John 4:13-14 • John 7:37-38 • 2 Peter 1:3-4
"Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
— John 4:13-14 CSB"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him."
— John 7:37-38 CSB"His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness... so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature."
— 2 Peter 1:3-4 CSBThese aren't obscure passages.
Jesus said them publicly.
Peter wrote them to ordinary Christians.
Are they metaphors for heaven someday?
Reserved for apostles and saints?
Or available to every believer, now?
How does one go about having
rivers of living water flow from within?
Does our inner life match these descriptions?
A spring welling up... or a dry well?
Most Christians would admit this gap exists.
These promises must not
be literally for us
We don't take them
seriously enough to pursue
Both responses leave us unchanged.
Christians are members of God's realized kingdom—but kingdom membership calls us to transformation, not complacency. We fail when we doubt real change is possible or when we simply don't take it seriously.
Dallas Willard studied how people
actually change
Not just behavior modification—
becoming fundamentally different kinds of people.
We are made of six dimensions that interact:
Sin has disordered
every dimension
You can't fix a disordered thought-life
by just deciding to act better.
Each dimension needs the Spirit's renovating work.
See it
Decide it
Do it
See clearly what's available
The living water passages are vision.
We must believe this life is real and for us.
Without vision, we won't pursue anything.
Not a vague wish—
a settled decision
This is where most of us stall.
We admire Jesus. We believe in Jesus.
But have we decided to arrange our entire lives
around learning from Him?
Engage the practices where
the Spirit does His work
Not to earn favor—to position ourselves in the path of grace.
They're descriptions of what becomes possible
when the Spirit renovates us from the inside out.
The question is whether
we'll take the journey seriously.
Each evening, take five minutes before bed
to ask yourself two questions...
Where did I experience life today?
Connection, peace, gratitude
Where did I experience dryness today?
Disconnection, anxiety, reactivity
Just notice.
Vision starts with seeing clearly.
Bring what you notice to our conversation next week.
"His divine power has given us everything required
for life and godliness..."
Next Week: The Heart of Transformation