FLOODS of Living Water Freely Available!!!

       

The following is an account that Carrie gave when she was in her early 20s displaying her hunger and passion for the fullness and flooding of the Spirit in every way. May it stir a similar hunger in us today... 

RIVERS OF LIVING WATER

By the Editor (Carrie Judd Montgomery)

Triumphs of Faith 1:4 (April 1881)

He cutteth out rivers among the rocks. – Job 28:10

I know that there are many dear ones thirsting to-day for more of the “water of life,” and crying in the words of the Psalmist, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.”

            Precious, indeed, is the answer which our pitiful Father vouchsafes to His weary children, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring.” - (Isa. 44:3).

            Such an outpouring of God’s Spirit as is here promised is essential to every believer before he can work with power in the service of the Lord: for we cannot give what we do not possess, and we cannot water others unless we, ourselves, are drawing from the Living Fountain. Blessed be God, He “giveth not the Spirit by measure” unto those who will open their hearts to receive Him. It is not His will that we should be limited to occasional dews of His grace, but His unbounded mercy reveals itself in the promise of “floods” of blessing “upon the dry ground.”

    And why then are we not filled? Why are we not so full of the blessed Spirit of God that His fullness can flow through us, and out of us, refreshing our own souls and all those with whom we come in contact? Alas! we will not take the receptive attitude of faith. Jesus bids us “ask and receive” that our “joy may be full.” We obey His command in asking, but we do not throw open our souls that we may receive. God’s word to us is, “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psa. 81:10), yet we do not pause in our cries of hunger to accept what is so freely offered.

            The mistake that very man of us make is in asking God to give us holiness of heart as though it were something apart from Himself. We do not realize that Jesus has already been given to us by the Father, and that our possession of His attributes consists only in our possessing Him: “A Man shall be . . .  as rivers of water in a dry place.” - (Isa. 32:2).

            This “Man,” Christ Jesus, when “He bore our sins in His own body on the tree” knew what it was to suffer thirst; though He was, and is, the “Living fountain.” He thirsted for our sakes that we might be made to “drink of the river of His pleasures.” We hear Him saying those words of patient grief, “They gave Me also gall for my meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink: (Psa. 69:21), and then in vivid contrast with man’s mocking cruelty we hear the Saviour’s message of matchless grace : “ When the poor and needy seek water and there is none; and their tongue faileth for thirst, I, the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them, I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water.” - (Isa. 41:17,18).

            The “cold flowing waters” (Jer. 18:14) never cease in their beneficent action. They are available for us at all times if we will only receive them, but we must drink by faith. Jesus has said, “If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink,” and the utterance of faith would be, “Lord Jesus, I come, and according to Thy word I do drink now.” And depending on that unfailing word we may rest in the sure conviction that marvelous refreshing will be shed abroad in our souls by that living draught. “The glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams.” - (Isa. 33:21). Not only shall our own souls be abundantly satisfied, but “rivers of living water” shall flow from us to the reviving of other thirsty souls, and they, and we, shall show forth the praise of the Lord; for “unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.” - (Eccl. 1:7).  

      

            In Isa. 48:21, we read, “He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: He clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.” Dear friends, the Rock has already been cleft for us, and the spiritual drink of love and peace is even now gushing out to satisfy our every need. Shall we in our impatience and unbelief  “smite the Rock” which is so ready to satisfy our longing that a single word of appeal shall enable us to partake of its “living waters”?  Shall we continue to cry with thirst when by an act of simple faith we may drink of its abundant outflow? Let us beware lest in our disobedience and lack of trust we fall short of the end of our service, and hear the rebuking words, “Because ye believed Me not, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”- (Num. 20:12).

            If we have not wherewith to water the fainting souls around us, shall we not be held accountable by our Master for the unfruitfulness of our service? We read that at the last day the Judge of all the earth shall say unto the unprofitable servants, “I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink. . . Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not unto Me.”- (St. Matt. 25:42, 45). Solemn words that we should ponder well! For if we fail to drink deeply of Christ’s spiritual drink we shall be without excuse, inasmuch as the gracious invitation is even now sounding in our ears, “Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”- (Rev. 22:17).

            Are we “athirst”? Then we are invited to drink of this living water, and let us partake so freely that those who have not yet known a “thirst after righteousness” may realize by our fullness their own lack, and be constrained to “ask and receive.”

            “Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters.”- (Isa. 55:1).

            “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”- (St. John 4:14)."

Carrie's passion and hunger for the floods of living water freely available is evident here. May we similarly be stirred to press into the measureless abundance of the Spirit's presence that we might go to new heights experiencing and living from the Father's great love. For more on Carrie's personal journey of being flooded by the Spirit, see Spirit Flood: Rebirth of Spirit Baptism for the 21st Century.