But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life

 Well – springing up to eternal life:

 

John 4:14

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

 

            We have all drunk of the living water that springs up to eternal life. It is not some stagnant pond, but living, flowing water that gives life to us and to those around us. We can drink of that everlasting fount every day and be refreshed to go on. We can take of that life-giving water and give it to others who are thirsty for Him. It is a well that never quits. It bubbles up day after day to refresh us and those around us. It flows out from us to others. If we try to hold it within us, it won’t give us the life we desire. We will exist, but we won’t know its fullest measure of refreshment.

 

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            "Do you not get thirsty for water? I will give you the water of Life. This water will flow from within you into the world if you let it. It will bring refreshment unto you. It will bring peace unto you. It will bring healing unto you. This water will bring you into the presence of the Most High. Drink daily and continually of this water and share it with those around you. It is My water … the water of Life and it flows from beneath My throne into the whole world.”

 

            5. I have drunk from the well of eternal life and it is this water that bubbles up within me forever.

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

 Eternal Life:

 

            Eternal life ... To know Thee and Jesus:

 

John 17:2-3

2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.

3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

 

            We have been given to Him and because of that we have eternal life. This is not simply everlasting life. Everyone will exist forever, but not all will have an existence that is worth living everlastingly. Only those that are His will want to live eternally. This eternal life also has a quality about it. This quality comes in knowing the Father and the Son. This knowing begins the moment we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. He lives eternally within us when we are born again. This day to day relationship with Him is what makes everlasting life worth having. It is an abundant life filled with mystery and awe as we see Him performing miracles in our lives. We can know Him in an intimate way. We can converse with Him every day. We can sense His presence in a very real way. We can be with Him eternally.

 

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            "You can know Me, My children. It is not so impossible to think, is it? I am the Almighty God; and yet I desire to know you and for you to know Me fully. It is not beyond your grasp, is it? I only have desire for you to know Me in a way that never was before. No one before My Son came knew Me in the way that you can. Come unto Me, and I will show you great and mighty things which you do not know.”

 

            4. I have come to know the Father and the Son. I will know them eternally, for that is the gift God has given me.

You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you

                                     Chosen to go and bear fruit:

 

John 15:16

16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

             

            God didn’t choose us so that we might have a wonderful life. He chose us to go and bear fruit. If a fruit-bearing tree doesn’t bear fruit, it is useless and needs to be dug up. We are fruit-bearing trees and as so need to bear fruit. A fruit tree doesn’t spend all day straining to bear fruit. It does so naturally. It doesn’t even have to think about it. We should be the same. We should bear fruit without having to put forth a lot of effort. It should happen naturally. When we walk in the Holy Spirit, we should be bearing fruit wherever we go. We shouldn’t have to strain to do it. Allowing Him to live His life in us will cause us to bear fruit as we go about our every day life.

 

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            "I have chosen you, My children … not to sit around and do nothing; but to go forth into the world and bear fruit – to bring people unto Me. It is not for you to decide whether or not you should do this. I have already decided it and have put it into motion. You can try to fight against the pricks, but you will only wind up hurting yourself. Do not resist My will for you. You will receive much joy and will see many come into the Kingdom if you will only let Me use you in the way that I desire. You will see many great miracles happen in My name if you will only trust Me to do what I have said that I will do.”

 

            3. God hand-picked me that I might be a bearer of fruit. The fruit that I bear is that of His nature.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

 

Chapter 1

 

Salvation

  

            What do you know about salvation? More specifically, what do you know about your salvation? Most Christians have only a vague idea about their salvation. Many are not even sure they are saved. They have never been taught how to be sure. A lot of them think it only applies to obtaining their Fire Insurance; i.e. not going to the bad place. It has to do with a lot more than that. We are going to look at some of those things now. All of these are your destiny. They are not just something to look at with “Santa Claus” eyes. By that I mean they are not just something you wish for but don’t really expect to get.

 

We are Called/Chosen:

 

            Called us out of darkness into His marvelous light:

 

1 Peter 2:9

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

 

            Just like God did not just bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. He also brought them into the Promised Land. The problem was not getting them out of Egypt. It was getting Egypt out of them. They still acted like they did in Egypt. They still complained and put the blame on someone else … usually Moses and Aaron. They missed out on a wonderful experience in the Land because they wouldn’t take their eyes off their situation and put them on God’s promises He had made hundreds of years before. The Church has been that way too. Believers put their eyes on the circumstances and not on God’s promises. He didn’t just call us out of the darkness of the world to leave us hanging here. He called us into His marvelous light. He has promised us a great existence … not just to live on barely get along street. This verse says we are a chosen race. God chose us! Do you get that? God in His great wisdom chose us … that includes you too. We’re a royal priesthood. We’re royalty! Now act like it! We’re a holy nation. We should be acting like it. We shouldn’t be acting like the people of the world. We should be acting like God - holy and blameless. We are a people for His own possession. He wanted us. Everyone longs to be wanted, and God Himself wanted us. Why did He choose for all this to be ours? So that we may proclaim the Excellencies of Him. When people see us living the way God wants us to live, they will want to have Him as their Father. Let’s start acting like we are what He said we are!

