Focusing on our need for water, Jesus tells His disciples that if we believe in Him, “rivers of living water” will flow out from within us, from our hearts.
“Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” —John 7:38 (nlt)
Rivers are a source of life. Entire civilizations have been built along waterways because of the access to flowing water for drinking, bathing, and transporting both goods and people far and wide.
As it is in the natural, so it is in the spiritual.
Rivers Converging in One Flow
In the opening of my book The Seer, I wrote about the Nile River, the longest river in the world, and how it is formed when two other rivers flow together into it: the White Nile and the Blue Nile. I saw it as analogous for the way the stream of the prophet and the stream of the seer combine to make a mighty prophetic river.
In terms of the flow of the river of living water, I propose that a third stream is also converging with the others—the stream of the Feeler.
When you add the life-giving stream of the Feeler realm to the prophetic and visionary realms, you get a very mighty river indeed!
Greater convergence means greater power and impact.
Three other expressions of rivers of God are also combined to form the flow of our ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit:
- ministering in faith
- ministering by the gifts of the Spirit
- ministering by the realm of glory
Each of these expressions can be held up to the light and considered in terms of how it relates to the Feeler realm.
1. Ministering in Faith
Faith is always important, and everything else depends upon it.
That’s what the writer of Hebrews tells us: “You can never please God without faith, without depending on him. Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely look for him” (Hebrews 11:6 tlb).
We must live by faith every day. “Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’” (John 11:40 niv).
When you are already filtering everything through your faith, you can see more clearly.
Obviously, we must minister by faith. In fact, we must follow the lead of our faith, even when our senses have not indicated any particular course of action.
Feelers need to recognize this reality when confronted with situations where they can’t feel out what to do.
Is somebody sick? Just pray for that person, even if you don’t feel any heat in your hands or you forgot to bring anointing oil.
“And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up” (James 5:15).
Your faith is more consistent than your feelings are—even your Holy Spirit-anointed feelings.
2. Ministering by the Gifts of the Spirit
By faith, we minister with both the supernatural and the natural gifts that God has supplied, allowing us to flow wherever the Spirit “blows” us.
Every believer has God-imparted gifts with which to minister:
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good… All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
(1 Corinthians 12:4–11 niv)
The gifts of the Holy Spirit work in tandem with our surrendered, healed, and empowered five natural senses, and we are transformed into supernatural change agents!
3. Ministering by the Realms of Glory
Open heavens, the manifest presence of God, or what many of us refer to as the “glory realm,” are a part of revival culture in both the Old and the New Testament and a part of both our Jewish and church history.
My friend Joshua Mills, a purehearted lover of Jesus, has written a book called Power Portals that discusses these very things. One of Joshua’s mentors, the late Ruth Ward Heflin, author of Harvest Glory, was a forerunner of ministering in the glory realm.
Long before these believers, there was a woman evangelist named Maria Woodworth-Etter, born in 1844, who ministered in the glory. If you want to stretch your faith and learn about ministering in the power of God, then consider reading her work Signs and Wonders.
Please don’t rule this out for your life.
Just keep zealously seeking His presence, and the day may come when the sheer presence of the living God in your life is enough to work miracles.
Ministering Out of Your Knower
Now let’s really go after another interrelated subject. The Feeler and the Knower are deeply connected and can be connectors to flow and move in the power of God.
Did you know that you have more than one center from which your knower operates?
Let’s call each of these centers a “brain.”
That’s right—you actually have three centers, or “brains,” where these revelatory, knower realms work.
The Holy Spirit uses each one of these command centers to communicate to us and within us in a unique way.
I became exposed to this understanding from a son in the faith of mine, Matt Sorger, when we were ministering together at a prophetic conference.
A question from the moderator was sent in Matt’s direction concerning how he perceived revelation from the Holy Spirit.
He responded by sharing the concept of “the three brains.” My spiritual antennae went way out, and I thought, “Now, that is one of the missing pieces! I really need to capture and incorporate this!”
