Prophetic expression/creativity enhances and adds to our intimacy with the Lord. It allows us room to fully express our love to him without any restrictions, this allows Him to pour back into us, speak to us, impart and love on us as well as empower us. He loves it when we spend ourselves on Him in abandonment in worship.
Ancient HebrewWord Meanings YARA
The root meaning of the word yara is "to flow" and is related to words meaning rain or stream as a flowing of water. In Hebrew though it can be what is felt when in the presence of an awesome sight or person of great authority. These feelings flow out of the person in such as actions as shaking when in reverence or bowing down in awe of one in authority.
We prayed for 3 months and interceded and waited for the Lord to drop a name in our spirits. When we had several visions, dreams and prophetic words.. one from a Pastor Friend in Windsor that it would be an OASIS. The STREAM was perfect.
Psalm 46:4
There is a river whose STREAMS make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
Isaiah 43:19 HEY!!! (behold.. a creating word)
Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
HEY is the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 5, means BEHOLD Modern day Hebrew I believe it is ``Hen`` and not Hey.
We are to be a worshipful expression of our intimacy to the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit. Why we need to get into the River during our worship times.
JEREMIAH 17 7-8 7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
PSALM 1– 1-3 1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
Doing without water will drain you not just physically, but also emotionally and spiritually. Dryness comes into our spirit life because of loss of work, broken family relationships, divorce and separation from your wives, not to mention broken lives as a result of drugs and alcohol. The heat has come into your lives and the fiery trials of life. We all go through it .. Some more than others.. all of us at different times and different seasons. Do you remember when you were the driest?
Naturally we are made up of 60 to 70 percent water. When we don’t drink enough water, it can have negative effects on the body and the way it operates. Isn’t that a prophetic statement!
We cannot go past a few days without water before the functioning of the body is compromised. Among other things, water flushes out toxins in the body and keeps each part moist so they can function. When we are dehydrated our mouth is dry, severe dehydration we can’t even talk, there is not moisture, sticky mouth, sunken dull eyes, no tears and very lethargic.
THERE IS A STREAM !!!!!! a fountain of living water available to all to refresh our thirsty souls. And this fountain is in no one else but the Lord Jesus Christ.
THREE KINDS OF CHRISTIANS
First: There are those who are in the desert who for some reason have gotten away from the source of the living waters.
Second: There are those who are getting near and growing closer to the great stream in the desert.
Third: There are those who have found themselves planted right alongside the riverbanks of this fountain of living waters. They are at the river drinking.
First, to those who are wandering in the desert away from the source of the living waters. You are the one who has not, and the one who does not put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have read the most wonderful description of the one who is blessed who trusts in the Lord, and how he is planted by streams of water, but let’s go back a little bit in our text and see what it says to the one who has not put his trust in the Lord. Look at verses 5-6:
“ 5Thus says the LORD, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant.”
Cursed is the man who does not put his trust in the Lord. This is the man who puts his trust in mankind, in the flesh. This is the man who has put his trust in himself and his own abilities. This is the man who really believes in himself. This is the man who trusts in countries, in presidents, in friends, in people with resources—in any thing or person aside from the Lord God Himself. The man who does not trust in the Lord, he will be like a scorched, dried out bush in the desert, certain to become tumbleweed when the wind blows.
Notice that for this person, the heat does not even need to come. His situation is so dire in the stony wastes within the waterless desert, that whether hot or cold, his destruction is certain.
So what are you to do if you are this man? What must you do? You must uproot yourself, and come to the waters. Uproot yourself, and come to the waters. You must put a stop to trusting in yourself or your own resources, and you must put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He will accept you, and refresh your thirsty soul. And He will turn you from the scraggly old bush that you are in your own strength into a beautiful, strong, fruit-bearing tree.
The second person I want to speak to tonight is the one who is near, but not on, the great stream in the desert—straddling between the empty, dry desert on one side, and the banks of the mighty flowing river on the other. You are the person who is like the bush that is burned and crispy on the side toward the wilderness, and turning a slight shade of green on the side toward the river. You are the man who trusted in the Lord when things are good, but turn from him when things are bad. Or on the flip side, you are the man who trusts in the Lord when things are bad, but turn from Him when things are good. You don’t mean to be this way, but in the end you are double-minded as James says. You are trying to trust in both the strength of your own flesh and in the Lord. But the heat has come, and it is revealing the sickness of your soul. You are anxious when the heat comes, and your leaves are not the rich green they should be. And this drought has left you fruitless.
So what are you to do? You must extend your roots to the stream, to the source of all life. You must send forth your roots more fully to the Lord Jesus Christ.
But how do you extend your roots to the Lord? Let yourself be stretched and reach for Him!!
I began tonight by telling you that these past few months have been draining for me spiritually—in part because of the physical labour which drains me daily. I was telling a friend about my spiritual dryness, and he asked a most important question. “How is your time in the Scriptures?” Now, I had not set aside the Scriptures entirely, but I was not nourishing myself as I knew I ought to, and even as I wanted to. My friend challenged me and said, “Whether you need to take a lunch break and read the Scriptures, or what, you need to find a way to get the Scriptures daily.” He was right. I resolved at that time that I would wake up just fifteen minutes earlier every morning to be sure that I fed myself spiritually.
