Last week, I shared a powerful encounter with the River of Life and the dramatic and tangible fruit of that experience. Since that time, I have tried to faithfully steward this encounter by going back to the River of Life whenever I desired or whenever Holy Spirit led me there. About a year after I first encountered that place, I was there, and Holy Spirit revealed to me that this river was not only the River of Life, but that it was also the River of Delight and of the Ecstasies of God! I never even knew there was such a place until sometime later, when my husband found the following Scripture:
They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.
-Psalm 36:8, NASB
As I began drinking from this river, I saw my spirit-being laughing hysterically and rolling around on the ground in hilarity, like a cartoon character. I could feel the joy beginning to bubble up in my soul. The Lord then told me that I was being changed into another person, just like Saul was changed after Samuel anointed him to be king.
As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed his inmost person.
-I Samuel 10:9, NET
Some Bible versions translate this as “God gave him another heart” (and you know the importance of the heart!)
It had been a very long time since I’d laughed… and my “inmost person” was truly being changed that day. This, just like the encounter I shared last week with the River of Life, manifested in my external reality within a very short time. Within the next several weeks, I was in completely different groups of people in different situations, when I laughed and somebody stopped and commented, “It’s good to hear you laugh” or “Wow, there’s something different about your laugh.” Spiritual reality really does manifest in the earth… through us!
You already know that positive emotions have tremendous power. Laughter literally rewires the brain. Feasting on the ecstasies of God is a powerful key to freedom from lust, addiction, materialism and every kind of cheap, destructive pleasure. And, according to Scripture, there is a direct connection between the power of pleasure and the manifesting of miracles, too!
Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
-Psalm 37:4, NASB
Now that you know that the River of Delight and of the Ecstasies of God is a real place in the realm of the spirit, just like the River of Life, you can go there through the gate of your sanctified imagination. Drink from this water. Breathe it in. Play in the refreshing current, allowing its living substance to rewire you from grief, loss, rejection, pain, stress, lust, addiction, and depression and to His JOY, which is your strength.
Create a point of agreement for spiritual reality to manifest tangibly by choosing joy with your will (even if you don’t feel like it) and by making time in your life for things you enjoy. Ask yourself, “Did I laugh today?”
Psalm 2:4 says, “He that sits in the heavens shall laugh.” Of course we know that this speaks of God’s joyous triumph over every foe. But, since we are also seated in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2:6), this also speaks of us! I believe that, when Yeshua walked the earth, He was the happiest person alive. And He is a picture of the Father. Can you hear His infectious laugh? Can you feel the tug of eternity upon your heart, as He invites you to walk and talk and LAUGH with Him today? Remember…. You’re not a servant but a friend (John 15:15).
Happy drinking!
Virginia