Jeremiah 2:13 My people have committed two sins: they have forsaken Me, the spring of Living Water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
             
 Jeremiah 17:13 O Lord, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of Living Water.
             
One of the greatest sins that we can commit is to reject the Son of the Living God. He Who is our kinsman Redeemer has paid the price for our sins. He has offered Himself as the ultimate sacrifice so that we are freed from the cost of sin and have become heirs with Him. He offers us Himself, a spring of Living Water that quenches the thirst for acceptance, forgiveness and unconditional love.
             
We have a tendency to seek and run after other gods. Gods that are susceptible to rust, theft, and breakage. The gods that people ran after in the Old Testament were pieces of wood that were carved from ordinary lumber. The pieces left from the carving were used as kindling and for cooking fires. There was no difference in the wood except that part of it produced heat and the rest was worshipped. We do the same thing except that our ‘gods’ are simply different for the most part. Throughout history, we have sought after money, power, and control of our world. The Lord, our God, is offering so much more.
             
The woman at the well was offered Living Water and ran to tell the rest of the town. She received her eternal salvation, brought many others to the same salvation and accepted the Living Water that quenched her thirst for a life that had meaning. She no longer ran after love from men that left her empty and lonely. She sat at the feet of the One Who could satisfy that deep hearted desire for love everlasting.
             
John 7:37-38 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of Living water will flow from within Him.”
             
Jesus is the source of Living Water. The Holy Spirit dwells within us. God, the Father, watches over us. When we ask, seek, and knock, when we open the door, Jesus enters in. He heals our broken places. He fills us with Living Water that fills our souls and hearts, leaving us thirsting only for more of Him.

Psalm 27:5 For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me upon a rock.
             
Psalm 40:1,2 I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock.
             
Matt 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears the words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock.
             
Psalm 62:1,2 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my  fortress, I will never be shaken.

              “On Christ, the solid Rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.”

  This is from one of my favorite hymns. It speaks of trusting Jesus to keep us safe, of trusting in His blood and righteousness. It speaks of His unchanging grace. Written in 1797, the words are just as relevant today as they were then. Jesus, our Rock, has not changed in two thousand years and He won’t change just because the secular world around us tells us differently. He is the same God that spoke the universe and all that it contains into being. He is the God Who did not speak us into being but reached down into the dust of the earth and formed us with His own hands. He is the One that breathed life into us and gave us the Holy Spirit to live within us to guide us on a daily basis. Jesus is unchanging and His Father is immovable in the midst of the storms in our world.

I stood on the banks of a river and watched the water crash and surge wildly around a huge rock in the middle of the river. The water was in flood stage and the storm had torn trees loose from the banks. This rock stood solid in the middle of the crashing current. It was not moved from its place. Even when struck by the trees, it did not move.
Jesus is like that rock. He will not move when the storms of life try to tear us loose and fling us into the depths of despair. The trials of our lives will not shake Him or weaken His resolve to stand firm beside us. He is steadfast in His defense of us. He is unchanging is His love for us. Hold on to that Rock. He will always be there for you.

 Abide: To dwell, remain.
             
Ps 61:4 I long to dwell (abide) in Your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.
                           
John 15:10 If you obey My commands, you will remain (abide) in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commands and remain in His love.  (Read John 15)
 
             
When we turn our eyes on Jesus and choose to allow Him to indwell us, we abide in Him. We become a part of Him. He becomes a part of us. Just as when we are the branch and He is the vine, He is our source of strength and sustenance. His power flows from Him to us. We become so closely connected to Him that we can sense through the Holy Spirit, when we are beginning to drift from our walk with Him. He becomes a vital part of our existence. He is just as much a part of us as our breathing.
               
Becoming this close to the Redeemer of our souls is not an automatic or immediate occurrence. It is a slow, maturing process. It takes commitment and trust, even in the tough times. Learning to trust Him when we walk through the valley is more difficult than when we have the mountain top events but we grow more when we are in the valley. Jesus is just as close to us in the times of trial and tribulation as He is when we are residing in joy.
             
Psalms tells us to trust in the Lord and not lean on our own understanding. There will be times when we just don’t understand what He is doing. But just as we didn’t always understand what our parents were doing or why, His plan for us is for our benefit. Abiding in His love means trusting Him to lead us safely home. Abiding in His word means hiding it deep in our hearts and minds and believing He has hidden us in the palm of His hand to protect us.
             
John 14:15-17 If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.
             
​Abide in the Lord for He abides in you. He loves you and rejoices in you.

Mark 14:36” Abba, Father,” He said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”
             
Romans 8:15,16  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him, we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
             
Gal 4:6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His son into our hearts, the Spirit Who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
             
“Abba” is an Aramaic word that means the same as ‘daddy’. It is an expression of deep love and commitment to the father. It is an intimate form of addressing our father. It is an informal name that we call him.
             
When I was growing up, my Dad was always ‘Daddy’. I was occasionally teased about that by co-workers, but within my relationship with my father, he will always be ‘Daddy’. He was far from perfect. He had a bad temper. He was impatient and believed there were two ways to do things. ‘His way or no way’ was how we were taught to do things. He was precise in how he did things. He had a love of animals. As I grew older, I learned to look past the problems. I learned to love the man who gave me life. I did not love some of the things he did but I loved him.
             
All earthly fathers are fallible, have weaknesses and are not always there for us when we need them. Our heavenly Father is not like our earthly fathers. God cannot lie. Titus 1:2, Heb 6:18. He has a plan for us. Jer 29:11. He will allow us to make our own choices and will always be there for us when we need Him. We may not always feel His presence but He is there. He will always have His arms open wide so that when we turn from our foolishness and return to Him, we are assured of His acceptance of us. He calls us the apple of His eye. We are precious in His sight. He rejoices over us with singing. He is the ‘Daddy’ of the family of God.
             
As we become more familiar with our heavenly Father, we begin to be less formal with Him. He receives us joyfully and desires intimate communing with us. We begin to learn the ways of God, not just the acts of God. We begin to see Him as Abba or Daddy. We become more comfortable going to Him with our daily joys and needs, our complaints and successes. He laughs with us and cries with us. We relax our formal speech into a more honest communication and He listens. He doesn’t always immediately answer but He always is there. He loves hearing about our day and appreciates when we start our day with prayer of even just, “Good morning, Lord”. Let Abba into your life and watch your view of God grow and change.