Living Water by Brother Yun
“Living Water” is an excellent work of a powerful, apostolic leader, known as Brother Yun, written from the context of the persecuted Church in Communist China. The writings are not fun or entertaining but deeply challenging, provocative, and sometimes brutal. It’s certainly not “pleasure” reading as it took me like four months to finish. Each chapter contains a specific teaching and challenge to a Godly and fruitful life. I highly recommend the work, but with a caution: read it only if you are prepared to be beat up, worked over, and to not be content with your expression of faith until your life takes obedience, sharing the gospel, and Christ-centered living to a new level!
You see, we are all called to run a race for Jesus, and repentance is the starting line of that race. It’s futile to try to run the race if you never made it to the starting line to begin with! This is the problem with many believers today. They are trying to follow the Lord, but they have never truly repented and surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ. The result of the false gospel so prevalent today can be seen in churches full of halfhearted Christians whose lives are still centered on selfishness and the principles of the world. P18
Repentance is both the first step to walking in the kingdom of God and the key to continuing in a place of obedience and submission to the Lord. P19
The challenges in your life are real, but Jesus is the truth! If you will learn to praise Jesus Christ regardless of your circumstances, you will find inner freedom and joy, and you will have the strength to overcome whatever you are faced with. P82
When the Lord told Jonah to go to Nineveh to warn them of impending judgment, it didn’t suit Jonah’s schedule! Jonah was just like many Christians today—they have their lives planned out for the next year and are so inflexible that even if God tells them to do something, they are unwilling to interrupt their precious schedules.” P87
If you belong to Jesus Christ, then you are His servant and you no longer have the right to control and plan your own life….Everybody in this world is a slave. Either they are slaves to Jesus Christ, or they are slaves to sin. It is better to belong to Jesus! P88
It is a false kind of Christianity that teaches that God only wants us to be safe and secure and to keep out of harm’s way. P91
The true gospel, when it is preached with power, always results in either revival or riot. Just read Paul’s experiences in the book of Acts. P92
Somehow we deceive ourselves into thinking that if we retain control of our lives, things will be okay, and we fear if we truly give ourselves to God, we will regret it. This thinking is completely false. Nobody who has ever given control of their life to Jesus has regretted it.
Oh if we would have a revelation of God’s care and provision for His children, we would never be the same again! He is much better at running your life than you are! P93-4
I exhort you in Christ: please do not forget your identity. You are a redeemed one, chosen by the almighty God to be His child. Your heavenly Father wants you to be a bold warrior who depends on His mighty power. He wants you to be as bold as a lion. Amen! P109
Many Christians seem to be good at sitting around trying to perfect their doctrine, but few seem to obey Jesus’ command to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. We need to stop trying to play games with God. Many believers want people to think they are pious, when in reality they are living in disobedience and deception. P142
As you go forth in obedience to the Great Commission, pray earnestly that God will show you whom you should go with. P183
Jesus doesn’t expect you to sit on your backside for the rest of your life while you try to perfect your doctrine. Rather, He wants you to get busy in His harvest field, sharing the life of Jesus with those who know nothing about Him. P237
Ask God to give you a worldwide vision. God wants to reach the whole world, and you should too. Many churches today only focus on reaching their local communities. It is good to reach your local community, but you should to this at the same time you are reaching the nations of the world. Jesus commanded the apostles to preach the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost ends of the earth. He didn’t mean we should do one at a time, but that both our home area and the ends of the earth should be reached simultaneously. P241
As you follow Jesus, you will be attacked and maybe even killed for your faith. If you die, don’t worry. Everyone has to die one day. You will just be following in the footsteps of our Lord. P251
