Once upon a time I heard a preacher go on a rant (not a Jesus Rant, haha) about how we need to make sure to NOT identify ourselves as sheep. Because sheep are dumb and they get themselves into trouble quite a bit. They need constant looking after. A shepherd. And the guy's point was that we need to be mature. We need to identify ourselves as kings and priests. I get that. But at the same time... we ARE sheep. And Jesus IS the good Shepherd. He IS constantly looking after us. He DOES feed us and lead us. So I think it's ok, if you understand the picture we're looking at. Don't be dumb. Don't baa it up with everybody else and get yourself into trouble by trying to be someone you're not. Don't be conformed to the world. But DO know who takes care of you. And TRUST Him to do so! I believe that we are completely self-suffiecent when we look for, and find, everything we need in Him. Which means, when we look for it inside, and when we look for it in each other. I think a revelation that is sorely, desperately needed is found in Philippians 2:4, "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." If I'm taking care of you, and you're taking care of me, then neither one of us has to worry about ourselves. If we're helping each other along, none of us need to worry about getting ahead. And I know that's not "the way of the world." But that's kind of my point. We are IN the world, but not OF the world. We don't have to do things the way the world does them. We can show people a more excellent way. By showing them Jesus. Which means, by showing them love. Because that's who Jesus is; God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. So saying Jesus feeds us and leads us is the same as saying LOVE feeds us and leads us. And guess what love does: It feeds on ITSELF (HIMself) and consumes everything else. Love feeds on love, and it grows and grows and grows until it's too big to keep inside. That's when it comes out naturally. Not when you try to force it out, but when you simply fill yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. That's when you experience it most--when you give it away. When you share it. When you feed and lead others just as you have been fed and led! When you understand the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross--giving His life FOR us, and giving His life TO us, laying His life down for His friends--that's when you can make the same sacrifice. That's when you can give everything you have and everything you are to anybody you come into contact with. Because you can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. Jesus gave it all TO us. Now we can give it all to each other! But not if we don't know what we've got. Not if we don't know who we are. We are the fountains of living water that the Lamb in the midst of the throne leads us to. (See? Jesus is a Lamb. We can certainly be sheep!) He leads us to ourselves. Our TRUE selves. Who we are in Christ. And He does it by showing us who He is in us. He reveals Himself to us, and in us, and through us, and as us. And then we reveal Him to each other. By loving each other. Taking care of each other. Feeding the hungry. Clothing the naked. Meeting basic human needs. And then also meeting Spiritual needs. Loving those who need it most (which, in truth, is all of us)!

I mentioned the story of Jonah earlier in this Rant series. And I think the biggest lesson to be learned from that story is this: God knows what He's doing. He knows what's best... for you. I usually quote Jeremiah 29:11 here. But for the sake of variety I'm going with Isaiah 46:10, "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." And adding to it, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32). I can still remember when I said something about God being a happy God and the (kind of shocked) question I got was, "What's He so happy about?" And I didn't even really think about it, I just kind of blurted out, "He's happy because He got what He wanted." And while that might seem a little bit childish, it's important to understand WHAT He wanted. And for that I'll quote Jeremiah 24:7, "And I will give tham an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: or they shall return unto me with their whole heart." God got what He wanted when He "got" us. And He got us, when He gave us His only begotten Son. When He gave us... Himself. The cry of God's heart all throughout the Old Testament is, "I want you to be my people. And I want to be your God. I don't want you to run FROM me. I want you to run TO me." That's why God was in Christ on the cross reconciling us back to Himself. That's why, when Jesus was lifted up from the earth, all men were drawn into Him. Because God didn't want that sense of seperation between us and Him that WE put into place when we hid from his presence after eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (the tree of death). That's why Jesus cursed that fig tree--it couldn't produce any fruit. That was the problem with the external Law--it demanded perfection without being able to produce it. The Law could only show us what we wrong with us. Jesus came to feed us and lead us... and show us what's RIGHT with us. By showing us what's right with Him. We are the righteousness of GOD in Christ. We are complete in Him. Because He is complete in us. So this leading and feeding isn't about control and manipulation. It's not about making someone do something that's only beneficial to US. Bosses makes workers. But leaders reproduce themselves in others and make more leaders. Leaders do what's best for OTHERS. That's what God had in mind for Jonah, regardless of how Jonah himself felt about it. He wanted to give us the Kingdom. That's what gave Him pleasure, or made Him happy. And that's what happened when He gave us the King of kings. That's what happened when, as the Message Bible puts it, God moved into the neighborhood. He became our God (in the sense of us accepting and receiving Him) and we became His people (in the sense of us realizing who we really are as He reveals to us who HE really us). The feeding is Jesus Himself. His body and blood. The bread and the wine. The Lamb and the living water. And the leading is the Spirit and the bride saying, "Come." Not, "Come... or else," but, "Come and get it!" Jesus prepared a table for us in the midst of our enemies. A six-course meal also known as the Six Steps to the Throne. The finished work of the cross. He leads us into our true identity by showing us HIS true identity!

