Waters – August 01-09, 2024 (214/365) – JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter

Something I started off on August 1, 2024

You release to retain. You let go to hold on. You focus on retention, and that which is released, is released naturally. You focus on holding on, and that which must be let go, will be let go of, naturally.

I don’t know if that makes any sense, but it’s what’s running through my mind right now. Our minds are in a constant cycle of retaining and releasing, holding on and letting go. Our minds are waterways (because I don’t want to say they’re canals), where streams flow in, and eventually flow out.

When we’re having trouble letting anything in, it may just be that we’re blocking the flow on the way out – like there’s no space for anything new when the old is stuck, stagnating and compromising the rest of the entity, the infrastructure.

When this happens, we ought to ask ourselves – is it an issue with the old water? Does it need to be purged out? Or, is it an issue with the where the water flows out? Is there blockage?

As I write I remember Christ, who says, ‘He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’ (John 7:38)

He does not mention anything for us to do beyond believing Him. We believe in Him, before considering the idea to push anything out. We believe before we even check to see or make sure there’s an opening.

We believe, and out of our bellies, literal rivers – not drops, not glasses, not drums, but rivers – of living – not stagnant, not old, but flowing and new… rivers of living water shall flow out of our bellies.

And just so we’re clear: ‘belly’ is koilia / koy-lee’-ah / From κοῖλος koilos (“hollow”); a cavity, that is, (specifically) the abdomen; by implication the matrix; figuratively the heart: – belly, womb.

Whether it be literally from the belly, the womb, the abdomen, or figuratively the heart, it’s not necessarily going to come out of our mouths, as words, nor out of our minds, as thoughts – it ‘comes out’, or ‘flows out’ of the core of our body, as if to imply movement – we move as the water moves us.

(continued)

Being honest with you now, that’s a pretty long stretch – or, I mean, I probably played with that verse a little too much, but the point is this, something for us to consider:

Perhaps when we believe, the ‘living water’ that flows shall not only come out of our mouths as some ministers would have us believe… Since Christ specified that it flows out of our ‘bellies’, and since the word for ‘belly’ is literally the abdomen and figuratively the heart, I feel as if the ‘living water’ goes beyond the words that we speak, but the actions that we do.

I could be wrong, but it just gives more cause for us to believe, more than anything else… and as we believe, who knows how the living water flows out of us?

For me personally, I’m taking this as the first thing and the one thing we ought to continually dwell on, for other things to follow. I mean, we believe first, and then the rivers of living water flow out, through our words, actions, and/or any other way I may have missed out on.

We believe first, and then what needs to be released is purged by the rivers.

We believe first, and then what is retained stays, being not only washed, but tested by the rivers.

So it is with any thoughts I have in my mind that I am still torn in deciding whether to retain or let go. If it’s taking too much of my thought capital, my focus and my time, then I probably should redirect all of that back to believing – or, meditating, focusing, and spending time on Christ.

And in light of the stuff I’ve been posting so far today, I could say that it certainly would be a good use of my time to focus on Christ. We’ve talked about how Christ is faithful through it all, and He is willing to move in our circumstances.

With that said, I continue to give thanks to Him, and I keep trusting Him to move in all that I have trouble releasing, and in all that has to stay. I continue to give thanks to Him, because He does move – I may not see it, but He moves in my worries, my regrets, and my ‘what-ifs’.

We’ve also talked about how great of an authority God has given Christ, in that He has not merely been given people, but entire nations; We’ve been reminded of how we in turn disciple entire nations, not merely people.

With that in mind, I’m seeing a shift in how I see what I’m involved in – We’re not merely ministering to people, but what we get our hands dirty on is actually for the benefit of so much more than individuals, but entire nations.

See, in all this I’m reminded also to look at both sides of the coin. So many times I’ve been catching myself recently looking at suppressing what I should stop doing or what I shouldn’t be doing, when I really also should be taking time and focus to consider what Christ has set me free to do.

Why am I too busy hurting, when I’ve been set free to live?

I’m sorry, you could forget everything I’ve written prior, because that seems to be the point I’ve had brewing in my mind since, as mentioned, August 1.

Why are we too busy dying, when we’ve been set free to live?

Sorry for taking you through the more confusing areas of my mind. I do hope you’ve been blessed by this.

Closing with something from Mr. Bob Dylan:

Darkness at the break of noon

Shadows even the silver spoon

The handmade blade, the child’s balloon

Eclipses both the sun and moon

To understand you know too soon

There is no sense in trying

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn

Suicide remarks are torn

From the fool’s gold mouthpiece the hollow horn