“Lord Jesus Christ I Believe In You!”

“Lord Jesus Christ I Believe In You…!”
Whoever is in Christ has become a new creation; bidding goodbye to the old and embracing the new (II Cor.5:17). But where do we stand to receive the new and to cast away the old? Put differently, where does Christ meet us to make us new creations?
Christ meets us right where we were in the old creation. During his earthly ministry Jesus was present in all Jewish religious festivals. One such Jewish festival was the Feast of Tabernacles. This was a “great feast in the Jewish year celebrating the completion of harvest and commemorating God’s goodness to the people during the desert’s wanderings”(Cf Lev.23: 33-43). This feast lasted for seven days. John informs us that on the last day of one feast of the Tabernacle “Jesus stood up and said in a very loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him'” Traditionally teachers sat down to teach. By standing up to speak Jesus drew attention to himself thereby indicating that he was the centre of the Jewish faith.
Jesus was standing in the midst of the old, filling it with new content. Even today he is still standing in the midst of any old beliefs drawing attention to himself as the source of life.
The early believers were freely worshipping in the temple and synagogues. Jesus presents himself to all and sundry in the midst of their old settings and beliefs. The scale falls off the eyes of those who hear and believe in him. They receive fresh understanding and see things from a different perspective. Streams of life transforming water flows from within them. This living water as John explains is the Holy Spirit who is given to those who believe in Jesus as the Scripture says (Jn.7:37-39).
Note that the “streams of living water flows ‘from within'”; meaning it flows outwards. So to say the Holy Spirit in us manifests in how the streams of his gifts flows from us to others and how they bear fruits in us, for us and others.
Prayer of the week: Lord Jesus Christ I believe in you. Let your streams of living water keep flowing from within me. Amen.
Welcome back to a new working week! Have a blessed day and week! Peace be with you!