They say a boss makes workers and a leader makes more leaders. That's a crucial difference. Look at Romans 8:29, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." That's what happened on the cross! In the beginning we were MADE in God's image. But we didn't know what that image was. Not until we were CONFORMED to the image of His Son. Not until we were fed, and led to the living water (inside us), could we know Him as Father and ourselves as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. That's why Jesus gave His life for us and to us; because He wanted us to have it. Because He wanted us to experience it as He lives it in us, and through us, and as us. That Lamb in the midst of the throne led us straight TO the throne! The throne of grace that Noah saw in His eyes. Because that's where it is. Inside us. The Holy Spirit--the Spirit of Truth--leads us straight to our true identity: Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. I read somewhere that Jesus is not a window into what we might someday be. He is a mirror who shows us who we really are. And that's the difference between a boss and a leader. That's the difference between religion and rest. Be NOT conformed to this world. But BE transformed (into what you've already been transformed into) by the renewing of your mind. By letting Jesus lead you. By letting Him reveal Himself to you, and in you, and through you, and as us. By revealing love to you. We learn how to love by learning how we are loved. By the God who IS love. Jesus doesn't want robots. He is the firstborn among many brethren. He doesn't want us to try (and fail) to follow in His foot steps. The Law wasn't given because it could be kept. It can't be kept. It was given as the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. To show us that we can't, so that we'll stop trying and let Him. We aren't supposed to follow in His foot steps. We're supposed to let Him make His own foot steps with our feet! We're not living "for" Him as much as we're living IN Him. He's living IN us. So this idea of, "My boss is a carpenter"... I don't buy it. Jesus is not my boss. He's my life! The good shepherd lays down His life for His flock. And in the same way we ought to lay down our lives for each other. He didn't come to be served. He came to serve. And in the same way, we ought to serve each other. He showed us who we really are by loving the hell out of us. By getting down on His knees and washing our feet. By giving us everything He had and everything He was. Not because He thought He could get anything out of it, but because He wanted us to have it. Love with a motive is not love. Love doesn't HAVE a motive, love IS the motive. The good Shepherd doesn't protect and guide and feed His flock because He wants something from them. He does it because He loves them. Period. Exclamation point. Underlined. Bold. It's all about love. That's what the living water inside us is. It refreshes those who are thirsty. And it is freely given. Freely received, and freely given. All we have to do is believe on Him. Trust in Him. Let Him do what He's going to do, so that we can do what we're going to do. Naturally. Not through works and labor, but from a posture of rest. Recreating Himself in us as He shows us who we really are by showing us who He really is!

