River

Today’s devotion is based on the song ‘River’ by Planetshakers. It is from their new album ‘Overflow’, released only a few weeks ago. The song is all about Jesus being a ‘River’ we can run into and be saturated by. We can come to the ‘River’ that is Jesus, dive in and be saturated by His love and mercy! The song has a very upbeat tune and it is one my favourites from the new album. Planetshakers are a worship band, based at Planetshakers Church in Melbourne. It’s great to be able to enjoy some Australian praise and worship! I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did! May God speak to you today through this amazing song and His word!

 

“Whatever comes, whatever goes, there is one thing that I know, you are faithful, You are faithful, so I speak out Your word it has the power to change my world, you’re my breakthrough, You’re my breakthrough…”. This opening verse is all about remembering Jesus in the midst of everything we face. Whatever this world throws up against us, even if it takes a significant toll on us, let us not forget Jesus is faithful. He will not let us down, ever! We can try and put our hope in things of the world, but this just makes things worse. They are only temporary and won’t last. Jesus is now and forever, so we can be confident that Our God will be faithful to us all the time. May we remember His faithfulness to us in our darkest days. The bible, God’s word is full of truth, life changing truth. Central to God’s word is the message of the gospel. The gospel is all about who Jesus is and what He has done. Jesus is Lord, He is the Messiah and He came to earth to die for our sins and rise again. It means we don’t have to face the punishment for our sins any longer! The message of the gospel is what changes our lives and our worlds! It gives us a whole new way of looking at the world and life. Knowing that we are saved by grace, by the God of all creation who loves us more than we can ever imagine! Like the lyrics say, “I speak out Your word it has the power to change my world”. Because the gospel changes our lives, from the inside out, why wouldn’t we want to speak it? It’s the greatest news to ever be told!

When we find ourselves in difficult situations that test us, even when we are not experiencing difficulties, may we remember God’s word that changes our world. Most of all, the message of the gospel! Reminding ourselves of the good news daily helps us to breakthrough whatever we may be going through. May the word of God bring a smile to our face daily, may it be an encouragement to us when we are feeling down. The word of God and the message of the gospel can help us to overcome! We can be reminded through God’s word that there are more important things in life to focus on, other than the things that cause us hardship!

Lamentations 3:22-23-“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness”.

1 Thessalonians 2:13- “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe”.

“You are a never ending river, Flowing full of power, washing over me, I will run into the water, Jesus take me deeper, saturating me…”. God is greater and more powerful than we could ever imagine! We need to remind ourselves than God is so much greater than us. It is a good thing too! When we feel trampled by the things of the world, which can weigh us down, we must always remember Jesus. He is a river of love and mercy that never ends. His love for us was shown on the cross when He died for our sins, but it didn’t stop there. God never changes, His love for us is the same today as it was yesterday! When we come to God in our weakness, we can experience this flow of His love, mercy and power that never ends! When we come to God, wanting to experience His power, love and mercy, He will give us renewal and satisfy us. Only He can do that. My prayer is that we can feel Jesus wash over us today. May we be willing to run to Jesus, going ever deeper into His love, mercy and power. May it fill our lives so that we can live with joy, sharing with others this same love that Jesus has shown us. When we go deeper into the river, we experience more and more of God. We grow in Him and His ways. May our lives be saturated with God so that others can see the joy and the hope that we have, that they will want to know about. Let’s not hide it but rather may we want wade deeper into the river that is Jesus that is full of His power and all that He is.

John 4:14- “But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life”.

John 7:38-“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

“In the midst of despair, you are God and You are there, You’re always with me, You’re always with me, so I will trust You, I will trust You…”. These lyrics just after the first chorus are all about holding onto Jesus and trusting Him in the hard times. Like I’ve said before, we will face hardships in this life. But as God’s people, we don’t have to face them on our own. Though we may face really hard times, perhaps death or health issues or whatever the challenge may be, let us not forget that Jesus is right there with us. He promises He will never leave us. He said in Matthew 28 that He is always with us, even to the very end of time! So in these times, trust in God and not in your own abilities. In the end, there are so many things we cannot do on our own, we NEED God. May we turn to Him in the midst of our despair because He is always waiting for us to call on His name. Trust God and not yourself. After all, He is God and nothing is impossible for Him! Nothing that we face is too hard for God to deal with. Run into the arms of Jesus, the source of living water and be saturated with His love and mercy. He will get you through!

Proverbs 3:5-6- “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”.

Psalm 46:1- “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble”.

Jesus is like a river, whose streams flow with His unceasing love, mercy and power. May we experience being saturated by Him today so that we can overflow with the joy that He gives. His word and the message of the gospel will help us break through whatever we may be facing. May it change us and help us to grow more and more in trusting Jesus always, but especially in the tough times. If you are going through hard times at the moment, keep trusting in God! Remember that He is always with you, no matter what. Seek Him and my prayer is that He will saturate you with His amazing love so that you will know the joy and peace that only God can give. May we all grow in the desire to tread deeper into the river that is Jesus, so that we can grow to become more like Him and may Jesus take us deeper to allow us to know more of who He is.

Prayer thought: Heavenly Father, may you take us deeper into your river of living water so we may know more of your love, mercy and power. Thank you that you are the source of this living water. Especially when we face hard times, may we trust in you alone and be saturated with you, the living water that satisfies all who drink of it. Thank you Lord for who you are. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I pray today’s message is an encouragement to all who read it.

God Bless,

Josh- The Faith Filled Friends