Quite a lot of rain falls to the west of Jerusalem
but to the East less and less.
The river Jordan drains into the Dead sea
which survives as a spectacle for tourists and for mineral extraction
but is not a place for life and growth, 
no fish in its waters, little vegetation along its shore

From the altar a stream of pure water flowing eastwards
growing deeper and deeper:
a picture of lives changed by the flow of the Holy Spirit 
from the source of one who died in Jerusalem as the perfect sacrifice

Living water, flowing water, not stagnant:
we cannot live on yesterday's experience of Christ
still less on something that happened, a commitment we made decades ago
any more than we can live on last week's lunch, 
or the air we breathed yesterday
There has to be fresh contact with the source
for there to be fish in the sea and fruit on the trees

Galatians 5.16 - 25 

The difference between a stagnant and a living spiritual life
a life of trying to keep the law or living in a false freedom
as against life in the Spirit

Peterson The Message (Galatians 5.18-24)
'Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit
and so escape the erratic compulsions of the law-dominated existence?
It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your way all the time:
repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; 
a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; 
frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic show religion; 
paranoid loneliness; cut-throat competition; 
all consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; 
an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives;
small minded and lopsided pursuits; 
the vicious habit of depersonalising everyone into a rival; 
uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community.
I could go on. This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know.
If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.

But what happens when we live God's way? 
He brings gifts into our lives, 
much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard - 
things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.
We develop a willingness to stick with things, 
a sense of compassion in the heart 
and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. 
We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, 
not needing to force our way in life, 
able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. 
Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way.
Among those who belong to Christ, 
everything connected with getting our own way
and mindlessly responding to what everybody else calls necessities 
is killed off for good - crucified.'

The source again is the cross, the sacrifice of Christ;
the opposite is trying to do it on our own,
or giving up and doing whatever we like
with whatever ugly consequences

To change the picture
if the cross is like a radio mast
then the Holy Spirit is the radiation of the radio waves out from the mast
spreading the love joy peace far and wide
but not everybody receives the signal - you have to switch on!
Switching on the Holy Spirit is done by hearing and believing
Paul reminded the Galatians in 3.2 
that they received the Holy Spirit by believing what they heard;
Jesus said in John 7.37
'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said
streams of living water will flow from within him.'

We pray for those who are in the salt marshes, the stagnant places
rather than in the life giving flowing water
those for whom faith seems stale, fruitless
perhaps they have been disappointed, suffered grief unfair treatment
they/we have turned in on themselves
and they/we have lost contact with you.
Let us never leave you the fountain of living waters
to try to dig out for ourselves leaky reservoirs
cracked cisterns which can hold no water.

We pray for those who struggle with the things Paul highlights in Galatians 5,
the ugly poisonous weeds of life lived in our way

As we trust and rest in him who died for us
may everything wrong in us be crucified with Christ
so that we can live in your way
bearing fruit of your spirit
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, self control.

May the living water of Christ by his Spirit
refresh you continually
and make you ever fruitful and like the Saviour