The good Shepherd feeds us and leads us. But look at WHERE He leads us to: "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" (Revelation 7:17). He leads us to the fountain of living water. But wait. According to Jesus, in John 7:38, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." So WE are the fountain that He leads us to. He leads us to... ourselves. Our TRUE selves. And if it comes from believing on Him, that means He leads us not by demanding that we follow, but by giving us something (Himself, love) to believe in! This happened on the cross, 2,00 years ago. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep" (John 10:11). And it happens by little and little. Day by day. As the Holy Spirit--the Spirit of Truth--leads and guides us into all truth. The truth about who we are. Who we are in Christ, according to who Christ is in us. The truth about who God is--not an angry taskmaster, but a loving heavenly Father--and the truth about who we are--His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. And while yesterday we focused on meeting needs in the natural... physically feeding people who have empty bellies... what it means to be Spiritual fed is not someone telling you what's wrong with you and demanding you change, but someone telling you what's RIGHT with you and then living out of that approval and love. The love of a Father always equips and empowers a Son. And, again, that's where (and how) the Shepherd leads us. Psalm 23:2 says, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters." I want to hit a few key points here. Number 1. He MAKES us lie down. Because sometimes the grass SEEMS greener on the other side, even when we're right where we're supposed to be. Or sometimes, like Saul when he was being converted to Paul, we need to get knocked off our donkey and blinded by the light. Jonah had an experience where it didn't much matter what HE wanted to do. My pastor says it like this, "Some people are called, and some are cornered." Sometimes we can avoid a lot of pain and suffering if we don't resist what God has in store for us. If we be still and know that He is God. If we trust in Him (which is what it means to have faith in Him), and trust in His plan. The good Shepherd lays His life down for the sheep, and He always knows exactly where the sheep should be. And when they should be there. Because the good Shepherd loves the sheep. He takes care of them. He leads them beside the still waters, but then the wind blows and stirs those waters up. What's inside comes out. So that, just as He fed and led us, we can feed and lead each other. But that's for tomorrow, and, as always, I'm trying my best not to get ahead of myself. For today it's just so important that we look at the Lamb, and we see everything we need in Him. We are self-sufficient when we are completely sufficient in Him. When we come to Daddy with every need, and want, and desire. When we go to the source, instead of looking for love in all the wrong places. Because the Lamb is in the midst of the throne. The throne of grace. We find grace in His eyes as He leads us and feds us. And grace works by love!

Before I quote my main Bible verse for this Rant series I want to qualify what we're talking about. Because many many times the Bible (and preachers of the Bible) talk about natural things Spiritually. And we're going to do that. But at the same time, we can't ignore the fact that, "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual" (1 Corinthians 15:46). Which is to say, when we're talking about feeding people... sometimes (and, really, first and foremost) we're really just talking about giving them food. Because if all you can hear is your tummy rumbling, you certainly aren't going to be able to listen to a sermon. First natural, then Spiritual. So with that in mind I want to really dive into Revelation 7:17, "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." First you feed them, then you lead them. That's why so many times we have pot luck dinners or church events. Things like that. Take care of someone in the natural and then you've opened a door to reach them Spiritually. When Jesus was talking to Peter--after Peter had vowed to go all the way with Jesus, only to deny Him three times that very day--Jesus asked over and over, "Do you love me?" And when Peter insisted that he did, Jesus told him HOW to love. He said, "...Feed my sheep" (John 21:16,17). Right? We love God BY loving people. And to most people (ESPECIALLY those who are hungry) there's no greater way to love them than to feed them. So what we see is what we've always seen. The Lamb feeds US, and then WE feed each other. We receive and release the provision He has given to us. We love... as He loves us. But it starts at the bottom, if I can say it that way. Seeing a need and meeting it. Not giving someone a pat on the back and saying, "Good luck with that." But giving out of your abundance. If you have two coats, and you see someone without a coat... give them one of yours. I'm convinced that the most holy thing we can do in this life is to love one another. That's what it means to be holy as God is holy. Because God is love. I don't know why I've been thinking about this for a while now, but I'm just gonna put it out there: I can say swear words... and also love people. I don't, because I made a deal with my son that he can say anything he hears me say, but that's beside the point. I can watch rated R movies... and also love people. These things that religion likes to attack really don't have much to do with love most of the time. But religion needs a boogeyman, or an antichrist, or whatever. My point it, as long as you are giving people what they need (love) because it's what you've got... don't worry about the rest. People are hungry. Naturally and Spiritually. Sometimes at the same time, but sometimes one more than the other. So be wise. Be discerning. Be UNDERSTANDING. And, just as the Lamb, the good Shepherd, always has and always will give you exactly what you need... give it to those around you. Share what you've got. Share who you are. Feed the sheep, even as the Shepherd has fed you. Love others, even as Jesus loves you!

