The human heart can connect to a river of God’s Spirit. But we human beings have been trained to dam up our heart and stop the Spirit’s flowing. We have turned Christ in us into a religious reservoir instead of a running river. Perhaps it’s time to tear down your inner dam and let God’s river freely flow!

Even churches train us to exchange the active flowing of the Spirit within us for religious talks, programs, and liturgies. However, by damming the flow of the Holy Spirit, Christ-followers have created the greatest untapped reservoirs in history — the living Christ locked up tightly in human hearts.

Jesus said: “Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” Christ doesn’t want to be a shut down reservoir in your heart, but a raging river. He wants to be present, active, and free-flowing, both in our individual lives and when we gather as His body. If we dam up His flowing and try to keep Him as an untapped reservoir, we quench the Spirit and shut down His power. Our Christianity becomes bland and lifeless.

So how do you tear down the dam and let Christ’s rivers freely flow? It’s so simple: 1) Surrender–lay down your pride, your self-will, your agenda, your opinions; and religious tradition and protocol; 2) Take the time to quiet your self and listen to His voice; 3) Courageously say and/or do whatever He tells you to; 4) Continue this process and His river will grow stronger and flow more powerfully through you day-by-day.

Paul of Tarsus put it this way. “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”

Will you pull down your inner dam and turn your reservoir into a river?  Will you let the living, resurrected Jesus Christ be a raging river flowing out from deep inside of you and into your daily thoughts, words, and actions?

“Christ is not a reservoir but a spring (a river). His life is continual, active and ever passing on with an outflow as necessary as its inflow. If we do not perpetually draw the fresh supply from the living Fountain, we shall either grow stagnant or empty, It is, therefore, not so much a perpetual fullness as a perpetual filling.” –A.B.Simpson

“No matter how full a reservoir of maxims one may possess, and no matter how good one’s sentiments may be, if one has not taken advantage of every concrete opportunity to act, one’s character may retain entirely unaffected for the better.” –William James

“A crisis creates the opportunity to dip deep into the reservoirs of our very being, to rise to levels of confidence, strength, and resolve that otherwise we didn’t think we possessed.” –Jon M. Huntsman, Sr.

Tear down your dam!