RIVERS OF LIVING WATER
By T. S. Parmelee
There is opportunity for every person to do as Jesus did; to be as He was. He perceived when virtue went out from Him and healed. “There went virtue out of Him, and healed them all.” That virtue was life. That virtue was supplied from His Father in answer to His earnest prayer. It was necessary for the life to be supplied, because, as the weak received life from Him, He was weakened by the loss of that life. “Himself took our infirmities, and bear our sicknesses.” This was the work that the Father had sent Him to do; and He says, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” When He said, “The kingdom of God is at hand,” “the power of God was present to heal.” When He cast out devils, He proved that the power of God was present. He said, “If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” “The Spirit is life.” Life is in His word; and He says, “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart.” So let it be. So He “maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.” Before Peter and Paul and other servants of the Most High were used by Him to do mighty works, they were filled with the Spirit in answer to prayer, as Jesus was. In the example that He set for His people, sometimes our Saviour continued all night in prayer. “I can of mine own self do nothing.” “The Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.” Jesus set the example of perfect submission. Submission is faith as much as belief is faith. There is no faith without submission, because faith is faithfulness. Obedience that comes from God and works in us is faith just as much as confidence is faith. All of faith is from above. “It is the gift of God.” To those who will give up self and will believe, here is His promise that healing power will flow through them, just as it did through the Saviour: “He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive.”