Text: John 7:37
Further Reading: John 7:37-39
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
John 7:31 NKJV
MESSAGE
After heeding the greatest invitation to be saved, the Christian must pay attention to another great invitation to receive the special gift of God’s Holy Spirit. Just like every other benefit that God gives, He puts an invitation out and those who respond to his invitation by faith becomes partaker of His blessings.
This was what you saw Jesus doing in our text of the day when He made that public invitation to anyone who cares. The Lord, however, gave a strong condition that is primarily based on us – “if any man thirsts, then let him come and receive the Holy Ghost”.
What many believers do not know is that God is more willing to give them the Holy Ghost than they are willing to receive. This is because for the work of God to be done and advanced, there must need to be the move of the Spirit. No work is done for God successfully without the Holy Spirit.
Notice in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus told the Apostles to go into the world and preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations, but the Lord quickly added a follow-up instruction which is for them to wait for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. He told them that the power that they need to do the work can only come from the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).
It will take another spirit for ordinary men to do extraordinary things, and that’s exactly what happens to the Apostles. The moment they were baptized in the Holy Ghost on Pentecot’s Day, they began to do extraordinary things. But they were hungry, they were thirsty and God satisfied their desire.
They were the people upon whom God said He pour out his Spirit because they were thirsty for Him (Isaiah 44:3). Beloved, there is an invitation and a promise to those who believe, it is the promise to receive power, it is the promise to be filled with all of God’s fullness, it is the promise to become a carrier of God’s presence, it is the promise of the Holy Spirit.
Are you hungry and desperate to receive this great help from heaven? Notice that the Spirit was given to the apostles who were serious enough to tarry. God will not give His Spirit to unserious lives who will make a mockery out of His grace but to men whose hearts sincerely yarns for God.
Will you come to Jesus and drink of the living water so that out of your belly would flow rivers of living waters? The choice is yours – but let it be known to you that you must be willing to thirst for it.
REFLECTION
For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.
Acts 2:39 NKJV
Have you received the Holy Spirit? If not you need to thirst and hunger, and the Lord will fill you. Amen
PRAYER
Father, please fill me afresh with the presence of the Holy Spirit.
