But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.
—John 4:14 (NKJV)
Just as Jesus told the woman at the well, He also tells us that after we drink of His living water, we will never thirst again. We received Christ’s living water when we were born again. However, Christians regularly speak of going through times where they thirst once more for the joy and peace of God.
Is what Jesus said true or is what we feel true? They are both true.
In our natural minds where we are subject to our emotions, the flesh fights against the truth of the new life we have received in Christ. Our emotions well up in us. However, in our born-again spirits where we have become new creatures in Christ (John 3:6, 2 Corinthians 5:17), we have received the living water of new life in Christ. We have received the fullness of God (Colossians 2:9-10). God never wavers. He is strong. He is victorious. He is our new life. All the old that once defined us is gone. The flesh is defeated. We are completely new. We are consistently filled with love, joy, peace, and all the fruit of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). In our born-again spirits, there is no thirst.
Yet, in our minds, we thirst. We know our flesh is not perfect. We know we fail. We never have enough. We are never satisfied.
"But whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give him,” the Amplified Bible Classic Edition reads, “shall never, no never, be thirsty anymore."
To never thirst again, we must drink of the truth of the new life the Holy Spirit has birthed in us. To defeat the lies of the flesh, we must defeat the battle that wages in our minds with God’s truth. We must take every thought captive to the truth of who we are in Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). To conform to what the Word says is true of us as new creations in Christ, we have to be renewed in our minds by His truth (Romans 12:2). We have God’s power living in us. But the Holy Spirit has to convince us of God’s truth about what we have received in Christ until we believe it in our hearts.
In our born-again spirits—where our old person has passed away and where we are reborn as new creations in Christ, we are constantly supplied with God’s living water.
However, many Christians only draw occasionally from the well within them. They have not been renewed in their minds by the truths of what they have received as a new creation in Christ (Romans 12:2). If we would walk in the spirit instead of allowing our flesh to be controlled by our emotions, we would deny the flesh and not thirst for His living water (Galatians 5:16). Those who are thirsty for the joy and peace of God are not walking in the spirit where God has supplied His living water. But those who walk in the spirit live in God’s constant supply of joy and peace (Romans 8:6). They have His power to overcome the temptations of the flesh.
Jesus’ well of living water—this fountain of new life He has given us—springs up in us into everlasting life. Everlasting life is an intimate relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Those who come to accept Jesus’ finished work of grace and do not continue to know God intimately, miss the truths of their salvation.
My Christian brother and sister, Jesus lives in you. He is like an artesian well or spring. He does not need to be primed or pumped. The Holy Spirit wishes to teach you everything you need to know about the new life you have received in Christ. The life of God is meant to just flow out of you. When your naturally emotional mind is continually renewed by the Word and to the unchanging mind of Christ you have received (1 Corinthians 2:16), Jesus, like a spring of living water, will continually and supernaturally flow out of you. You will thirst no more to live in peace and joy. You will have His power to subject the flesh to God’s truth and put on the regenerated life you have received in Jesus Christ.
“And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], and put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23-24, AMPC).
The flesh thirsts, and it profits you nothing. It is the Spirit who gives life to you (John 6:63). Be renewed in the spirit of your mind by His truth to know the new person you are in Christ. Put on your new nature recreated in God’s image of righteousness and holiness. He birthed it in your born-again spirit. Drink what is yours. Draw from His truth and live by His truth. He has given you living water.
© 2023 Lynn Lacher
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