People from different generations clearing debris from an ancient well as clean water begins to flow again, representing removal of spiritual and relational blockages.

What Stops Up the Wells? – Part Two

by hermanin From the Desk of Hermanon Posted on

MEDITATIONS FROM THE WELL

WHAT STOPS UP THE WELLS? – PART TWO

Removing the Obstacles to Spiritual Life and Kingdom Collaboration

This meditation continues What Stops Up the Wells? – Part One, where we considered pride, fear, competition, and tradition without life as blockages that restrict the flow of spiritual life and Kingdom collaboration.

Proverbs 20:5 BSB

(5) The intentions of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.

WHEN THE WELL IS NOT ONLY BLOCKED, BUT CONTAMINATED

In Part One we considered blockages that can restrict access to the water. In this continuation, the focus moves deeper. A well can be blocked from the outside, but it can also become contaminated from within.

The question is no longer only, “What prevents the water from flowing?” We must also ask, “What is affecting the condition of what flows through us?”

The next six blockages are especially important because they affect our hearts, our relationships, our leadership, our sense of belonging, and the connection between generations.

  • Offence – when the heart becomes contaminated.
  • Independence – when we no longer believe we need one another.
  • Selfish ambition – when the well becomes a platform.
  • Control – when we own the well instead of stewarding it.
  • Dishonour – when we stop recognising the grace in one another.
  • Generational disconnection – when old and new wells are separated.

How can these be removed so that living water flows freely again?

5. OFFENCE – WHEN THE HEART BECOMES CONTAMINATED

Offence is particularly dangerous because it changes the way we interpret people. Once offence enters the heart, we may begin interpreting everything through the wound.

A neutral statement sounds hostile.
Correction feels like rejection.
Another person’s success feels threatening.
Silence feels deliberate.
Difference becomes betrayal.

Hebrews 12:15 BSB

(15) See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.

Bitterness rarely remains private. It eventually affects relationships around us.

Offence can stop the well through:

  • unresolved conflict;
  • disappointment with leadership;
  • betrayal;
  • broken expectations;
  • misunderstanding;
  • jealousy;
  • perceived rejection;
  • past church wounds;
  • unspoken resentment.

A person carrying offence may still possess revelation, gifting, and experience. But bitterness can contaminate what flows from them.

Removing the blockage of offence begins with forgiveness.

Colossians 3:13 BSB

(13) Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Forgiveness does not always mean immediate restoration of trust. It does mean refusing to allow another person’s actions to determine the condition of our heart.

At the well, we must continually ask: Am I drawing clean water, or is what I am releasing being filtered through unresolved offence?

6. INDEPENDENCE – WHEN WE NO LONGER BELIEVE WE NEED ONE ANOTHER

One of the strongest cultural forces affecting the contemporary Church is independence. Independence sounds powerful, but spiritually independence can become isolation.

The New Testament does not present believers as isolated individuals pursuing private destinies. It presents us as a Body, a household, a family, and a temple built together.

Ephesians 2:21-22 BSB

(21) In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
(22) And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.

Notice the words: “built together.”

We cannot become what God intends while remaining disconnected from everyone else.

Independence says:

  • I do not need accountability.
  • I do not need correction.
  • I do not need spiritual family.
  • I can fulfil my assignment alone.
  • Nobody understands what God has shown me.
  • I answer only to God.

Certainly, Christ is our ultimate Head. But Christ Himself has placed us into a Body. Biblical submission to Christ should increase our ability to walk in healthy relationships, not remove us from them.

Proverbs 18:1 BSB

(1) He who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound judgment.

There are seasons when God draws individuals into solitude. But solitude with God and independence from the Body are not the same thing.

7. SELFISH AMBITION – WHEN THE WELL BECOMES A PLATFORM

Closely connected to pride and competition is selfish ambition. There is a difference between Kingdom aspiration and selfish ambition.

We should desire to fulfil everything God has called us to accomplish. But the moment our assignment becomes a means of establishing our own importance, something begins contaminating the well.

James 3:16 BSB

(16) For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice.