We extend our roots as we feed ourselves on His Word. Listen to these words from a very similar passage from
Psalm 1:“ 1How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.”
Like Jeremiah 17, this Psalm speaks of a man being like a tree that is planted by streams of water. But notice the difference here in Psalm 1. Instead of it being the man who trusts in the Lord, as it is in Jeremiah, in Psalm 1, it is the man who delights, and meditates on the law of the Lord—on His Word. This is because // to trust in a person’s word is to trust in the one who gives the word. When you put your trust and delight and meditation into the Holy Bible, God’s Holy Word, you are putting your trust in the Lord God who gave that Word.
It should be no surprise to us that His Word has such power to refresh and enliven us, should it? It was by His Word, after all, that He created life, and it is His Word that gives us life, that revives us when we are dead, and that sustains us as we live. Scripture compares it to nourishing milk for new born babies. It is called living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. It is sweeter than honey to the lips. Jeremiah the prophet said that the Word of the Lord was the joy and delight of his heart. The Psalmist calls it a treasure and a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. His Word is indeed precious to us who believe. So take time to read the Scriptures and be fed by them.
But don’t stop there. You must extend your roots to the One who gives these Words: the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Jesus was walking on a long journey one day, a story recorded in John 4, He came to a woman, a Samaritan woman, at a well and He asked her for a drink of water. Even though this woman had access to water, Jesus knew that she was a thirsty woman. She was a woman, like many of us, who was doing her best, but failing miserably. She was like a bush parched on one side by the desert heat, but hopeful on the other because of the nearby raging river. And then Jesus said these words to her: “If you knew [who it was who asked you for a drink] you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” Jesus later, in John 7 called out to crowds gathered in Jerusalem, and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” Come to the Source of the water. Cast yourself and all your burdens and cares upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He will refresh your thirsty souls. And you will be like that Samaritan woman who once came to a well to get water, but left her water at the well after receiving the living water from the Lord Jesus Christ.
So if you are one who is near the river, but being scorched by the desert heat, extend your roots toward the Lord Jesus Christ, and feed on His Word, the Scriptures.
And finally….. Those who have been planted right alongside the riverbanks of this fountain of living waters—this stream in the desert.
Who is the one who is rooted beside the river? This is the one who puts his trust in the Lord when things are good, and who puts his trust in the Lord when things are bad. This is the man who seeks to obey the commands of the Lord because he trusts in the Lord. / This is the person like Job who was rich, who had a wonderful family and was physically healthy, and while things were good he “feared the Lord and turned away from evil.” And then when his wealth was taken, and his family was lost, and when his health was stripped from him, dared to even call out, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away” but he still says, “blessed be the name of the Lord.”
This is the man like the Apostle Paul, who lived in poverty, and who lived in prosperity, whose stomach at times was empty, and at times it was filled, and he was a man who endured persecution and beatings and stoning and prisons, but could still call out, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” He could do all things because He was planted by the fount of living water.
And lest we think being planted by the stream of living water is reserved for spiritual giants found in the Bible, might I suggest that some here at Brother Bryan have been firmly planted by this stream? And it’s a wonderful, and refreshing thing to see.
So if you are one of these who is planted beside the streams of living water, I have something to say to you as well: Dig your roots down deep. Dig your roots down deep.
To those who were near the water, I suggested that one should read the Bible, God’s Holy Word regularly—even daily. To the one planted beside the waters, I want to press you further. Take time to meditate on the Scriptures, to pray over the Scriptures, to memorize verses of Scripture and to treasure them in your heart. In short, as Paul writes in Colossians, “Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Let the Scriptures penetrate into your heart and into your life, and this will root you deeply by the fountain of living water.
But there is another way I want to encourage you to dig your roots deeply into this river. It is my hope and prayer that every one would be a tree planted by the waters. It is such a beautiful thing it is to see one who is planted by streams of living water. They live in grace as the heat of life’s trials come. Their leaves do not wilt and fall to the ground for the yard man to pick up. But not only that, if you are planted by this stream, not only are you refreshed, but you refresh the rest of the world around you. Jesus said that “He who believes in Me [the one who trusts in Me]… ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” The one who is planted beside this stream of living water—the Lord Jesus Christ—will overflow and water and refresh those around them. He will not cease to bear fruit in a year of drought. He will bear fruit in this desert land with the sweet nectar of love, joy and peace. He will be a beacon of light in a dark world. He will bring life in a world of death. He will be salt in a tasteless and rotting world. He will be sweet fruit in a fruitless land. He will be able to sing:
I've got a river of life flowing out of me! Makes the lame to walk, and the blind to see.
Opens prison doors, sets the captives free! I've got a river of life flowing out of me!
It’s amazing what a little water can do. Over the past couple days, some areas of the city saw some rain. As I have looked around today, there is grass that only a few days ago was parched and dry. But today, after a little rain, has become green and beautiful. Just a little water. Think what an ever-flowing, never ceasing fountain of living water can do for your soul. So I ask you with another song:
Will you gather at the river, The beautiful, the beautiful river; Gather with the saints at the river That flows by the throne of God.
Will you who are away from Christ, uproot and plant beside the waters?
Will you, who are near, extend your roots toward the river?
And will you who are beside the river, dig your roots in deep never to be uprooted?
GET INTO THE FLOW ~
