by Dave Miller
Rivers begin with a single drip of water. Drop after drop after drop they become a force with which to be reckoned. Oaks begin with a single acorn that finds its way into the ground to be the structure that holds that ground in place a century later.
In 2016 I was introduced in a new way to the river flowing from Ezekiel’s temple (Ezekiel 47) through a message by Nathan S. The curiosity of this river, however, is the reckoning power it musters from a single source that never amounts to more than a trickle. Everywhere the water flowed, life emerged, even the dying sprung with renewed vigor. As God said, “there will be life everywhere the river goes.”
Rivers like the mighty Mississippi cut through a continent, create land where it once did not exist. The mouth of the Amazon is so large, those aboard a sea vessel in need of fresh water can die of lack while sitting atop one of the largest fresh water sources in the world because they don’t yet realize they have left saltwater. The lights in the night sky looking down to earth gleam in concentration along the north flowing route of the Nile, where life in a desert is possible. Yet, each of these rivers gain momentum with each added source. Multiple sources converging together until peoples gather to sustain life.
The temple river however, had one source, the threshold of the temple where the glory of the Lord dwelled. The trickle never stops. The river flow never ceases. A trickle turns to a stream, then a brook, then a creek, then a mighty river! All flowing from a single trickle. One that does not stop, does not change, does not quit. Life flows and continues to flow, multiplying over and over and over. Should one see it in the first third, no attention would be paid. In the second third, some would take notice. By the end of the third third, no one can miss the enormity of the size, the beauty of the life it brings, or the surprise of the source from which it came.
For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory,
as the water covers the sea.
- Habakkuk 2:14
What is your source?
Ironically in the kingdom way, multiple sources won’t get the job done. Multiple sources don’t multiply. Multiple sources do not bring life. Only one. One single source, the Glory of God the Father in the face of Jesus Christ. He is the Living water from which we drink never to thirst again, out of which flows rivers of living water. One source, Jesus. This is the stark lesson of Ezekiel's river.
Remember you don't need the whole river today, you need the trickle. Day in, day out, take a drink of the living water. A little everyday will outsource a deluge occasionally every time. Trickles today and tomorrow equal the Glory of God filling the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Make 2020 the year of one source. Jesus.
Until there’s #NoPlaceLeft…