On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
– John 7:37–39
Oh, there is so much we could talk about here. Similar to John 6, Jesus saying, “I’m the bread of life, he who comes to Me shall never hunger, shall never thirst.” And then in John 7, Jesus stands up the end of this feast and declares, “If anybody’s thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”
John 7:37–39 is an image of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer.
And then he says… So this is where I want to lead us to pray. “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” What an image of all who believe in Jesus. So if you’re a follower of Jesus, a believer in Jesus, out of your heart, today, right now, is flowing rivers of living water. So it’s not just drinking and receiving from Jesus, it’s water flowing from us, living water flowing from you and me.
And then verse 39 says, Jesus is talking here about the Holy Spirit. Just see your life through this lens today. You are filled with the Holy Spirit of God who is living water flowing from you. Live in that today. Let’s pray. And as we do, let’s just think about what all this means.
God help us, we pray to live in this reality that you promised Lord Jesus in John 7, that when we believe in you, when we drink from you, when we receive satisfaction from you, salvation from you, that out of our hearts will flow rivers of living water. May it be so through us today. May your Holy Spirit produce living water flowing from us. God, we pray for the fruit of your Spirit in our life. We pray that from us today would flow love and joy, peace and patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control.
John 7:37–39 teaches us how God produces fruit in the believer.
Oh God, may all this fruit, all this living water supernaturally flow from us today. God, those things do not come naturally to us. We pray for supernatural love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control to flow from our lives. Today, we pray that your Word, by the power of your Spirit, would flow from us today. We pray that living water through our words would flow to others, brothers and sisters in Christ. God, help us to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ today with your Word, with living water, and the power of your Spirit.
Lord, we pray for people who will interact with you today who don’t know you. God, we pray that living water from your Spirit would flow from us in those conversations you help us to share your Word, to share your love with others. Oh God, we praise you for your Spirit in us, for living water for us and flowing through us. We pray that this living water would mark our lives today.
Prayer for the Dui-Menia Bedouin People
And oh God, in your Spirit, we pray, we intercede for the peoples of the world today. That you’re living water would flow to all of them. We pray specifically today for the Dui-Menia Bedouin of Algeria, 86,000 of them, no known followers of Jesus, and this nomadic people group in the desert. God, we pray that living water would flow to the Dui-Menia Bedouin people of Algeria and eventually through them to lead other people groups to Jesus.
Oh God, we pray all of this according to your Word, which we love in John 7:37–39. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