We are the brook. Or the fountain. Or the garden. Whichever picture you prefer. New Jerusalem. And there's a river running through us. A river of living water. When the wind of the Holy Spirit blows, it stirs up that water. Stirs up what's inside us. The LOVE inside us. Because what else could we drink (or eat) that would satisfy our thirst (or hunger)? Living water. Bread and wine. Lamb. Look at Revelation 7:17, "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." The Lamb is the Shepherd. The Gardener. He takes care of His flock. His garden. He prunes away the corrupt trees--or the issues that we struggle with. Because along with tears of sorrow, I think most of the time we cry tears of frustration. Because we're trying and trying to be someone we're not. And that's impossible. Trying and trying to get something we haven't got. Because we don't know that we already have it all. We "know" the truth, but we don't understand it fully. We need a Comforter to wipe those tears away and lead and guide us into all truth. The ultimate truth of the universe that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. The ultimate truth of the universe that God is love and He loves you! And that being loved allows us TO love. Because being loved reveals our true nature to us. By revealing GOD'S true nature to us. By showing us that His true nature IS our true nature. He is love. WE are love. We have everything we need because we ARE everything we need. We are completely self-sufficient in Him. Which, ironically, means we absolutely need each other. Because He is altogether lovely. And that means He (we) is lovely all together. What I "lack" you possess. And vice versa. We can't do it alone, but together we can do it all! We can stir these gifts up in each other. By encouraging each other. By letting each other BE each other! Don't be conformed to the world, and try to conform anyone else to your version of the world. Edify people. Build them up. Train up a child in the way he SHOULD go. Don't pile on when someone's down. Reach out and help them up. Let what's in you come out, and encourage what's in others to come out. God made each one of us specifically to BE each one of us. We need each other. If you try to be someone you're not... then you're not being yourself. And if you're not being yourself then YOU are missing from the equation. So let the Lamb feed you and lead you. That sounds like a good Rant series, doesn't it? Starting tomorrow maybe... But to tie a bow on this one: When you keep trying to get what you think you haven't got, you rob yourself from enjoying what you HAVE got. The gift has already been given. And you can't earn it. So be still and know that HE is God. Be still and know that God is love. Receive it and release it. Keep your heart open and let love in. Let it in and let it out. With every breath you take and every move you make. Let the living water bubble up out of you and let it get all over everybody else! Not by forcing it out. Works and labor don't work. But by knowing and believing that it's already in there! Experience the gift by giving it away!

Everything acts according to it's nature. God set up this truth way back in the beginning. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so" (Genesis 1:11). In other words, seeds produce after their own kind. You can't plant an apple seed and expect oranges. Jesus said it like this, "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (Matthew 7:17-19). And, unfortunately, we immediately go to the place of "good tree = good person. Bad tree = bad person." And we seem to forget that, "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed" (Song of Solomon 4:12). And I can see how that might be interpreted corporately. Because together we are the Lamb's wife. The church. But I can see it very individually too. Which is to say... people are like onions. They have layers. There might be some corrupt trees in my personal garden. But thank God HE is the gardener who casts those (things, ideas, mindsets, actions, what have you) trees into the fire. And remember that GOD is the consuming fire. Fire isn't used to hurt us. It is used to PURIFY us. I said all that to say this: "For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches" (Romans 11:16). Jesus is the vine, or the root, and WE are the branches! HE is holy so WE are holy. HE is the incorruptable seed and can only produce after His own kind. The first among many brethren, right? So when we spend all of our time on a sin hunt, trying to get the sin out of the camp, what we miss is that the work is finished. I think humans are unique in our self-awareness. But also in our self-deception. With everything else, "It is what it is." With humans, "We are what we believe we are." That's how important faith is. Faith literally defines our reality for us. Everything we do flows from what we believe. We believe there is some value in what we're doing, and that's why we do it. And that's why it's so important for us to let the Holy Spirit--our love receptor--lead and guide us into all truth. The truth that God is love, and He loves you. The truth that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. The truth that we have everything we need already. Deep inside. Because when we know it's in there... when we know that we ARE loved... it comes out. Naturally. We CAN love. When we know and believe the truth, it bubbles up out of our innermost being. When we know our true nature--the Divine Nature of God... of love--we act according to that nature. Not trying to be someone we're not in order to get something we haven't got. But letting what's inside come out as we fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. When we stop looking for love in all the wrong places and simply look in the mirror. Look inside. When the wind of the Holy Spirit blows, it stirs things up in our hearts. It stirs up LOVE. And when love gets stirred up it manifests as charity: love in action! The Word becomes flesh and the river of living water flows out of us! We receive and release the love of God by letting Him love us and loving each other with that same love!

