Jesus promised that the one who believes in Him as Savior and Lord would experience “rivers of living water” flowing forth from his heart (John 7:37). Similarly, Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus that they would be strengthened by the Spirit so they would “be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). How can ordinary Christians experience this overflowing presence of Christ by His Spirit?

John G. Paton was a 19th-Century Scottish Reformed Presbyterian missionary to the New Hebrides Islands in the south Pacific known for their cannibalistic tribes. Paton traveled to the island of Aniwa with his pregnant wife, where he met with great misfortune. His wife soon died in childbirth, and their infant son quickly followed. In addition, Paton met with great resistance from the natives regarding the gospel. The situation appeared hopeless.

Yet the Lord opened the natives’ hearts to Christ through an unexpected means. Aniwa was a flat, coral island, with no hills to attract clouds for rain. Often struggling for sufficient water to survive, Paton came upon a plan: “I resolved by the help of God to sink a well near the Mission Premises.” As Paton began digging his well, explaining what he was seeking to do, the old chief of the people, Namakei, sought to dissuade him. He repeatedly told him that rain comes from heaven above, not from the ground below. Namakei entreated Paton in a tone of sympathy approaching pity: “O Missi! [short for ‘Missionary’]. Wait till the rain comes down, and we will save all we possibly can for you.” Yet Paton kept digging, saying that “the chief assured me for the fiftieth time that rain would never be seen coming up through the earth on Aniwa!”

Finally, Paton struck water and, with a bucket and rope system he had built, brought fresh water up to the people. On witnessing this miracle, Chief Namakei asked, “Will you let me preach a sermon about the well?” Without hesitation, Paton agreed. On the next Sunday, with a great crowd gathered, Namakei delivered his sermon:

“Since Missi came here, he has talked many strange things we could not understand…and we said regarding many of them that they must be lies. But of all his wonderful stories, we thought the strangest was about sinking down through the earth to get rain!…But the Missi prayed on and wrought on, telling us that Jehovah God heard and saw, and that his God would give him rain.…We mocked at him; but the water was there all the same. We have laughed at other things which Missi told us, because we could not see them, but from this day, I believe that all he tells us about his Jehovah God is true….The Jehovah God has sent us rain from the earth. Why should He not also send us His Son from heaven!”

Namakei then urged all listening to believe in God’s Son, Jesus, and to bring their idols so they could be burned. This was a turning point in Paton’s efforts on Aniwa. Many responded to this gospel call, and from that time onward they openly listened and learned from Paton.

“The water was there all the same.” What the old chief said of the well water is true of the Spirit. Since our Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension, with the giving of His Spirit to the church at Pentecost, the Spirit has been there “all the same” for God’s people. How do we experience Him? As Jesus told us: “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13). If we are not experiencing the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, we must pray to God through Christ that His Spirit would fill the church. So often, the church does not have because, sadly and simply, the church does not ask.

As Martyn Lloyd-Jones stated, “What prayer does is to fill the lungs of the soul with the oxygen of the Holy Spirit and His power.” May the church breathe deeply in prayer for His Spirit.