Streams of Living Water

For the past few weeks I have been getting visions of different sources of water over and over again. Two that stuck out in particular. The first one kept coming up constantly for the past few weeks. The vision began with a small cup then it poured water out into a bigger bowl then that bowl poured water out to a bigger bowl and the same thing occurred until the fourth bowl that eventually flowed into a river. I had no idea what this meant, but crazy enough God reminded me that Sarah Won (one of the Emmaus leaders) prayed a similar prayer over me about a year ago.

She prayed that I would ask God for a bigger bowl so that He can fill it. She said that He has more for me to experience, more that He wants to share. Back then I wasn't sure what all that was about, but now looking back it started making sense. God did take me from glory to ever increasing glory. But as for this semester I was still confused why I kept getting repetitive signs about rivers. 

Another vision I had was the gates of Heaven opening up and mighty wave flowing out of it. Even during our week long prayer meeting I kept getting visions of rivers. At first I thought that it was just God's way of telling me not to forget my theme verse for this year.

"All my springs are in you." Psalms 87:7b 

But that wasn't the only thing He was getting at.

When I first read this I took it as everything that gives me life is in Him. I knew that He was the source of my existence. All the life that flows out of me comes from Him. This verse was revealed to me before I came back to Korea to begin my Spring semester this year. I knew for a fact that amazing things are going to happen, but I just wasn't sure what this season was going to look like. So even before this chapter of my life was about to begin I knew seeing rivers were a huge part of it. I was also reminded that rivers symbolized the Holy Spirit. So just thinking about the overflow of the Holy Spirit on our campus would cause me to grin from ear to ear. I was just so excited to see what God was going to do!

 (I'll use the next few blogs writing out specific things God has done through this semester :) so get excited!)

All this made sense when Pastor Erin spoke at our Emmaus large group this week. At this point our campus ministry has just reached increasing levels of breakthrough and encounters with the Lord. In her sermon she asked "After the encounter, now what?" She got us thinking about what to do after such an amazing encounter. After getting blessed now what?

First she took us to John 4, the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Now this is a story I heard many times before. I thought that her message would be the same about going to reach out to others etc...but I had no idea what was coming. After reading the story she explained that after the Samaritan woman encountered Jesus through the prophetic word He spoke to her about her husbands, then the woman ran back to her town testifying her encounter with the Lord (verse 28). 

Pastor Erin then explained that just like the Samaritan woman after  encountering Christ we have to go out and share what we were blessed with. We were made to share what we experienced with Christ. She says the truth is we are all thirsty for the encounter of God. That is what we all long for. She even said that we were created to share what we received. Then she goes on about bodies of water. This is where I got super excited! 

Apparently even after living by the dead sea for a good part of my middle and high school years I didn't know half of the things Pastor Erin informed us about that night. The dead sea is so salty that basically anything that tries to live in it will die. It is so salty that even as humans when we try to swim in it it's not possible to sink cuz we will just float to the top. The dead sea only became dead because all it does is receive from the source. It never gives, it just takes. When on the other hand when a body of water spreads and not just takes in the fresh water it will continue to be fresh. This fact of nature is a parallel to our Spiritual lives as well. When we encounter the love of God, if all we do is receive we are slowly turning into the dead sea, but when we share what we personally experience with others streams are flowing out of us into another. And in Ezekiel 47 it says that "where the river flows everything will live. When we share our testimony, or experience with the Lord, it is guaranteed that dead hearts will be brought to life. There are rivers of living water inside everyone of us that is waiting to flow out. God created you to share what you have gotten. There is no need to fear sharing with others what you have encountered because even if they seem like they were blessed or not tasting a bit of the water in you is quenching the thirst they have in them. 

Pastor Erin also said that when Jesus looked at that Samaritan woman He didn't just see her, He saw the whole town that she was going to share her encounter with and allow them to experience Him just like she did. Just like Christ looks at us, He doesn't just see us, he sees a group of friends, an entire class, a university campus...a whole nation. 

I was blown away by the end of the sermon and I found that all this time I was keeping myself from sharing different aspects of my life that is a testimony of how faithful He has been to me. Even from the beginning of the semester God was showing me that I already had everything I needed to enter this season. I had things inside of me that will quench the thirst the lost is seeking for. At that moment I knew that I needed to flow out. I needed to share how amazing He is in my life. 

Just like the vision I had of the bowls, where it started with just a cup flowing out. All it takes is one person sharing to fill up the next bowl. And when more people come together pouring out it fills up a bigger bowl, and before you know it it fill up a whole river. 

So what are you waiting for? It's time to pour out. :)