The best part--well, I should say ONE of the best parts, because the more God (love) reveals Himself to me, the more "best parts" I end up finding--about God is that He never requires ANYTHING unless He first provides it. This is seen pretty clearly in the story of Abraham and Isaac. Genesis 22:8 says, "And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together." And I can see that Abraham meant God would provide an offering FOR Himself, but I can also see that God provided HIMSELF as the offering. We think God wants the thing we love most. But really He gave the thing (His only begotten Son) that HE loved most. We see this again in Genesis 35:19-21, "And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar." Rachel died. Jacob buried her. And then Israel journeyed. I remember hearing this passage preached as, "You have to give up the thing you love most in order to access your destiny." But guys... what father could possibly want that for his son? The name, "Rachel" means, "an ewe." Which is a female lamb. It wasn't Jacob giving up something that lead to his transformation. It was the death to the lamb! God doesn't want what we can produce. Remember Cain and Able? He ONLY wants the Lamb! Which is why the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. The work was finished before we ever tried to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. God never wanted slaves. Jesus didn't come to be served. He came to serve. He came to give His life for us, and give His life to us. So that we could have it. So that we could experience it as HE lives it in us, and through us, and as us. Even the New Commandment bears this truth out; we are commanded to love AS WE ARE LOVED. All of the emphasis is on God's love for us. Because that's all that's expected of us. If God wants us to love a lot, He has to first love us a lot. If He wants a river of living water to flow out of our innermost being... HE has to first put it there. And that's what the Holy Spirit is all about--revealing to us who we are, by revealing to us who God is. Who we are in Christ is who Christ is in us. The living water bubbles up out of us WHEN WE BELIEVE. When we know and believe that we are loved, that's when we can love. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. And you have what you have by the grace of God. You have it because He gave it to you. He provided it before He required it. And the (next) best part is that you experience the gift you've been given by giving it away! You are blessed... to be a blessing. You fill yourself with what you've been filled with by sharing it. By seeing a need... and meeting it. Not by condemning people, but by loving the hell out of them! Not by kicking people when they're down, but by helping them up. The wind of the Holy Spirit blows, and it stirs up what's already inside. And then the gardener can enjoy the fruit of His labor even as YOU enjoy it. By helping OTHERS enjoy it. You don't have to force it. You don't have to fake it 'til you make it. All you have to do is be open to love. Accept (know and believe, receive and release) God's love for you. Let what you've been filled with fill you to overflowing. And then it (HE) will come out. Naturally!

