A Torrent of Living Water

This morning, after I had once again prayed to the Lord about this week’s blog post—which was already a week late—I took a break to read. In the book I was reading, the author was discussing purpose and calling. Immediately, I felt led to turn her statements into questions.

The first question was:

What work do I hope to produce for the Lord’s glory?

The second question was:

What do I envision God wants me to become?

At my age, you would think I would have had an immediate answer.

I did not.

As I sat with these questions, another question suddenly came to mind:

What is the true purpose of cleaning out the cisterns and seeking God for restoration? What is His ultimate purpose in repentance?

A teaching by Pastor Chuck Smith came to mind. In John 7:38, Jesus says:

“Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

In Chuck Smith’s teaching, he explained that the Greek meaning behind river carries the picture of a torrent—a powerful, rushing stream filled with force and movement. The word flow also carries the sense of gushing—pouring out suddenly, abundantly, and without restraint.

But wait—it gets even better.

When a rushing torrent moves through an ecosystem, it transforms everything in its path. It clears stagnation, brings fresh oxygen and life, carries nourishment to dry places, spreads new growth, reshapes what is broken, and even replenishes what lies hidden underground.

Suddenly, restoration and repentance began to look different to me—bigger, wider, and filled with the awesomeness of God in a new way.

What if cleaning and restoring our cisterns was never only about returning, receiving, and holding more from God? What if it was ultimately about the Holy Spirit being able to rush through us like a torrent for His glory? What if He wants to clear spiritual stagnation, breathe life into weary places, nourish others through us, bring growth where things seemed barren, and replenish hidden places we cannot even see?

With this new insight, I was finally ready to begin answering the questions I had posed to myself earlier.

I pulled out my laptop and typed the first question onto the screen:

What work do I hope to produce for the Lord’s glory?

As I sat with the question, I realized something surprising: I did not really care what work I did. I simply wanted whatever work God wanted me to do. Yet my thoughts kept returning to one word: produce. It reminded me of the many times I had read in Scripture about bearing fruit.

Jesus says:

“I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” — John 15:5

Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. Jesus Himself did nothing apart from the Father’s will.

Suddenly, something shifted in me. I realized I did not truly desire to produce some specific work for God—whether that meant becoming a teacher, a writer, or anything else.

My heart simply wanted to bear fruit. For the first time, instead of imagining a single piece of fruit hanging from a branch, I imagined a branch overflowing with fruit—so abundant that it drooped under the weight of it. I imagined the Lord gently coming to the branch, picking the fruit, and giving it away however He desired.

My work was simple:

Remain connected to the Vine so fruit could continually grow.

For the first time in my life, I realized I had no opinion about how God worked through me.

Trust me—I usually have opinions about most things. It did not matter whether it was baking cookies in my small kitchen and giving them away one at a time, praying with someone, writing, or quietly encouraging a weary heart. My focus simply needed to be on growing fruit. God would handle everything else.

Then I typed out the second question:

What do I envision God wants me to become?

As I sat with the question, I realized I needed to answer it from the new perspective the Lord had just shown me. My perspective has often been small—especially in my thinking.

How often have I allowed my fears, limitations, or the roadblocks I tend to create for myself to determine what I imagined God wanted for me?

But what if I saw myself as a cistern that had been cleaned, restored, and transformed into a torrent of living water—gushing forth? What could that person become for God?

What would happen if I stopped focusing on what I cannot do and started focusing on what God can do? God has no roadblocks. No limitations. No fears. No insecurities.

What if I truly held onto the truth that:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” — Philippians 4:13

The Holy Spirit goes where He desires and accomplishes the work of the Father in ways far beyond anything I can imagine. What if my cracked and broken cistern was cleaned and restored so the living water of the Holy Spirit could rush through me like a torrent?

What would I become then?

Suddenly, my imagination expanded. If I could be and do anything for God’s glory, what would I do? The first things that came to mind were the very things I often hesitate to do—the things that stir fear, uncertainty, or timidity in me. But more than anything, I realized I no longer wanted to think so small about God.

I imagined feeding hearts with reminders of God’s love. I imagined boldly proclaiming the love of Jesus to anyone who would listen—and even if they did not want to listen, I would still boldly proclaim Him. For someone who would normally prefer to quietly live “under her rock,” that felt impossibly big.

I imagined speaking up where fear once silenced me. I imagined going wherever God led, saying whatever He wanted me to say, and no longer being afraid to go. All the while, trusting that the Holy Spirit would move in hearts—bringing healing, conviction, freedom, hope, and life.

I imagined being a light in dark places. Not a dim little light bulb. But a megawatt light that could light up the world. What would my life look like if it overflowed with a torrent of gushing Holy Spirit living water? And even as my imagination stretched toward impossible things, something deeper settled in my heart: My imagination was still very small compared to what God is more than able to accomplish.

I had my answer.

I want to be a willing branch bearing much fruit for the glory of God and a cistern overflowing with a torrent of living water.

And I also knew what the Lord wanted me to share with you.

Ask yourself:

What work do you hope to produce for the Lord’s glory?

What do you envision God wants you to become?

Now try answering them from a different perspective. Not from your fears.

Not from your insecurities, limitations, gifting, or the roadblocks you believe stand in your way. But from the perspective of a cistern being cleaned, restored, and filled until it becomes a torrent of living water. What might God reveal to you?

What dreams, desires, or holy possibilities have you dismissed because you measured them

by your own strength instead of His? What if the very places you feel weak, cracked, fearful, or unqualified are the places where God most desires to pour out His power?

Perhaps the Lord is inviting all of us to think bigger—not about ourselves, but about what He can do through surrendered hearts. We need to keep asking God to clean out our cisterns daily. As we do, we may begin to see repentance differently. Repentance is not something heavy, shameful, or dreaded.

It is one of God’s greatest gifts. It is not about punishment. It is about returning to God and His love so He can prepare us for what He desires to do next in us and through us.

It is the loving work of the blood of Jesus Christ removing what blocks the living water: fear, pride, idols, wounds, bitterness, striving, self-reliance, and everything else that clogs the flow. Everything is covered by the blood of the Lamb so the Holy Spirit can move freely through us and our lives can overflow with Him.

We become torrents of living water—bearing fruit, refreshing weary hearts, bringing hope, and pointing others to Jesus. And as we move into this coming week of restoration through repentance, perhaps we can do so with a new expectation.

Because maybe, little by little, God is preparing you and me to overflow and change the landscape around us.

Returning to Him with you,

In Love,