Matt said that he’d come across the idea of our having three brains from viewing a science program. He was especially interested in it because, when he was in university, he studied several sciences, including biology, in preparation for going into the field of medicine. It was in the midst of his studies that God called him to preach the Word of God, so he let go of his pursuit of being a medical doctor.
At the conference, Matt went on to talk more about this idea, and I will summarize his points:
First is the “head brain.” This is the brain we refer to when talking about the brain in general. The head brain consists of brain cells called neurons, and it functions mostly through logical thought, but it is also involved in subconscious thought and in our dream life.
One of the other two centers of knowledge, or command centers, is the “heart brain.” (I will describe the third command center below.) The human heart contains 40,000 neurons, nerve cells that have the capacity to store memory.
After the conference, Matt continued to share this concept with me. There was a documented case of a young girl who needed a heart transplant. After she received her new heart, she began to have dreams in which she saw herself being killed and could see the face of her murderer. This information was eventually given to the police. As it turned out, her heart donor was a murder victim. The police made a sketch of the face of the man in her dreams, and that person was caught and brought to justice.
The knowledge stored in the heart brain can be so useful for the ministry of inner healing and deliverance. When we talk about healing past traumas and memories, we don’t just ask God to heal the memories in our “head brain”; we also need to pray over the stored memories and emotions in our “heart brain.”
This has a lot to do with the realm of feelings, doesn’t it?
The third command center of communications is the “gut brain.” Each of us has a third brain, per se, in our gut. The entire lining of our intestines is filled with neurons—over 100 million of them!
If you have ever used the phrase “I had a gut feeling,” you may have been on to something! The neurons in your gut have the ability to process knowledge on an intuitive level. Your head brain processes logical knowledge; your gut brain processes intuitive knowledge and can literally know something in advance of your head brain.
This is why it may take your head some time to catch up to your gut. And this is why Feelers, in particular, will say things like, “I just don’t feel right about it in my gut,” or, on the flip side, “I know this is it! I have a really good feeling about this. Yes, my gut feeling says move forward and act fast while the window is still open!”
The Flow of Living Water
When the Holy Spirit is directing you to reach out to others in service or ministry, you may sense His guidance flowing in various ways.
- You may feel pain or heat in a specific part of your body when the Lord is present to heal someone through your prayers.
- When He wants you to step into a leadership role, you may feel something like the weight of a mantle settling on your shoulders, or you may feel something touch your forehead.
- You may feel the compassion of the Lord toward someone and, with it, an inspiration to meet that person’s need in the power and grace of God.
- You may sense the presence of supernatural faith in someone and identify it so that the person can release it for its intended purpose.
- You may see, either with your natural eyes or with the eyes of your spirit, angels or other manifestations of the Lord’s presence.
- At times, a person may simply cross your mind.
If you are paying attention, you will know whether God wants you to reach out to the person in some way at that moment, and whether He wants you to stop what you’re doing and pray for the person.
You could pick up on just about anything with your senses, and God will always supply the “interpretation,” so you know what to do.
It is my hope and prayer that you will be equipped to operate and flow in the Feeler realm with integrity and joy.
Prayer of a Passionate Heart
Father, I am amazed at Your ways, and I purpose to unite myself with Your people as You lead me. I am grateful for all the streams and tributaries that are joining together into a mighty river of life in this day. I pray to know and flow in that river of Your presence and power. I give all the glory to You. Send Your Spirit more powerfully, for Jesus Christ’s sake, as I offer thanksgiving and praise in His mighty name. Again I say, amen!
Flowing in the Power of God!
James W. Goll
This article was adapted from Chapter 12: “Flowing in the Power of God” in The Feeler book by James W. Goll.
If you want to learn to flow in the power of God in your life, you will love James Goll’s book The Feeler. When you order the book, you will also receive 12 bonus devotionals from James W. Goll that correspond with each chapter! Order your copy and immerse yourself in the converging river of life today!
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