Broken Cisterns or Living Waters?
Why Praying in Tongues Connects You to the Fountain of Living Waters
By Byron Mills
Jump Start Nation – Daily Livestream Series
“For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
— Jeremiah 2:13 (NKJV)
Forsaking the Fountain
In today's livestream, we unpacked a tragic spiritual reality God revealed through the prophet Jeremiah: His people not only rejected Him, the source of true life, but also built for themselves broken containers—man-made religious systems and self-righteous efforts that simply cannot hold or carry God’s presence.
This is more than just a metaphor. It’s a picture of what happens when we try to live the Christian life in our own strength.
A Form Without Flow
Paul foresaw a time in the last days when people would become dangerously self-reliant and outwardly religious, while denying the very Spirit of God.
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”
— 2 Timothy 3:1–5 (NKJV)
Having a “form of godliness” means going through the motions—church attendance, good morals, even theology—yet refusing the power of the Holy Spirit. That power is the living water God placed within every believer. When we pray in tongues, we are allowing that power to rise and flow through us once again.
The Fountain Is in You
In the New Testament, Jesus gave a radical promise at the Feast of Tabernacles:
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
— John 7:37–39 (NKJV)
The rivers Jesus spoke of are not external. They come from within. That’s the same reality He spoke to the woman at the well:
“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.”
— John 4:14 (NKJV)
And Proverbs affirms this flow:
“The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters;
The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook.”
— Proverbs 18:4 (NKJV)
When we speak in tongues, we are not speaking from our minds, but from our spirits—deep calling to deep. It's God's wisdom flowing up from our innermost being.
Worse Than Sodom?
Perhaps the most sobering passage we considered in our livestream on July 08, 2025, was in Ezekiel. God told Israel through the prophet that their sin was worse than the infamous sin of Sodom!
“Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you:
‘Like mother, like daughter!’
You are your mother’s daughter, loathing husband and children;
and you are the sister of your sisters,
who loathed their husbands and children;
your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.Your elder sister is Samaria,
who dwells with her daughters to the north of you;
and your younger sister,
who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her daughters.You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations;
but, as if that were too little,
you became more corrupt than they in all your ways.As I live,” says the Lord God, “neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done.”**
— Ezekiel 16:44–48 (NKJV)
Forsaking the presence and leadership of God—of relying on human efforts and self-made religion—was so severe that God said it surpassed even Sodom’s notorious wickedness!
Praying in Tongues: Returning to the Flow
When we pray in the Spirit—when we speak in tongues—we reconnect to the Spirit of God, the Fountain of living water. Not a religious performance, but the person of the Holy Spirit, dwelling within, ready to overflow.
Tongues are not for the spiritually elite. They’re for every believer.
God never intended us to live dry, stressed, and striving. He designed us to live from the inside out, drinking daily from the fountain of living waters.
Challenge
Today, take just 15 minutes to pray in tongues. Don’t try to analyze it. Just yield. Let the fountain rise. Don’t live another day depending on a broken cistern.
Let’s Talk:
💬 Have you noticed “broken cistern” thinking in your life?
🔁 Share this post with a friend who’s dry, weary, or trying to live for God without the flow of the Spirit.
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