Are You In the Flow? Triplets of Love, Light, and Living Water

 

Photo byUoaei1

Are you “in the flow?” When athletes, artists, or speakers experience a peak performance, they often refer to that as being “in the flow.” All of us have enjoyed those rare days when everything seems to flow smoothly, from not hitting any traffic lights, to finding the perfect parking space, to accomplishing our daily goals effortlessly, joyfully, and without obstacles.

In the Bible, the word “flow” describes an ongoing supply of blessings. The Promised Land flows with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8,17; 13:5; 33:3, etc.), and spices flow from His garden of delights (Song of Solomon 4:16). Waters flow at God’s command (Psalm 147:18) to refresh His people (Jeremiah 18:14), and God’s wisdom is like a flowing brook (Proverbs 18:4) 

When God redeems His people, they will flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil (Jeremiah 31:12), All nations will flow into God’s house in the Millennial Kingdom (Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1).

Like all blessings, being in the Divine flow is a gift from God. It results from handing over our cares and burdens to Him (Matthew 11:28-30; 1 Peter 5:7); yielding to His Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:16-19), and trusting Him to work all things together for good (Romans 8:28). Experiencing the Divine flow is possible only for those who are born again (John 3:3-8) by placing our faith in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6).

God’s Triune nature is reflected in so many aspects of His character, attributes, and creation, as we have discussed before. The Divine flow is also expressed in triplets of love, light, and living water streaming abundantly from His radiant Being. These surround us in a nurturing, illuminating, outpouring fountain of Himself.

When I think of how God reveals Himself through His creation, through His relationship to us, and through the lives of His fully yielded children, a unifying theme is His freely flowing energy that guides us, saves us, and cleanses us. His self-sacrificing love (John 3:16) gives us eternal, abundant life (John 10:10); His Word is the light that shows us the way (Psalm 119:105); and He is the fountain of Living Water Who has forever cleansed us from our sins (Jeremiah 17:13).

Because God is love (1 John 4:8), light (1 John 1:5), and Spirit (John 4:24), we are commanded to walk in love (Ephesians 5:2), to walk in the light (1 John 1:7; Ephesians 5:8), and to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16,25). The Holy Spirit in Scripture is often symbolized by water, as in the rivers of living water that flow from anyone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (John 7:38).

John the Baptist noted the transition that would occur from his baptizing believers with water to Jesus Christ baptizing with the Holy Spirit. In the baptism of Jesus, He arises from the water as the Spirit descends on Him, the light of Heaven shines upon Him, and the Father announces His love for His Son (Matthew 3:16-17; Mark 1:8-11; Luke 3:21-22).

Before God even spoke His first recorded command, “Let there be light,” (Genesis 1:3), the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2). God described the light and all the rest of His creation as “good,” reflecting His loving nature in designing His creation to be solely good and not evil.

God hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding (Jeremiah 51:15-16). Although Satan is now the prince of the power of the air Ephesians 2:2), God retains His control over all His creation, including the rain, lightning, and wind (Jeremiah 10:12-13). We have all experienced His infinite power in torrents of rain flowing from Heaven, lightning bolts transforming electrical energy to light, heat and sound, and wind, which, like the Spirit, is invisible but known by its effects (John 3:8).

We appreciate being “in the flow” as we praise God for His power and His wisdom, but especially for His love. We know God only because His love flows from us to one another (1 John 4:7-21), and the world knows we are Christians only when our love flows to them. God commands us to love Him with all our heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5), and Jesus said we are to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). Loving God means to fear Him, to walk in all his ways, and to serve Him with all our heart and soul (Deuteronomy 10:12). Our faith in Christ leads us to love Him, which leads God the Father to love us as His children (John 16:27).

We cannot imagine the depths of God’s love and the rewards He has planned for us, for they cannot compare with anything we have seen, heard, or longed for in our hearts (1 Corinthians 2:9). When we love God, Who first loved us and saved us, we can experience His love pouring over us like the flowing melody of joyful music. Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that God will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing!

