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       Weekend > 7/19                1                                                                                                                                     Personal Space
       StreamS                             Monday > 7/20

       of living                       SometimeS, you don’t

       water                        have to Say anything.                                                 “I believe in the surprises of the Holy Spirit.”
                 f
                                         ave you eveR HaD a conversation that left you speechless? Perhaps   —L.J. SueNeNS
                                    hsomeone said something so incredibly rude that you couldn’t believe
                                    what you just heard. Maybe you received the terrible news that someone you
       “The one who believes in
       Me, as the Scripture has     loved had just died. Whatever it was, you had no comeback. You might not have
       said, will have streams      even been able to think straight, let alone push intelligible words out of your
                                    mouth.
       of living water flow from
       deep within him.”              Sometimes, you might feel like that when you pray. During those times, the
        —john 7:38                  Holy Spirit is faithfully bringing your deepest pains before the Father. And He
                                    isn’t using words, either.
       Read John 7:37-39.
          N The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy   In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our
       Isearches the land of Oz tirelessly   weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as
       for the wizard, whom she hopes will   we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with
       help her get home. When the wizard   unspoken groanings. —Romans 8:26
       proves to be a phony, Dorothy sobs
       desperately, fearing she will never get
       home. Only then does she discover   Read Romans 8:12-27 and spend extra time considering verse 26.
       that she has had the power to get   � What does the author, Paul, think about our present sufferings?
       home all along.              � Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
         However, it isn’t Dorothy who   � What do you think is the weakness Paul refers to in verse 26?
       has the power; it’s her red shoes.   � Do you ever lack the words to pray? When?
       Discovering this truth, she smiles   �  How does it make you feel to know that even when you don’t know how to
       serenely and clicks her heels together,   approach God, you are still being prayed for by God Himself?
       uttering those famous words, “There’s
       no place like home.”         You don’t have to get it all together to come to God. You don’t have to sound
         Sometimes, we act just like Dorothy.   spiritual or use big words. You don’t even have to use words at all. It is perfectly
       We search tirelessly for something to   fine to just sit before God and sob or simply utter that amazingly powerful   Be
       take away the dry and empty feeling   word—help. In those moments, the Holy Spirit brings our painful, hopeless
       inside, but we can’t find anything to   situation before the Father, praying in ways deeper than we can imagine, always
       satisfy us. Good grades, a new car, or   perfectly aligned with God’s will. Our God is completely faithful, not only to hear
       going on our dream date don’t change   our prayers, but to actually voice them for us in our times of need.
       the way we feel. We may even begin
       to feel desperate, thinking our soul’s
       thirstiness will never be quenched.
         If we’re Christians, we don’t
       need to look any further than inside
       ourselves for streams of living water
       to quench our spiritual thirst. No, we
       don’t possess these streams ourselves
       any more than Dorothy possessed
       the power to get herself home. The
       Holy Spirit, who lives inside us, causes
       streams of living water to flow from                                                               surprised.
       deep within us. The living water we so
       desperately crave has already been
       given to us.                                                     When you
         Jesus has sent the Helper, the                                can’t say
       Counselor, the Holy Spirit Himself to
       live within us and give us everything we                        the words, the
       need. When we drink of His living water,                        Holy Spirit
       we never have to be thirsty again.
                                                                       can. Let Him.
       32  |  jul 2009  ec magazine                                                                                                                                       ec magazine  jul 2009  |  33
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