Selfish ambition eventually produces disorder because people stop serving the purpose of God and begin protecting personal influence.

A ministry can carry the language of the Kingdom while functioning according to the principles of empire.

The critical question is: Am I building what Christ desires, or am I using Christ’s name to build something around myself?

8. CONTROL – WHEN WE OWN THE WELL INSTEAD OF STEWARDING IT

Control emerges when leaders become afraid of what might happen if others are allowed to function.

Healthy leadership provides order. Control restricts life.

Healthy leadership equips. Control dominates.

Healthy leadership releases. Control possesses.

Paul describes the purpose of ministry leadership:

Ephesians 4:11-12 BSB

(11) And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
(12) to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ,

The purpose of leadership is not to become the well.

Leadership helps people gain access to the water.

True apostolic leadership does not create dependence upon the leader. It equips the saints to function under the Headship of Christ.

9. DISHONOUR – WHEN WE STOP RECOGNISING THE GRACE IN ONE ANOTHER

Kingdom dialogue requires honour.

Honour does not mean agreeing with everything another person says. Honour means recognising the dignity and grace God has placed within another member of Christ’s Body.

Romans 12:10 BSB

(10) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honouring one another.

Dishonour shuts people down.

Honour draws people out.

This connects directly with our foundational Scripture.

Proverbs 20:5 BSB

(5) The intentions of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.

There may be deep wisdom sitting across the table from us. But wisdom must sometimes be drawn out. One thoughtful question can draw out thirty years of experience. One atmosphere of honour can allow someone who normally remains silent to contribute something that changes the entire conversation.

This is one of the purposes of the Wellside Dialogue. We are learning to draw water from one another without attempting to possess one another.

10. GENERATIONAL DISCONNECTION – WHEN OLD AND NEW WELLS ARE SEPARATED

Another blockage is the separation of generations.

Older believers may dismiss younger voices because they lack experience.

Younger believers may dismiss older voices because they believe their methods are outdated.

Both attitudes produce loss.

The young carry strength, energy, creativity, and emerging revelation. Older generations carry history, wisdom, scars, tested convictions, and spiritual inheritance.

Kingdom maturity brings these together.

Psalm 145:4 BSB

(4) One generation will commend Your works to the next, and will proclaim Your mighty acts.

The purpose of fathers and mothers is not to make younger generations copies of themselves. It is to transfer what God has deposited within them while allowing the next generation to express Christ within its own assignment.

There must be room at the well for both inheritance and innovation.

WHEN THE DEBRIS IS REMOVED

The well is not restored merely by identifying what has gone wrong. The debris must be removed.

  • Offence is answered by forgiveness and a guarded heart kept free from bitterness.
  • Independence is challenged by being built together in healthy Kingdom relationships.
  • Selfish ambition is exposed when the purpose of Christ becomes greater than personal importance.
  • Control gives way when leadership equips and releases rather than possesses.
  • Dishonour is displaced when we recognise and draw out the grace God has placed in one another.
  • Generational disconnection is healed when inheritance and innovation are allowed to meet at the same well.

The aim is not simply cleaner structures. The aim is that living water may flow freely again through people, relationships, congregations, ministries, and generations.

WELLSIDE REFLECTION

  1. Is there an unresolved offence through which I am now interpreting people and circumstances?
  2. Have I confused spiritual maturity with independence from accountability and spiritual family?
  3. Is my assignment serving Christ’s purpose, or has it become a platform for personal importance?
  4. Does my leadership equip and release others, or does it make them dependent on me?
  5. Do I create an atmosphere of honour in which the grace in others can be drawn out?
  6. Am I helping older and younger generations meet at the same well?

AT THE WELLSIDE

A healthy well is not merely open. Its water must remain clean, accessible, shared, and capable of serving the generations that gather around it.

We therefore return to the question that began this conversation: What have we allowed into the well that is restricting the flow of the life of Christ among us?

May we have the courage not only to identify the debris, but to remove it – so that what God has deposited in His people can flow freely again.

There is room at the well for one another.

To revisit the first four blockages, read What Stops Up the Wells? – Part One.