What flows from within you?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.
(John 7:38 (NIV))

There is an old saying that a leopard can’t change its spots. They are an integral part of what makes a leopard a leopard. Have you ever heard that same saying used in reference to a person? It is maliciously said of someone in a derogatory fashion to imply that that person is a bad apple and will never change. In other words, once a thief, always a thief. Once a murderer, always a murderer. Once a liar, always a liar. Once an adulterer, always an adulterer. People are implying that what will always flow from a person’s life will continue to be what has flowed from their life in the past. They claim that there is no chance of ever changing!

Has your life changed since you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, or are you the same person putting forth the same sinful life as you were before accepting Jesus?

I realize that this question sounds so far off base, especially when you understand the truth that accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior has started a process in your life that changes you from the inside out! Sadly, those who say such things as a leopard can’t change its spots have completely missed the concept of redemption and grace. It is even more saddening to hear this kind of language directed at others when it comes from someone who professes a faith in Jesus. No wonder the world calls the Body of Christ hypocrites. They see a small sampling of those who claim to know Jesus and they see these type of actions. All that they see flowing out of these individuals is anything but life-giving.

We are called to share Jesus with the world!

I am sure that many of you remember the old fad from several years ago – WWJD – What Would Jesus Do? I’m not trying to be cliché, but there is a lot of truth in those four little letters and those four words. What flows from our lives is supposed to be Jesus, but do our actions reflect that?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
(John 3:16-18 (NIV))

If anyone believes in Jesus, they are not condemned. They are in a process of becoming mature and Christlike. Is everyone at the same point? No! But, you can rest assured that the Holy Spirit is at work and He is preparing the way for the living waters to flow if we will only allow them to flow. It is up to us. We must decide if we truly believe in Jesus and then let the rivers flow!

What flows from within you?

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
https://www.dailylivingministries.org
Support Daily Living Ministries
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook

Show others that they can be made new!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
(Matthew 9:16-17 (NIV))

Have you become so set in your ways that God cannot do something new in your life? Is your heart so old that it cannot handle anything new?

If you associate physical age with “oldness,” then let me explain something. I have seen very old men and women who have a “new” heart – one that is open to the love, grace and mercy that God has blessed them with and I have seen people who are physically young who have such an “old” heart. It is closed to anything and everything that has to do with God. Fortunately, God has a way of softening hard hearts. He can reverse the aging process that we have applied to ourselves. Just like the old wineskins that would burst if new wine were poured into them, our old hearts must undergo a change before we can fully accept the love, grace and mercy that God so freely gives.

We are those wineskins!

If God were to pour out new wine of His Spirit upon your heart, would it be able to hold it? Would it be so brittle and break because of the new shape that God desires for it to take, or would it bend and accept the changes from within? Just like the new wine changes the wineskin from within, God changes our heart from within. He pours out His Spirit and allows it to flow into the very recesses of our heart. It works slowly and before you know it, just like with the wine, God has soon changed the vessel that He has used to contain His Spirit.

There is no wrong time to open yourself up to the newness that God wants to bring Allow God to use you to show others that He can bring a newness and a refreshing even when the world is saying that there is no hope.

Show others that they can be made new!

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook

What flows from within you?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.
(John 7:38 (NIV))

Have you ever stopped to look at your reflection in the mirror?

If you are like most people, you do this several times a day. Some are deliberate and some are purely by accident as you pass in front of a mirror or some other object that reflects your appearance. Are you happy with what you see reflected? Are you happy with what you see coming from your physical reflection?

Let’s take this one step further! Have you ever stopped to look at your spiritual reflection?

Sadly, most people don’t really take this serious of a look at themselves. Most people are superficial when it comes to spiritual matters. I hate to say this, but far too many people who own a Bible have not ever read all of it. Most of us tend to get things moving and then wonder why there are problems with our lives. We fail to look to the Creator. We fail to believe what has been recorded. We fail to focus on the things of God’s Word while we focus on the things of this world. This approach is, in essence, similar to buying a car and driving it without looking at the owners manual to see what needs to be done to make sure the car runs the way that it should.

Humanity was designed to be in fellowship with God. We had eternity with God. We had life beyond all understanding, but we broke that fellowship in the Garden of Eden. Jesus renewed that possibility for fellowship. He renewed the ability to spend eternity with God. He renewed the ability to have life beyond all understanding. This gift came with a price that Jesus willingly paid. All we have to do is believe!

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
(John 3:16-17 (NIV))

Living water renews! Living water restores! There is only one source for such a powerful element and that is belief in Jesus! If you believe, then true belief calls for you to share the source with all who are in need of it. Do you truly believe in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? Is it visible to others?

What flows from within you?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook