Bathing vs Swimming

A close friend of mine Moses and I, while visiting Tshipise a few years back decided one morning that we would combine bath time and swimming time, after all it was the same (naturally heated) water. We thought it was a great idea at the time but I see now that it was just utter laziness. In fact, it is what I call the "Naaman bath". It is long enough to be a recreational swim, but it is for the purpose of cleanliness. The Lord spoke to me this morning saying His people are confusing bath time and swimming time.

So this guy Elisha sent a messenger to this other guy Naaman who was sick with leprosy, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean”. This is an example of some confusion that might arise. Say your average bath time in 14 minutes, multiply that by 7! That’s over an hour of bathing, Naaman might as well swam for an hour 30 min. John 5:4 shows us another example of a bathing pool of water. In fact, in the pool of Bathesda, one only needed to be the first to step in. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

The Lord says that many of His children are spending too much time in these pools of cleansing. Each Sunday, His children wait for the angel (preacher) to stir the water at church and they dive in, each Sunday they enquire of the Prophet for directions to the cleansing river of Jordan, and like Naaman, bathe in the sea of His mercy the whole church service long.

Don’t get me wrong, pools of cleansing are good, but the Lord is calling His children to the deeper end of the river. He wants from the inside of His children to flow rivers of living, healing water. Ezekiel 47:5 says "Afterward he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the waters had risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over or through." And John 7:38 "He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water." And wherever the double river shall go, every living creature which swarms shall live. And there shall be a very great number of fish, because these waters go there that [the waters of the sea] may be healed and made fresh; and everything shall live wherever the river goes. Ezekiel 47:9

The Lord is calling you and I out to the deeper end. Only children swim in shallow waters. Stop beating yourself up about what happened yesterday, or at the Durban July. The Lord has cleansed you of all your sin and infirmities, stop confusing bathing time with swimming time. It is time to swim in His anointing, and His anointing enables you to do what he has called you to do and that is to be fishers of men. Go out and be a river of healing to others this week.

My Peace I Give You - Shalom