Draw From Heaven's Well: Live and Lead From StrengthSample

The average person can survive approximately three days without water. Physical dehydration is dangerous. The warning signs of dehydration are dizziness, headache, and thirst. Spiritual dehydration is just as dangerous. The warning signs are weariness, skewed judgment, prayerlessness, and no joy. Our spirit can’t survive without the refreshing water of heaven.

My husband fought a four-year battle with an undiagnosed pituitary tumor. The weight of ministry and his debilitating symptoms drained my spiritual well. For months, my husband slept 20 hours a day. He couldn’t lift a gallon of milk or drive a car. Lost in the desert of exhaustion, I discovered the oasis of heaven’s well: my source of strength, hope, and life.

Jeremiah 2:13 says, “‘Stand in shock, heavens, at what you see! Throw up your hands in disbelief—this can’t be!’ God’s Decree.‘My people have committed a compound sin: they’ve walked out on me, the fountain of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns--cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves’” (MSG).

In life, we will usually find ourselves at three different types of wells: a dry well, a cistern well, and a deep well. A dry well is self-explanatory; it is empty and parched. It’s like living in a barren desert, spiritually dehydrated, with nothing left to give. We give our lives away in ministry. Misaligned priorities dehydrate our relationship with the Lord. Our souls feel empty.

A cistern well is a shallow, artificial man-made well used to catch run-off water from roofs and trees. Cistern water is vulnerable to contaminants, pollutants, and bacteria. Plus, they leak. The water is unfit to drink. Ministry is demanding and gobbles up our time. When we allow ministry to replace our hydrating time with the Lord, our cistern becomes compromised.

We think, “I don’t have time for devotions, so I will listen to a podcast. I don’t have time to pray, so I will pray in the car.”

With every compromise, our cisterns leak.

A deep well accesses the pure, clean water-bearing rock of an aquifer. Aquifer levels are reached by drilling deep through bedrock. In the Kingdom of God, we can never reach the last aquifer of God’s refreshing water. We must purposefully drill through our rock-hard challenges to reach His life-giving water. Ezekiel 47:9 reminds us, “Where the river flows, life flourishes” (MSG).

Why does heaven stand in shock? Heaven knows we have unlimited access to the deepest, purest, life-giving well that never runs dry! So, dig deep and drink up!

Suggested Activity:

Identify the most prominent well that is influencing your life and ministry:

___ Dry well___ Cistern well ___ Deep well

What choices are keeping you from enjoying heaven’s refreshing well?