The Living Word: Come to the water
BY LEORA SCHMIDT
thelivingword@mail.com
Inese texted me that she was recovering from recurrence of a high fever and cough. She had endured a bout of the flu previously with high fever and days of malaise. Now the fever had recurred, but she was not complaining. She was grateful. She and her family were spending several months learning natural remedies that require no medications. Thus, as a patient herself, Inese experienced healing without drugs. One of the primary therapies is hydrotherapy (water treatment), and she marvelled at its effectiveness in alleviating her distress.
It is right to marvel about the incredible importance of water:
Outside the body: Water treatments stimulate blood flow and hasten healing of many ailments and leave no undesirable after effects. In the late 1800’s hydrotherapy was a major method of treatment at sanitariums. Books contain the simple treatments that are still effective.
Inside the body: Keeping hydrated by drinking plenty of pure water daily is imperative for good health. Our body is about 80% water. Only a few benefits of water: It lubricates the joints; boosts skin health and beauty; cushions the brain, spinal cord, and other sensitive tissues; helps maintain blood pressure.
Water is a “Universal Solvent” and is essential to any cleaning process where a liquid is involved. Water is the foundation of cleaning in nearly every cleaning product.
Ancient wells provided water that had to be drawn up daily. The illustration of the spiritual aspect of water is a theme throughout the Bible. One unnamed woman of Samaria, because of her shame and disgraceful life, timed her visits to the well when others were not drawing water. One day she met Jesus at the well, and He gave her hope of a new pure life when He told her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:13). In her delight she shared this concept of the inner cleansing of Jesus Christ with others who listened to her and also believed.
Many today who appear physically whole are suffering from drinking from polluted springs, spiritually corrupted, fevered with the malady of a sinful life. The application of living water is still relevant for healing body and soul.
Scripture speaks of the deadly results of resisting Jesus, the source of the living water:”all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” Thankfully, the invitation still rings out in the very last chapter of God’s book,”Let him who thirsts come, let him take the water of life freely.” (Revelation 22:17)
Marsha and Russ Stevens penned an invitation and response in a contemporary song:
And Jesus said,
“Come to the water, stand by my side,
I know you are thirsty, you won’t be denied.
I felt every tear drop, when in darkness you cried,
And I strove to remind you,
It’s for those tears I died.
Jesus, I give you my heart and my soul,
I know that without God I’d never be whole,
Saviour, You opened all the right doors,
And I thank you and praise You from earth’s humble shores.
Take me, I’m Yours”