Growing in Living Waters
Most Important Ingredients for Growth: Water, is essential for all plants as it helps them absorb nutrients and carry out essential biological processes.
Sunlight, provides energy for plants through the process of photosynthesis which is how they produce their own food.
Let’s look at Water First:
About 80 to 90 percent of the fresh weight of a living plant is water (H2O) thus, hydrogen and oxygen are two of the elements needed in largest quantities. With-out, water life as we know it could not exist. It stands to reason that providing a plant with adequate moisture is the first and most important step in having a healthy plant.
The entire human body is about 66 percent water. Our bones are composed of 22 percent water, muscles are 76 percent and blood is 83 percent. Lungs are 90 percent, and our brains are actually 95 percent water.
John 7:37-39 New American Standard Bible
37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is
38 The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will
39 But this He said in reference to the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
In the New Testament, water is often associated with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ sacrifice provided the way for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which provides the necessities for a Fruitful Christian Life.
John 4:5-14 New King James Version
So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 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.
10 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
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?
12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never
Jacob’s Well represents natural water…. What we need for our physical body to survive. However, whoever only relies on this water will always thirst again. Jesus tells us there is a flow of Water, life giving essence that will never run out. It flows from our inner most and bears fruit through us.
Light: is necessary to convert the nutrients into energy so that you can produce fruit. A process in plants called Photosynthesis.
Proverbs 20:27 New American Standard Bible
- 27 The spirit of a person is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the innermost parts of his being.
Psalm 119:105 New King James Version
- 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Cultivate: to prepare and use land for crops or gardening, break up soil in preparation for sowing or planting. Apply oneself to improving or developing.
Luke 8:4-8 New International Version
4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable:
5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up.
6 Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.
7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and
the plants.8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a
- When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
5 Practical Points:
1) We must prepare our Heart (Soil) to receive the necessary ingredients for Growth.
2) The Word (Light) is what causes the Heart (plant) to generate energy and produce fruit.
3) The Holy Spirit (Water) is essential to having a vibrant healthy Christian Life.
4) We should Apply (Cultivate) ourselves to always be improving and developing through Bible Study, Prayer and Worship.
5) God will enlarge your Pot (responsibilities, calling, giftings) as you reach the maximum where you are planted.