Flowing Like Niagara Falls

“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 
John 7:38

As I was thinking about what living water might look like, I had two very different  images pop into my head. The first image was of a leaking water hose. You know when you have an outside faucet that you can’t quite turn off the whole way and it continues to drip despite your best efforts to tighten it completely. It is a continual constant dripping of water. When I think about the quantity of water it is possible moving, depending on the severity of the leak, you might get about a gallon every 3-5 minutes or possible less. The second image was that of Niagara Falls. Many of us have seen them in person. And for those of us who have not, the images are breathtaking. The falls thunder with the sheer volume of water they are moving each and every second. Niagara Falls moves anywhere from 150,00 - 600,000 gallons per second depending on which area of the falls you are talking about. Now, that’s a lot of water!  To stand beside them is nothing short of majestic.

When I started to compare these two images and how they might relate to the living waters within us as believers, it humbled me greatly. If I had to pick which image of living water was flowing out of me most often, I would have to choose the leaking faucet. Not that there is anything wrong with this necessarily. There is still water flowing out of me, water that can impact others for eternity. However, when I compare it to the impact that could be flowing out of me, like that of Niagara Falls, it’s humbling because I realize how much more the Lord wants to move in my life. For me, I often find myself limiting God to move and work. This is partly because of my lack of faith in Him, and partly because of my lack of faith in myself. God does not want us to limit Him in any capacity. He desires to move in us so grately. God has not designed us to be a mere leaking faucet. He has designed us to have the impact of Niagara Falls! He wants to flow through us in ways we can’t even imagine. I know for me, I find there to be a sense of safety and security in being a leaking faucet because it is managable and predictable. However, God is calling us to step out of our safety zone of being a leaking faucet and into the zone of Niagara Falls. This takes faith, faith that will indeed move mountains! The amazing thing about our Lord is this, He wants to flow like Niagara Falls in every believer! He has not limited this to a “select group.” Thank goodness for this because I’m sure I would not qualify for that “select group.” Niagara Falls is for every believer! There are no limitations!

If we look at Niagara Falls and how it impacts the area around it, it is huge. However, when we look at Niagara Falls and how it impacts some place far from it, like Los Angeles, there is little to no impact at all. This is why God wants each and every believer to flow with the impact of Niagara Falls. When we join efforts with other Niagara flowing believers around us, we will quickly find that it doesn’t take much before the whole world is influenced by the living water flowing inside of us. It is a joint effort. Niagara Falls can’t impact the whole world by itself, but when each of us becomes like Niagara Falls, It is amazing what can happen.

Lord, I pray that you show each of us how to move from being a leaking faucet to flowing with the impact of Niagara Falls. I pray that you are going to do a mighty work within each of us this week. We know that this is nothing we can make happen on our own. It must be by the power of your Holy Spirit moving inside of each of us. Lord, I thank you that when you move, we can have a huge impact in the lives of those around us, and when we join together in unity, we can have an even greater impact on our nation, and even on this world. Thank you that the impact of Niagara Falls is not limited to a “select group” of believers, but it is available to every believer who seeks it out.