Pond Mentality vs. River Mentality
John 7:38-39:
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: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
The Holy Spirit wants to gush through you as RIVERS of living water. You need to see Him the way Jesus explained Him rather than seeing the Holy Spirit as a POND of living water.
A pond dries out if you take too much out of it. But if you go to the Mississippi River and take a bucket of water out of it, there will always be more buckets of water to take out because the water keeps flowing and replenishing itself.
So it is with the Holy Spirit within you. Let’s compare where a pond mentality gets you and where a river mentality gets you:
Pond: “If I give out of the Holy Spirit, I’ll need to go to a special service and get more of Him so that I have more to give out. I am a like a rechargeable battery.”
River: “If I give out of the Holy Spirit, I can give out even more because He is like rivers within me. The Holy Spirit is a power plant who goes everywhere I go, so I never lack power.”
Pond: “The anointing leaks out of me, so I have to go to anointing services to periodically to get more anointing.”
River: “I do not leak the anointing; I dispense it, and there is always more available from the rivers of living water within me.”
Pond: “I need to go to a “double portion service” to have hands laid on me so that I get more of the anointing.”
River: “The Holy Spirit in me supplies all the anointing I will ever need. Rather than focusing on getting ‘more’ of Him, I focus on letting Him use me more. He has infinite power, and it is a mathematical nonstarter to try to get doubly infinite power.”
Pond: “I have to be careful not to give out too much anointing at one time so that I have some for later.”
River: “I have freely received and I freely give.”
Pond: “If I am not kept separate from ordinary people, the anointing could go out of me before the service when I need it to minister.”
River: “The anointing abides in me and I do not worry about ever using it up.”
The same issues apply to money as well! This book is not about handling money, but it’s interesting to see the parallels
:
Pond: “If I give to my local church, I will not have money to buy the latest video game that I want. But that’s OK because I’m willing to sacrifice for the gospel and I’m putting God first.”
River: “If I give to my local church, God will multiply my money and I will be able to give even more AND get the latest video game that I want. I cannot exhaust heaven’s resources or outgive God.”
Pond: “I am on a fixed income, so if I give to the church, part of my money I need for the month will be gone. But the pastor makes a big deal about money and talks about it every service, so I guess I should give out of a sense of Christian duty. Goodbye, sweet money.”
River: “With God, there is no such thing as a fixed income. If I give, God will multiply it. It is His problem to figure out how that will be possible, but I believe He WILL do it regardless of what my current financial situation looks like.”
See also: