I was recently asked to preach from the text in John 7:37-39, to say something about the living water that is promised to believers. I am pleased to be asked to say something about the Holy Spirit. It has been an overlooked, ignored theme in my fellowship. It is a topic I have not preached on often enough in local ministry.
According to the text, this living water is within us, and flows out of us. Jesus said that thirsty people can come to him and drink. By extension, we observe that the living water in believers today is for a world hungering for the truth. He says that streams of living water flow from within. Literally, the living water springs up powerfully from within us. In saying this, he was referring to the Holy Spirit which would later be given to those who believe in him. He also says that the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified, that is, he had not yet died on the cross.
This force and power, the stream of living water in us, is for the world. This is reason for prayer—prayer for the evangelism and mission of the church into the entire world. The purpose of God, and our purpose, is to carry to the world this living water. We carry it to the world only after making sure it is in us. Then we can carry it to the world which is thirsting for the truth.