily break us, our habits, our ideas – looking deeply into the bread of the Word and then eating it –  by doing whatever He tells us to do. The only effort we make to have fresh water and bread every single day, is the effort to sustain and develop our relationship with Him. I say effort, because most of the time we won’t feel like doing it – other things will intrude upon this relationship, to dissuade us from spending time walking with Him. BTW we walk with Him, we don’t just meet Him for 15 minutes in the morning. That can quickly become a religious ritual.

Jeremiah 2:11-19 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Our mistake is to expect the Holy Spirit, Who is a torrent! – to flow through our teensy weensy man-made systems.  👋🏻