{Rehydrate} Come to the Living Water

DAY THREE (continued from unveiled treasures)

There are many people that answer God's call for their life. There are callings to go to the ends of the earth. There are callings to make a difference in a community or state.  There are callings to preach and teach; callings to build; callings to plant.  There are callings to adopt and foster; callings to write and create.  These are just some of the calls from God.  After answering the call from God, many people have found their purpose in life but many also experience disappointment, frustration and burn-out in their calling.
 
We answer the call from God but so often before we know it, we face frustration and dissatisfaction along with thoughts of doubt about being called to this specific work for the Lord. There are roadblocks, barricades, and obstacles at every turn.  This is not what you signed up for.  This is not how you thought answering the call from God would be. 
 
Recently, God unveiled a treasure to staying on course and persevering through the tough times of our calling. In Jeremiah 2:13, the bible says, "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."  The treasures God wants to unveil in this scripture are the following: 
 
"My people" - These are God's very own children, people who know Him as their God.
 
"… have forsaken Me, the spring of living water..."- God is the living water in this scripture.  His people have forsaken and abandoned Him.  The living water is the fountain of life, the flow and source of living with victory, living with joy, the fullness of God; yet, His people have walked away.
 
"and have dug their own cisterns" - They have built their own cisterns; their own pits or wells to store water; cisterns that cannot hold water for long period of time; cisterns broken and cracked. 
 
Sometimes our mistake is that we think God actually calls us because we will be the best person to do the work because of our education background, our good work ethic, or our ability to lead. These characteristics are great but that's not why God chooses people. He chooses and calls people because He sees a willing and submitted vessel that He, the fountain of life, the stream of living waters will be able to flow through to reach others. We start off refreshed and on fire for the call before us but during the work if we are not intentional about drinking of His living waters continuously; if we are not intentional about making time to be in His presence, we get side-tracked by roadblocks in front of us. We try to come up with our own solutions on how to remove these barricades.  We become frustrated with people around us who are supposed to be part of the task. We start to believe the work before us must be done our way because after all we are the ones who were called to this assignment.  We focus on how "I" can get this done; how they need to listen to "me" and do what "I" say.  We start believing without our skills and our ways to do the work God called us to it will not get done.
 
During the bumps in the road and the barriers that show up, we start building our own cisterns, our own pits and wells to hold our water, our way. Without realizing it, we have exchanged the flow of His living water for a well to hold our water. A place with cracks.  A place where most of the water runs out leaving a small amount of water at the bottom of the pit. Water that sits in a cistern becomes stagnant and dirty and instead of having the pure and fresh living waters flow continuously in our lives, we rely on our well of stagnant, dirty water.  We start drinking from our cisterns instead of drinking His clean, refreshing Living Water. 

God wants us to tap into His pure and fresh water that is ever flowing and active.  His living water is unpolluted and uncontaminated; whereas water that sits in a cistern over time is a breeding ground for bacteria and parasites.  The cisterns we build with our water becomes a breeding place for offense and anger.  If we are not careful to continuously drink from His stream and renew our mind, we see old habits appear, old mindsets try to resurface.  All of a sudden we are walking closer to burn-out, fatigue, and weariness rather than having energy, liveliness and vigor. We may even start to question our calling and whether God chose the right person. 
 
God never intended for us to do our calling all alone.  He never intended to call people to go, adopt, foster, preach, teach, build or plant while drawing water from their cisterns.  God always intended for a partnership with Him where He leads, guides, directs, refreshes, and encourages along the way.
 
Do you need to be rehydrated by His Living Water today?  
 
 
PRAYER
Close your eyes and envision His living waters flowing over you and reaching every area of your life.  God desires you to be fully alive as you walk out your call from Him. He wants to see you flourish and bloom where He has you.  As you embrace this treasure God unveiled to you, know that YOU are HIS treasure!  You are fearfully and wonderfully made.  You are the head and not the tail.  You are blessed coming in and blessed coming out.  You are more than a conqueror. Let His words encourage you. Let His living water flow over you. Rest in His presence. Don’t rush prayer time.  Let the Father love on you, His daughter or son.

John 7:37-38 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”