John 10:10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows.
In the Old Testament the simplest way to defeat an adversary or to remove someone from land you wanted was to get rid of their water supply. Many towns and cities throughout the Middle East where the stories of the bible played out had no natural water supplies, meaning the only way to get water was to dig wells. The digging of wells was a painstaking process involving surveying the land, digging out the soil, building barriers around the well and finally securing the area from those who would want to steal the well. Once a well was built and secu
red it meant there could be life, your family, livestock and crops could survive. Many battles took place over wells, those who built fought fiercely to keep them and those who wanted the land would either try to capture or destroy the well by filling it in or poisoning them. The well of meant everything in life. One of the most famous wells was Jacob’s well. It must have been surveyed well, dug deep and protected like no other. It was built by Jacob in the book of Genesis and as Jesus comes to the woman at a well in the New Testament, she proclaims, this is our father Jacob’s w
ell. Wow! The well had been preserved for over 2000 years. What an accomplishment. Today, 2000 years later if you would go to Israel, you could still go to Jacob’s well. It’s small, well protected and there is very little water, but it is still there.
As we move into 2016 I want to encourage all of us to protect the source of Life, our relationship with God above everything else in our lives. We must remember above all our relationship with God and our eternal destination is the most important issue of our life. God has given us instruction on how we can have a vibrant life and we must protect those life sources. Like the adversaries of old, we have an adversary that would like to steal, kill, destroy and or corrupt our life sources (John 10:10). Though we have many success and earthly blessings, the life sources are vital and critical to securing your eternal life with him. So what are our life sources?
The Word of God. Jesus calls it the bread of life. We must change our view of the Word of God, it is not just another book, its not crusty and dusty and out of date, but if we slow down our life and become intentional about reading it with hunger and desire, it will enhance our life beyond our imagination.
Prayer. It must become part of the fabric of our life, because it is the essence of life. Without prayer there is no life source. Prayer is done corporately, it done individually but most of all it must be done continually. Prayer is being available for God to talk to you at any time. When it becomes a part of the fabric of our lives it brings humility and it will give us wisdom, protect us, guide us and bring us more joy and happiness than we can any pleasure of this life.
The Spirit. The infilling of God’s Spirit and the continual filling of His Spirit is God in us and is the most powerful life source a person can have. It is literally having God inside of us. Before His Spirit is inside of us we have no power of our bodies, sin or adversary, after the His Spirit fills, we have unlimited potential! With God in us and us humbling and submitting ourselves to the Spirit, it will lead us to dimensions beyond our wildest dreams, we will walk in places beyond our comprehension and He can let His Gifts of the Spirit work in our life to impact others.
Live repentantly and humbly. Paul said we must die out to ourselves daily, live humbly and under submission to God and His Word. This can be done by having a regular time of fasting and commitment with God. John’s entire life could be summed up in one phrase, “I must decrease and He must increase.” He understood that Jesus was his life source and source of power.
Be faithful to His house. Make it a priority above all else, there is no greater invitation. Some people look at it as having to come to church but a true view is, “I have been invited to God’s house!” Wow! What a privilege. Unfortunately, we don’t look at it that way and we give importance to other things and events over God’s invitation. What greater invitation is there that we can be given than to come to God’s house? Be inspired on Sunday’s, be educated on Wednesday and be empowered on Saturday. Let’s realign our perspective!
In closing I ask, how’s your life sources doing? Are they being filled in with the cares of this life, poisoned by carnality? Has your life source become your education? Your job? Your successes? Your social status? Your material possessions? How do you answer that question? Begin to look at what you give priority too, what you give your time to. If those priorities don’t align with God’s life sources then it may be that the adversary has been creeping into your life, filling in your wells, stealing the very life you fought and worked for, for so long. Protect your well.