Praise God that His love flows from all three Persons of the Trinity: the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost (2 Corinthians 13:14). Praise God that His perfect love flowing through us washes us from fear (1 John 4:18), bathing us instead in power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). May we delight in the flow of His love, light, and living water!

© 2014 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives

Reflections

Photo by Mark Lemmon

On a recent hot summer morning at our favorite beach I began my day with a private swim in the pool. The cool blue water exhilarated me as sunbeams danced along the shimmering aqua surface, as if fairy dust sparkled all around me, perhaps a glimpse of how magical the light will appear in Heaven.

As I start on my first lap, I am momentarily startled by what looks like a giant python barreling through the water, headed straight for me! But then I realize that it is only a reflection of the tall, thick, straight palm tree at the other end of the pool, its serpentine appearance an illusion created by the waves my swimming makes in the water.

Although this is the first time I have experienced this python effect, I have often noticed how this palm tree resembles a cross, with one frond going straight up from the trunk, and two at right angles to it, growing in a cruciform structure. When the sunlight shines behind it from my viewpoint, as it did on this day, it resembles images of the empty cross on which our Savior was crucified, the brilliant light symbolizing the power of His resurrection.

How strange that the reflection of this powerful symbol of eternal life could be transformed into an evil, deadly serpent! It brought to mind how our perception of God’s Word, truth and promises can be distorted by our external and even internal environment. We may be discouraged by storms and trials, or guilt and regrets from our past may haunt us, shrouding in gloom our understanding of God’s truth (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Once we are saved by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6), we believe in our heart that God is Who He says He is and will do what He has said He will do. He cannot lie (Titus 1:2) and cannot change, for He is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

And yet we sometimes doubt that He will honor His promises, for we still have our sin nature to contend with (Romans 7:14-25) even though we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). The old man, or flesh nature, sometimes responds with fear or doubt depending on circumstances that hinder our perception and obscure our faith (1 John 3:8-10).

Satan is well aware of how he can tempt us to doubt God, as he did Adam and Eve, bringing the curse of sin on all mankind (Genesis 3). His strategies include the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Desire to fulfill our craving for beautiful things or fancy toys, or sexual or other fleshly perversions, or elevating ourselves in our minds above others or even above God, distorts what we know to be true.

Our enemies, and Satan’s allies, are the world, the flesh, and ourselves when we fail to give Jesus Christ pre-eminence over our lives (Colossians 1:18).

I believe the image of the cross reflected as a serpent was a warning to trust God’s Word, which is always true (2 Timothy 3:16), and not the lies of the devil (John 8:44). But I also believe it symbolized God’s plan of salvation, foreshadowed by the brass serpent God told Moses to construct in the wilderness (Numbers 21:8).

This was the forerunner of the caduceus, or two serpents twisted together around a pole topped by wings, that now symbolizes healing by the medical profession. I believe the wings are a reference to Jesus, the Great Physician, Who is risen with healing in His wings! (Malachi 4:2).

During their wilderness wanderings, the Israelites were plagued by deadly serpent bites – a type, or symbol, of sin, which stings at first and ultimately kills. But if the bitten victim looked up at the brass serpent lifted into the sky, he would live (Numbers 21:6-9), symbolizing eternal life in Heaven for the sinner who looks to and trusts Jesus as the antidote for sin and its penalty of death.

The image I experienced in the pool could therefore represent rising from a sinful state, in which we are intimidated and held in bondage by Satan, that old serpent, to the truth and life found only in Jesus Christ, Who died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins (Romans 3:25) and rose from the dead to give His children eternal life (John 3:16; 17:3).

May we remember that our perceptions, feelings and thoughts are sometimes inaccurate and deceptive, but that God’s Word and its truth never changes!

© 2022 Laurie Collett