John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’”

All through the word of God you will see that the Spirit of God is likened to a river. When Jesus promises rivers coming out of your life, He is pointing to the reality that each believer should have His Spirit flowing through us.

So how can we make sure that what flows out of us is what Jesus is pouring into us? That is the question I want to spend the next few days answering.

Step One: Examine Your Flow
James 3:11 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 12Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.

You must examine what is coming out of your life and your mouth. Ask the Holy Spirit and even ask people around you to honestly tell you what has been flowing out of your life. Has it been negative or has it been faith-filled? Has it been encouraging or has it been just a bunch of trash?

Jesus said in Luke 6:45 that, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Jesus said what gets in us has a way of flowing out of us. In other words what comes out of me is an indicator of what is going into my life.

This is one of the only places in the Bible where being salty is a bad thing. Jesus said in other scripture that we should be salt and light. But when it comes to the flow of His Spirit out of our life, we don’t want to be salt water; we want to be fresh water. When you get thirsty you don’t desire salt water; you desire fresh water. Guess what the people in your life need? They need a source of fresh water and God wants you to be that channel whereby the river of His Spirit can flow into their lives.

Here in America we are are surrounded by churches on every corner. The majority of people classify themselves as Christians but I fear that overwhelmingly what is flowing out of many people today is not refreshing. It is not life giving. The world is dying of Spiritual thirst because the flow from our lives is salty and not life giving. The world around us and the people dear to us need us to be a spring and a river of living water that flows into their lives.

Lamentations 3:40 says, “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.” Keeping the pure river flowing in our lives requires us to constantly examine our ways and every time we discover that something is tainting our flow, we must submit that to the Lord.

Today’s Challenge: Invite the pure river of God to flow through you. Invite the Holy Spirit to flow freely in your life and out of your life. Examine your heart and see if there is anything toxic you are trying to mingle into the flow of His Spirit in your life. When the Holy Spirit speaks to you about such matters, respond with surrender and you will experience an even greater flow of His Spirit.

Today’s devotion is an excerpt from a message recently preached at CFA. To listen to the message in its entirety go to http://www.pastorgregsanders.com