Many of us have witnessed people who have a supernatural quality about them. That was how many people viewed Jesus. They were amazed at his teaching:

The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” (John 7:15)

Jesus revealed the source of His teaching and authority and indicated how God could flow through their lives:

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” (John 7:37)

The great day that John referred to was the culmination of the Feast of Tabernacles. It was a joyous occasion as the crops had been gathered and stored. Each morning there was a solemn procession from the temple mount to the pool of Siloam for a pitcher of water. A priest would fill a pitcher with water as the people sang together from Isaiah 12:3 (Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation).

The procession would return to the Temple Mount with trumpets and great fanfare; there the priest would pour the water into a basin by the altar each day. This was the backdrop in which Jesus gave the invitation with several present tense verbs. The people had tasted religion and ritualism and now Jesus would proclaim the true source of refreshment.

Spiritual thirst is a picture of one of our greatest physical needs – water. A man may live many days without food, but one cannot survive as long without water. The next verse parallels the verb drink with the word believe, which is also in the present tense, conveying the sense to keep on believing:

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

There are several Scriptures that refer to God as the source of living water; perhaps Jesus was referring to Jeremiah 2:13 or 17:13 that describe God as the fountain of living water. After Jesus ascended, the Holy Spirit came to dwell within His people. Jesus described God’s Spirit not simply a trickle of water, but as rivers of living water. Do you sense the Spirit of God  flowing through your life? If not, have you come to Jesus and placed your belief in Him? The living water is identified in the next verse:

But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:39)

We have the Holy Spirit living within us. The promise of the Holy Spirit is presented later in John’s gospel:

And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22)

Is the Holy Spirit to flowing through your life, or are there some hindrances? The Apostle Paul indicated two primary reasons that hinder the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The first reason is that we may grieve the Holy Spirit:

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)

We grieve the Holy Spirit when we’re practicing sin and walking in the flesh rather than by the Spirit. The context in Ephesians revealed that they were not to be consumed with bitterness, wrath, anger, and malice. We must realize that the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God (James 1:20). We also hinder the Spirit if we’re ignoring the spiritual gifts that He’s provided for us:

Do not quench the Spirit; (1 Thessalonians 5:19)

The word quench conveys the idea to extinguish. It’s the same word Paul used when he described the need to take up the shield of faith with which we will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16). God’s desires that His Spirit flows through us like rivers of living water (John 7:38). Our spiritual effectiveness is not by our might or by our power, but through the Holy Spirit.