Jesus said in John 7:37-39, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

You cannot live without natural water, and you cannot flow with the Spirit without spiritual water. They are essential. Ultimately we are called not only to be partakers of this living water, but we are also called to be a source of it. Every disciple of Christ will have rivers (plural) of living water flowing to a dry and desolate world.

Jesus said in Luke 17:20-21, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

The new birth, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, God's voice, God's leadership - all these work on the inside, not the outside. Many times we look for God in all the wrong places. We often look for direction and leadership that comes from the outside - conferences, pastors, circumstances, "open doors" - but if we believe Jesus, that's the wrong place to look. God lives in you.

Jesus said in Luke 6:45, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh."

Our mind receives hundreds, if not thousands of suggestions per day - some are important, some are not, some are benign, some are dangerous, and some are just random. How we judge our thoughts begins a process that steers our lives toward a certain destination. "Where are your thoughts taking you?" is a question we all need to know the answer to.

In John 17:21, Jesus prayed for you and me that we would have the same relationship with God that he had saying, "as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." God is wanting us to be on the same page as Him. To be moved with His heart, His love, and His power toward a hurting world. Let's learn how to get in unity with our Father.

We often take for granted the environment we create for our mind. Isaiah 26:3 says "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." The effects of a self-lived life produces anxiety and confusion, but a life lived by the spirit produces peace and creates a lasting environment to hear God's voice clearly all the time.

The Apostle Paul defined a stronghold as "every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God" in 2 Cor. 10:4-5. Each of us have our own set of strongholds that resits God's will in our lives. They are deceptive roadblocks that convince us that they are true, and God's Word is not - the "can'ts" and "impossibles" that rise up in our emotions and memories that testify against what God has said. However, if we trust God's Word, we will defeat every stronghold that keeps us from God's will.