 

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            “You were in darkness My children and could not see. Now you have been made to see and you know what is yours. You are special in My sight. I did not make you as junk. I made you as a special people; royal like Me. We will reign together one day. Your life on earth is to train you to take your place alongside of Me as we reign together one day in My Kingdom.”

 

            2. I have been called out of the darkness of the world that I might walk in the newness of the light of the Lord. I will excel in His Kingdom and be a beacon to others.

For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

                                             What Is Your Destiny?

 

 

            Most of this section is repeated from the first two volumes, Your Destiny and Your Destiny Too. This is to give those that have not read either of those an understanding of what we are talking about and the assumptions we made. However, the verse at the end of the section and corresponding confession are different. So, if you’ve read the first or second book, you may want to skip to the end of this section and start confessing more of your destiny right away.

 

            When a life-changing event happens to a person, what does someone mean by the statement, “It was destiny (or fate).”? It means that the person involved had no control whatsoever over the situation. If it was something good, there was nothing that the person consciously did that caused the good to happen. If it was bad, there was nothing that the person could have done to prevent it.

            Around Christmas one year, I watched a movie named “Three Days”. It was one of those “second chance opportunity” movies. It wasn’t scriptural, but it does illustrate what is meant by one’s destiny. I’m intentionally leaving out a lot of the details.

            In the movie, on Christmas Eve the man’s wife went searching for a neighbor’s dog which had run off. She found the dog, but when she stepped into the street, she was struck by a car and died. In the hospital, the man was remorseful that he hadn’t had a chance to show her that he loved her. That night he met an angel that told him he would be granted the opportunity to relive the last three days with his wife. He would be aware of what had happened, but she wouldn’t, and he couldn’t tell her. In any event, three days later on Christmas Eve at the same time and place she would be there with the car bearing down on her … because that was her destiny. There was nothing he could do to prevent it.

            What would you do in this situation? Probably the same thing he did. He took her out of town so she would be in a different place on Christmas Eve. Just when it seemed like he would succeed, she insisted on going home for Christmas. In the end, there she was – same time; same dog; same car. It was her destiny.

            Nothing he tried to do could change what was destined. This was an example of what is meant by something being one’s destiny.

            Oh, by the way – when the car came this time, he pushed her out of the way, and was killed. Not to worry, the angel brought him back to life and they lived happily ever after. So, the situation was her destiny, but it wasn’t her destiny to die.

            How does this relate to Christians? There are certain things that the Bible tells us is the Christian’s destiny. There is nothing that you have to do to make it happen, nor is there anything bad that you might do that would prevent it from happening. It is your destiny.

            Of course we do need to set some guidelines as to the type of person we’re talking about.

            For example: Is it a Christian’s destiny to go to heaven when they die? If you say yes, then you must believe in “Once saved, always saved.” Otherwise, it is not a Christian’s destiny; because there would be something the person might do that would prevent this from happening. There are other beliefs that can also get in the way.

            Some believe you must be water baptized to go to Heaven. Some believe you must receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in order to have His indwelling.

            Rather than argue pro or con, let’s assume that whatever is the “minimum” necessary to go to Heaven has been accomplished in the person’s life; that they have been water baptized; that the Holy Spirit is indwelling them; and that whatever else may be necessary to happen in a Christian’s life for the destiny discussed in this book to be realized has or will occur.

            Also, there may be some verses that it is questionable as to whether or not it is a Christian’s destiny. For example – “I can do all things through Christ Jesus”. It doesn’t say that you will … just that you can. Should that be considered our destiny? It is in the sense that you have the ability through Christ to do all things. So, we will be flexible in that regard.

            Why do we want to know what is our destiny? Because as Peter said about God’s promises …

2 Peter 1:4

4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

It is so that we can partake of God’s divine nature as He intended for us to do. He destined us for this, and so we should be walking in it.

 

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            “You are to be what I am My children. I would not have it any other way. That is why I gave you all these promises … so that you could become in your life what I was in My life. Trust in Me and My Spirit to accomplish this. It will happen if you let it. It is your destiny.”

           

            Throughout this book, I will be giving you some phrases about your destiny to say out loud. You should say them every day. The more you repeat them, the more the reality of your destiny will sink in and become a part of your daily thoughts about yourself. The one for the verse from II Peter is:

 

            1. I shall become what God wants me to become because I will lay hold of His precious and magnificent promises and partake of His divine nature.

 

            Now repeat phrase number 1. Again. One more time.

Too many Christian’s are ignorant of all the blessings of God that are available to them. Either they have never realized a promise was in the Bible, or felt certain it couldn’t be for them. It was only for the really spiritual ones. Or maybe they felt like they had done something so wrong that God didn’t want them to have it.

            God does want you to have these promises. His desire is for all His children to live the Christian life to the utmost. Then the world will want to become Christians too, when they see how much God loves His children. All that unbelievers have heard is how bad they are, and what a terrible punishment awaits them when they die. They’ve seen Christians fail and fall. They don’t want any part of it.

            The Scriptures that follow are quoted from the New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted; so the thought may sound familiar, yet a little different from what you may have memorized. Sometimes two or more Scriptures are combined to form a thought. If more than one is used, it too will be quoted or at least referenced.