John 4:13-14 “Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, (14) but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
In all the actions that we have looked at that the Holy Spirit accomplishes in believers who have been baptized into Christ, we can see that He blesses the life of the believer and not the lives (directly) of those around them. Obviously however, as the individual believer becomes more like Jesus then they in turn bless those around them by their changed lifestyles that reflect Christ in them. But nevertheless, the Holy Spirit does not manifest Himself through these individuals in order to bless those around them. Jesus used the above quoted analogy to describe the blessing of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer who has been baptized into Christ. Our Lord Jesus likened the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to a fountain of living water residing on the inside of the believer. This fountain of water, which is an analogy for the Holy Spirit, is solely for the individual believer’s benefit so that they may never thirst again. It is not however, a fountain of water that quenches the thirst of others around them. There is one other aspect that needs to be mentioned regarding the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer that has been baptized into Christ, which is that there is no tangible evidence (other than a changed lifestyle) that they have the Holy Spirit residing on the inside of them, and it is by faith alone that they believe that He resides on the inside of them. As we will see later in this teaching, both of these points are different when we experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Michael E.B. Maher
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