Trading Your Barrenness to Overflow

Isaiah 41:17-20

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I
the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare
heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the
dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I
will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, that they may see and know, may
consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has
created it.

You Need Water to Live and Survive!

 Water is foundational to our health. We can’t survive without it.
 Water makes up 55-75 % of your body and it is integral to every bodily function.
 Our brain and heart are each made up of 73 percent water and our lungs are 83 percent
water.
 Water lubricates the joints
 Take away water and blood pressure decreases, leading to weakness, dizziness and
fatigue.

1. God Will Answer You in Times of Spiritual Dehydration

Symptoms of Spiritual Dehydration
1. Use of bad language
2. Lack of service
3. Easily angered
4. Lack of self-control
5. Unwise choices

Thirsting Is the Pathway to Overflow

 The pathway to overflow starts with “panting” “desiring” and “thirsting” for his
presence.
 God cannot fills us if we are self-satisfied and self-sufficient.
 We must come to a realization that He is our life, our satisfaction, and our provider.

Your “crisis situation” can be an entry point to you own miracle

And as she sat there, she began to sob. Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So
she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. Genesis 21:15-21

So he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the
waters were made sweet. Exodus 15:35

Matthew 11:28

“Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
 God as giver of water
 The Lord takes seriously our cry and provide us with living water when we are in distress.
 He is the God of Israel, the same yesterday and today and forever.
 Like a father that cares, He is there to provide for us. He loves to supply us with His
hidden resources

2. He Can Turn your Dry Land to Overflow

Different places and seasons of trials
 We experience different places of dryness in life: “bare heights” “valleys” “wilderness”
and “dry lands.”
 The journey of Christian life is a not a bed of roses. It is full of trials and testings.
 This speaks of different locations of trials, weaknesses, flaws, and deficiencies in our
lives.

Two Possibilities of your “Dry Land”

 Become a “breeding ground” for you to flaw or a “breaking ground” for you to overflow.
 It will either makes you a “bitter” or “better” person.
 Right attitude is very important when we are experiencing trials in life.

You God is the God that exceeds your expectations in life

 We tend to ask people “cups” “gallons” “drums” or “truck” of water but his promises are
“rivers” “fountains” “pools” and “springs.”
 God’s promise for you is to open “rivers” “fountains” “pools of water” and “springs of
waters” when you are to these places.
 God is able to bring breakthrough to these places so that these places will become a
venue of an overflowing grace for you.
 It pictures of an overflowing life that comes from the Holy Spirit.

Do not underestimate the place where God has planted you. Whether these places are desert,
wilderness, or dry land, the Holy Spirit is able to turn them into a productive places.

The capacity of your inmost being

Your inmost being has the capacity to contain rivers, fountains, pools, and springs of water. If you
haven’t experience it, call on the Holy Spirit today! Right where you are, He can make you overflow!

“If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me” as the scripture said,
“from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. John 7:37,38

God’s Hotline for you is Jeremiah 33:3

Call unto me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
He wants to answer and tell you “great and unsearchable things” you have never experienced.

Philippians 4:19

“But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory.”
 3. He Can Turn your Barren Land into a Place of Security, Comfort & Productivity
Different trees: Large, wide, and green leaves tree. "Water and shade are the two great needs of the
desert traveller … These are capable to serve as shade for hundreds of people when they are planted
as a group, able to provide raw materials for shelter, and a durable materials for boat and ship.

Your dry land can be transform as a beautiful, green, and productive land
 God is able to turn our dry land into a place of natural and economic resources, turning
our difficult place into a place of refuge and fruitfulness.
 God is our refuge, a very present help in times of trouble.

Psalms 52:8

But I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God - I am safe and happy, notwithstanding the effort
made by my enemy, the informer, to secure my destruction. I have been kept unharmed, like a green
and flourishing tree - a tree protected in the very courts of the sanctuary - safe under the care and
the eye of God.

Lessons to Ponder

You may be in a situation where you think your family and friends have left you out. You must
know that God can turn your barren situation into an overflowing place of God’s favour.

For Christians in the marketplace, you might be in a situation where you are no longer earning a
profitable business, you must remember that God is the God that provides.

For pastors and missionaries working in a dry land with no fruit, God wants you to know that that
place where God has placed you is a “holy ground” –it is a place of God’s glory to appear, turning
your dry land into a productive and fruitful one. So be of good courage!