Come to the Waters

We are rapidly approaching a threshold whereby we are about to step out of what’s been and into the times we have believed for and prophesied would be. For several months, the Lord has been speaking to me about how we can posture ourselves to both recognize and be active participants in the coming outpouring of His Spirit.

The Lord has been downloading practical and spiritual preparations in the form of spiritual encounters where He has shared with me about Becoming the Wave, Preparing for Rain, and now He is inviting us to “Come to the Waters” while growing in our spiritual thirst that we would be those who live from a place of overflow.

It’s a time where the Lord desires to meet with us in a way that is far deeper and exponentially greater than we or any other people group have had the privilege to experience in times past. Stepping into this season will require a new level of faith that can only be found in our individual hearing of the Lord’s voice and taking to heart the invitation that is being given in this hour.

An Invitation To Abundant Life

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (Isaiah 55:1)”

In most versions of the Bible, this passage is titled “An Invitation to Abundant Life.” Historically, this invitation was recognized as both a “call to” and a “call to come out from.”

Isaiah brought this word as a call to those who had found themselves in a place of Babylonian captivity to come out from the worldly influences and idolatry that pervaded the society in which they lived. Although we might not be living in a day where we find ourselves in a natural form of captivity, many of our brothers and sisters have found themselves distracted from their true purpose by the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and desires for other things that have entered in to choke the word, causing it to become unfruitful in their lives (see Mark 4:19).

This is one area of “agreement” that Paul was referencing in 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1 when He addressed being unequally yoked with unbelievers and those practicing lawlessness and darkness.

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty. “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

If we properly recognize this pronounced season of coming personal visitation and respond accordingly to the grace that is being given I believe that we could be poised to see the literal fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Many have recently walked through a process of purification by fire and the washing of water with the Word in which the dross of these influences along with the scars of our past have been extracted from our DNA that we might be fully conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ (see Proverbs 25:4, Ephesians 5:26-27 and Romans 8:29). Coming out of this season of refinement, those who have walked through His fire will be able to say with the Lord, “for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me (John 14:30).

Everyone Who Thirsts

This invitation, however, is not given to everyone, but is specifically given to everyone who “thirsts” and to “you who have no money.” That being said, these qualities when properly understood can be cultivated in each of us.

Thirst is a defining quality in our spiritual life. Thirst has a way of making the things we need the most, the most important thing to us. As we see in Psalm 63:1-2, David had this type of thirst:

“O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.”

Thirst dictates direction and brings with it a grace for radical sacrifice, as our pursuit of God’s presence and the intimacy it brings becomes our highest priority. It was David’s thirst that brought him into the place where he found the loving kindness, mercy and favor of the Lord to be far better than anything this world could ever offer.

This encounter and the revelation it brings is where true praise comes from (see Psalm 63:3). When we taste and see that the Lord is good, we can’t help but praise Him (see Psalm 34:8)!

Last month we looked at how the grace of hunger can transform a barren wilderness into a place of fruitful harvest (see Psalm 107:35-37). In the same way that hunger brings revelation and transformation (see Deuteronomy 8:2-3), thirst initiates visitation. In short, hunger draws God to us while thirst draws us to Him.

“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God (Psalm 42:2)?”

Come to Me and Drink

Jesus identified thirst as the necessary condition of those who would come to Him as the fountain of living waters (see Jeremiah 2:13 and Revelation 21:6).

On the last day, that great day of the feast (of Tabernacles), Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, 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 (John 7:37-38).”

First we must be thirsty, second we come to Him and third we must drink…we freely and fully receive what He is pouring into us. It is in our coming to Him and in our “receiving” from Him that our “becoming” begins to take shape and we are transformed.

We see in John’s account of Christ commissioning of His disciples in John 20:22: “He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” It was not enough for Him to breathe on them, they had to partner with what He was pouring out by receiving and breathing it in until His breath and His life became theirs, just as God breathed His life into Adam in the beginning.

Just about every one of us today have the luxury of indoor plumbing and running water. However, for some they can remember the days of having to go outside to draw their water from a well with a hand pump. To effectively draw water from one of these wells, the pump had to first be primed by pouring a cup of water from another water source into the opening of the pump.

The same is true for us. Before the fountain of living water is activated and awakened in us, we must first have our pumps primed. This was the truth that Jesus presented to the Samaritan woman in John 4:14.

“Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:14).”

The Living Water that Jesus gives doesn’t only give life; it becomes in us a producer of everlasting and abundant life! It is a well of Salvation, Healing, Deliverance and Prosperity that we joyously draw from (see Isaiah 12:3).

God’s Blessings on Thirst

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; (Isaiah 44:3)

In this passage Isaiah identifies four promised blessings that are accessed and activated from a place of thirst. Let’s take a look.

