Ezekiel & The River In The Temple | Jonathan Cahn Sermon

The River That Breaks the Walls: Letting God’s Spirit Flow Freely in Your Life

We all tend to get comfortable—living within routines, limits, and expectations. We settle into a rhythm and call it life. But the life of the Spirit cannot be confined by routines, walls, or boundaries. When we box ourselves in, the river of God cannot flow through us.

Ezekiel saw something astonishing in his vision—a river flowing out from the Temple of God. Water was streaming from beneath the threshold, pouring eastward toward the Mount of Olives. This wasn’t normal. No natural spring flowed from Jerusalem, yet in his vision, a supernatural river began to move—an image that echoed through the prophecies of Joel, Zechariah, and Revelation: living water flowing from the presence of God.

This river starts small, just a trickle by Ezekiel’s feet. Then, step by step, it deepens—first to the ankles, then the knees, then the waist, until it becomes a river too vast to cross. And wherever that river flows, everything comes to life. Dead places are revived. Even the Dead Sea, lifeless and dense with salt, becomes filled with life and fish. What was once dead becomes alive because the river from God has touched it.

That is how the Spirit of God moves. It flows from His presence, from His temple—now not a building of stone, but you. The Holy Spirit longs to flow through your life, to bring renewal, to make what was dead alive again.

But there’s a condition: rivers can’t flow through walls. The house and the river are opposites—one is built to contain, the other to move freely. For the river to flow, walls must be broken down. In the same way, we must break down the walls of routine, control, fear, and self-reliance. If we live in structure alone—our schedules, ministries, theologies, and habits—without openness to God’s Spirit, the flow stops. Even the house of God cannot contain His presence.

Many churches and lives once began with that river—alive, moving, full of the Spirit—but over time, they became rigid. They focused on systems, methods, traditions… until the flow dried up. God wants to restore that movement in us—to break the walls, to fill us again with His living water.

It’s time to open up. To let go of what’s familiar and seek the Lord afresh. The Bible says, “Repent and return to the Lord, that times of refreshing may come from His presence.” The refreshing comes only when the river flows again.

Ask Him for new faith, new love, new joy, new anointing, new spirit. Let the river not only come to you but also through you. Because when we only receive and never give, we become like the Dead Sea—still, lifeless, stagnant. But when we receive and release, we live like the Sea of Galilee—vibrant, flowing, full of life.

Let God’s Spirit flow through you again. Break the walls. Step into the river. And wherever it goes—life will follow.