Do you ever foolishly stoop to drink from another fountain than Christ?
I do.
I feel Him calling me to turn away from my fleshly responses to life and back toward Graceland. Trusting in Him fully in each moment. JESUS is my entire blessedness. Why do I wallow in the world and flesh? I have Him…abundance…in each moment.
But I must choose that.
How many other fountains are there? Let me count the ways…
The fountain of control.
The fountain of anger.
The fountain of worry.
The fountain of fear.
The fountain of distrust.
The list of the fountains that my flesh offers in place of the fountain of Christ are endless.
Yet if we are bound to Christ, found in Him, our entire blessedness is in Him.
Thank you, readers, for sharing your thoughts with me. Sometimes, like today, I add more to my posts because of your insights.
Lyli shared this verse with me…
“The Fear-of-God is a spring of living water
so you won’t go off drinking from poisoned wells.” – Proverbs 14:27 MSG
and another version for more insight…
“The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,
that one may turn away from the snares of death.” – Proverbs 14:27 ESV
and Beth shared this song with me: All My Fountains by Chris Tomlin
and I awoke this morning sensing the need to add this:
“The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
they have eyes, but do not see;
they have ears, but do not hear,
nor is there any breath in their mouths.
Those who make them become like them,
so do all who trust in them.” -Psalm 135:15-18
The Lord is calling me…and all of those who love Him to turn toward Him. May we live as ones who trust in the Lord, turning away from the works of the flesh. Let’s begin to begin again. We can do it each of our days and at any moment within them.
As my ESV Gospel Transformation Bible says:
“Union with Christ is not a single specific blessing we receive in our salvation. Rather, it is the best phrase to describe all the blessings of salvation. We have unconditional election in Christ, adoption in Christ, fulfillment of God’s plan in Christ, redemption and forgiveness in Christ, until the final uniting of all things in Christ.”
Looking forward with you, my friends, toward the final uniting of all things in Christ. What area of life can you begin to begin again…turning toward Him and living as one who trusts in the Lord?
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” -Ephesians 1:3-10, ESV
I love to hear your thoughts…please share them with me and/or subscribe to the right so that we can keep in touch each week!
Linking up this week with the following inspiring and encouraging blogs. I highly recommend visiting any and all of them!
Amy, I am linked up after you at Laura’s and Joan’s today. i love the good word you shared here, and it is like another piece of meat on the plate that God has already laid before me. My verse for this weekend was Proverbs 14:27. In The Message it reads: “The Fear of God is a spring of living water, so you wont’ go off drinking from poisoned wells.”
I woke up this morning feeling the Lord wanted me to add something to my blog. I believe I will add this…THANKS Lyli! Perhaps the Lord sent you here to encourage but also improve my post!
What a powerful quote. And question. Reminds me of the Chris Tomlin song “All my Fountains”… Thank you for linking at Small Wonder.
I will have to listen to that song this morning! Thanks for directing me to it! Thanks for visiting!
Amy, what a powerful quote you have shared here. May we only be satisfied in Him. May we not stoop to drink from any other fountain.
Joanne–yes–I knew I had to share this quote when i first read it! And yes–may we not stoop to any other fountain! Thanks…
Oh, those fountains. Their water must have caffeine, because their drops never quench a thirsty soul. But Jesus? He’s the ultimate thirst-quencher. Beautiful reminder today, Amy. I’m performing a “check” now to see from which fountain I’m drinking. #GoJesus!
I agree-nothing quenches but Jesus. He is the ultimate! The Gatorade of all thirst quenchers-restoring us and replenishing us. OK–I know that is corny! Thanks for visiting!
Amy,
So true! We do have so many choices of where to turn and who to trust that sometimes we get turned around. But thankful that we know that we can find in God all we need. Visiting from Holley’s link-up today!
Yes-we find all that we need Him including grace for all the times we turn away and to others. Thanks for visiting from Holley’s link-up!
Hi Amy, I am visiting from coffee for your heart and I enjoyed your post. I love how you said we need to begin to begin again…
A pastor of mine long ago used to say that he and his family would do that. That when they noticed they had gotten off track, they would simply begin to begin again. His saying that has stuck with my husband and I and has helped us to realize it is not uncommon to have to begin to begin again. Better to do that than to become discouraged and quit all together. Thanks for visiting!!
Hi Amy, I’d rather drink from the fountain of living water than any other fountain. I love this!