Releasing what's inside by receiving it until you have filled yourself to overflowing with what God has already filled you with. That's pretty much all I seem to preach these days. Because that's what matters to me. That's how you love--by knowing and believing that you ARE loved. That's how you give--by knowing what you've got, and understanding that what you've got is what others need. It's a bubbling brook that comes from deep inside. Your innermost being. Your heart. But for today let me show you another picture of what I'm talking about. It's found in the Song of Solomon. "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon" (SOS 4:12-15). That's us. The spouse. The Lamb's wife. The church. And we already have everything we need. The problem is that the well of living waters is ALSO a fountain sealed. We have it all, but we don't necessarily know what we have. And we aren't experiencing it because we are robbing ourselves of the gift we've been given by trying to earn something that can't be earned. We're running around like chickens with our heads cut off looking for love in all the wrong places. Because we don't realize that we are connected to the source of love. We don't realize that we are Jesus--God in the flesh, love in a body. We don't realize that WE are the source of love. It's not external. It's internal. It doesn't come from the outside-in. It comes from the inside-out. Which is where the last verse of Song of Solomon chapter 4 comes in: "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." See, we already have everything we need. Everything we've been searching for, and trying to earn--or get in any way that we can. What was necessary was for the wind to blow. The wind being the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth. So that we might know and believe. So that we might understand what we know. So that what's already inside can get stirred up and can flow out! Or bubble out. It's the unveiling of the secret garden. It's the mystery revealed--Christ IN you, coming OUT of you! It's filling yourself with God's love so that you can love Him back by loving others. That's how the gardener enjoys the fruit of His labor. He enjoys it when WE enjoy it. Because He finished the work both for us and as us! He lives in us. And we live in Him. So my thought for today is this: Just let God love you. Stop trying to earn it--or worse yet, stop giving up on love because you think you can't earn it, or don't deserve it. You CAN'T earn it. It's a gift. And deserve's got nothing to do it. God doesn't love you because of what you've done, or what you're doing, or what you're going to do. He loves you because of who you are. And because of who He is. A Father loving His Son. A Son living a life of love because He knows His Father loves Him. That's what I honestly, truly think it's all about.

I think the expression is actually "babbling brook" because of the way it sounds; like a bunch of people babbling. But I'm tweaking it a little bit because I want to talk about what's inside coming out. What's inside coming BUBBLING out. Like a cup that has been filled to overflowing. Because that's how this everlasting, eternal, abundant, Resurrection Life works. We fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've been filled with and it comes out naturally. My key verse for this Rant series, and really my main thought for today, is John 7:38, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." The Message Bible puts is like this, "Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says." And the Amplified Bible, "He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water." So first things first, "belly," to me, means the heart. Which is how some translations render it. But if nothing else, it's what's inside. It comes from the depths. From our innermost being. Who we really are. And if living water comes OUT of us, that means it is IN us. And that means it IS us. So when we see someone thirsty, we don't need anything external. Remember we were talking about how people are desperate for something real? That's what we have. That's who we are. So just like when Jesus told His disciples to feed the multitudes... we have what people need. And when we believe in Him, it bubbles up out of us. Because when we believe in Him what's inside gets stirred up. It doesn't just sit dormant. It prompts us to move. Rest is NOT inactivity. Rest is Holy Spirit directed activity. And the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. He leads and guides us into all truth. He helps us to understand the truth that we know--the truth that God is love... and He loves you. The truth that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. And the truth that YOU are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Guys, we fill ourselves with what we've been filled with by knowing it and believing it. By letting God love us so much that it flows out of us. Continuously. Naturally. Brimming and spilling. And bubbling. Here's an example: I was at work today, and I looked out the window of the school out into the playground. And I saw my son running past. I'm telling you... I couldn't keep the grin off my face. And my only thought in that moment was, "God I love that boy!" That love is always there. But seeing him unexpectedly stirred it up and it came bubbling out. I couldn't stop it. It was my natural reaction. And that's what love IS. Love is our reaction to BEING loved. Love isn't what we do in order to GET something. Love is what we do because we HAVE something. Because love IS giving. Receiving and releasing that love of God. Believing in Him--which MEANS believing in love--and letting what happens naturally... happen. Not forcing the living water (that everyone is thirsty for) out. But LETTING it out. By filling ourselves with it. By drawing it from the well with JOY. It's in there. And when you know it's in there, it comes out. It can't do anything else. It's not labor and works. It's not making something happen. It's rest and flow. It's natural. The love nature. Our true nature. Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. Filling you up and bubbling out!