Personal Anointing

The Hebrew word used in this passage for “pour” is yatsaq, which is typically only used in terms of the pouring out of anointing oil when anointing someone for ministerial or governmental service. Therefore, the first blessing in this verse speaks of receiving a new level of personal anointing.

Regional Revival

The second blessing is a corporate promise of revival and outpouring. This works in conjunction with the hunger of Psalm 107:35-36 that changes a wilderness into a pool of water and a dry land into springs of water.

An Outpouring Among the Youth
The third promise contained in this verse is to our sons, daughters and the generations to come. God promises to those who are thirsty, that He will pour out His spirit down throughout our family line.

Our thirst and resolve to see God move has the power to bring heavens’ rain in such a way as to transform entire cities. This was part of the truth that can be drawn from looking at what God did through Evan Roberts and the Welsh Revival.

It was said of Roberts that he had a “thirst for spiritual things from an early age.”
His thirst was contagious! This grace that was on him fell also onto the young people that he was leading and the result was fervent prayer and passionate praise that not only transformed their city through the floods of revival but also sent a ripple effect throughout the world.

Many ask, can and will God do it again? I believe the answer lies within the chambers of our own hearts. If we will say, yes to Him in the deepest part of who we are, He will say yes to us from the deepest part of Who He is.

Joel prophesied that when we turn to the Lord in repentance, the Lord responds by delivering and refreshing the land in a way that would restore all that the locust had eaten. An outpouring of His Spirit would follow this restoration that would awaken the ears of our sons and daughters to prophesy and the eyes of our young men to see visions (see Joel 2:12-30).

Many of the spiritual graces that we enjoy today are the result of the thirst and devotion of those who have gone before us, leaving an inherited blessing for us to experience today!

Our Children Will Be Blessed

The fourth and final promise found in this verse is that the blessing of God would be on our children. The word Hebrew word for blessing can also be translated “pools of prosperity.”

Often times we think of prosperity as financial success and while that is a component of prosperity it is only a part. True prosperity is simply success in every area of our life.

I don’t know about you, but I want a fresh new level of anointing! I want to be continually revived and always live in a place of revelation that brings acceleration in my life! I want to see my city flooded with the goodness of God! I want my children and grandchildren to be anointed by the Spirit of God and I want them to be prosperous and have good success in every area of their life.

Everyone Who Asks Receives
The Lord’s desire to give good gifts to His children is outlined throughout the entire Bible (see John 3:16, Luke 11:9-13, Luke 12:32, etc). I can think of few “gifts” greater than that of thirst.

James pointed out that many of us do not have the things we truly desire in life because we simply do not ask for them (see James 4:2). James goes on to encourage us that when we come to God in faith believing for what only God can give while asking according to His will, not only does He give it to us, but He gives liberally!

So, let’s take a moment right now and ask the Lord for His gift of thirst in our lives. Even if you would classify yourself as thirsting after God, I would encourage you to ask for more.

You Who Have No Money

In addition to inviting “everyone who thirsts” to “come to the waters,” the Lord is also inviting you “who have no money, Come buy and eat.” Although at face value, this invitation would appear to be related to your socioeconomic status, it really is much deeper than that.

There are several truths we can draw from this, the first being don’t measure your ability or your grace to be used greatly in this season by what you have to offer in the natural. Secondly, the root word of the Hebrew word that was translated “money” in this passage can also be understood to mean fear.

The Hebrew word for “money” in this verse is “keceph” (Hb #3701 in the Strongs Concordance). The word “Keceph” was used to identify silver currency, because of its pale color or lack of color.

“Keceph” was derived from the Hebrew word “Kacaph” (Hb # 3700 in the Strongs Concordance). “Kacaph” means to become pale, to pine after or to fear.

When Isaiah identified those “who have no money”, he was speaking more so to the condition of one’s heart than their financial means. As we see in the following passages from Hebrews and Romans, coming to God in faith is essential to receiving from Him.

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

…whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23b).

With this understanding, we recognize the Lord is not identifying those who could buy wine, milk and bread by the currency they possess in the natural. Rather, He is calling to those who have placed their faith firmly in Him and His heart for them.

Eat What Is Good

“Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance (Isaiah 55:2).”

The word “spend” means to “weigh out.” We must be watchful not to squander our precious spiritual currency by fearfully weighing out worst case images and “what if” scenarios as opposed to feeding ourselves with every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (See Matthew 4:4).

This new season that we are entering into requires that we position ourselves as John the Beloved did in John 13:23-25, leaning upon the breast of the Lord while listening to the very heartbeat of God. Peter recognized that John had been granted greater access into the mysteries of God as a result of the relationship that He had cultivated in response to the love of the Lord toward Him.

We, too must do all that we can to incline our ear, and come to Him (see Isaiah 55:3a) that He might manifest Himself to us and make His home with us (see John 14:21 and 23). Just as Peter looked to John, all of the world and much of the church is looking to us to see and hear the Words of Jesus. Let’s give them heaven!