God bless you
Thank you Ifeoma…drinking deeply with you of Jesus…
What’s coming to my mind is the old hymn: “Come, thou Fount of every blessing, /tune my heart to sing thy grace; / streams of mercy, never ceasing, / call for songs of loudest praise.”
He is our fountain of blessing. Thank you for a wonderful reminder that we should not be drinking from any other fountain! I am convicted of this today!
Oh yes–that hymn goes so well with this…a favorite and had not thought of it yet this week! Thanks!
Amy, you are one diligent blogger. I appreciate your message today.
Michele…thank you! It struck me that you said I was diligent…I feel I’m so less diligent than most. I only write once a week and often wish I could do what others do–multiple times a week. The Lord just seems to place about one thing before me each week to write on (and sometimes I don’t have anything at all)! God bless!
Amy, I struggle with that fountain of fear for sure. Thanks for encouraging me to #livefree. Kim Stewart
http://www.kimstewartinspired.com
Better to struggle than to not right? Where would we be without Jesus and without the struggle? Just giving right in to it. Bless you as you struggle with fear and turn toward the only One who can cast it away…
Thanks Amy for your words are encouraging for me. And also thanks for sharing those communities link up. I’m visiting from the Coffee for your Heart Link-Up. Blessing to you. Keep writing and blessing others peoples life’s.
Love,
Tayrina from TGAWrites
Thanks for visiting here….I’ll be sure to check your site out over the weekend as I don’t think I’ve met you yet. I highly encourage you to link up to any or all of the sites for their linkup parties. Such great ladies! Thanks for encouraging!
Amy,
What a great reminder of all the good blessings we have in Jesus….Like you, I have also drank from those fountains of death, such as control and fear….Grateful for God’s forgiveness and patience 🙂
May we continue to grow in such a love for him that we detest those other fountains! In the meantime…yes…so grateful with you for His patience and forgiveness!
Stopping by from Counting My Blessings— what a wonderful reminder today of the truly important blessings in our lives. I get SO easily distracted and enticed by other pretty fountains, when I have all I need in Christ. Thanks, Amy- blessings to YOU! 🙂
May you be distracted only by the beautiful fount of Jesus! Thanks for visiting and encouraging!
Such good encouragement to seek His fountain – His filling up. Anything else doesn’t fill – it just leaches leaving us empty – but He never leaves us empty or less! Such a good reminder to go to His well, Amy!
God bless you as you keep turning toward the living water! Thanks for the kind visit!
Why do I think drinking at flesh fountains will ever satisfy? It takes a continual focus on Christ–keeping first things first. Thank you for your encouragement to drink from Graceland’s fountain.
I guess we still drink from flesh fountains because…we are still in the flesh. The good news is…we also have been made new on the inside. May we continue to remember who we most truly are and turn towards Graceland!
I’m so with you on this, Amy! I drink from all of those other fountains too. The verses and song you added are perfect for this conversation. I really need to learn to stay out of that fountain of worry. It’s my biggest issue. I worry about my kids constantly, in a very unhealthy way. Thanks for this encouragement :)!
Worry…I hear you, Candace. That is an area of struggle for me too. As if it can do a single thing for me! I used to think, as a youngster, that if I worried, then it wouldn’t happen. I never realized until becoming a parent and the “need” to worry became more severe, how mistaken I was and how much damage that did. May God change us!
I love how you talk about different fountains we wrongly drink from. Beautiful! Love that you fill us with relevant Scripture! This really made me check my heart….which is always a good thing! Blessings!
Bonnie-thank you for the encouragement and visit. I too love to be drawn to check my heart. I think that is part of us being made new. We long to be checked. Never before did I want that until Jesus came to live in me. God bless you as you consider where God is moving in you…
Love this post, Amy! Thanks so much for the inspiration–and the challenge. And thanks for joining Grace at Home. I’m featuring you this week!
Thank you Thank you …for making my morning! I appreciate you taking the time to visit and making me a part of your lovely blog this week!
Thank you so much for sharing these beautiful words. Amen!
Thanks for the visit and encouragement!
Hi–thanks for visiting and your encouragement! Would you consider signing up to receive my posts via e-mail? Thank you…
That scripture in Jeremiah that says “my people have committed two evils. Turning from the Fountain and digging their own.” Yep, how often we as God’s people do just that. Knowing our tendency and the cisterns we like to run to is pretty essential to turning from them and to the Lord alone. Thanks for sharing this and linking with Grace and Truth.
I so agree…that knowing them is essential in turning from them. Love the scripture you referenced! Thanks for stopping by!