Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

John 4:10 – Scripture of the Day (February 26, 2014)

I believe “the gift of God” and the “living water” referred to by Jesus here are one and the same, and are referring to the Holy Spirit.  I say this for several reasons:

1. Later, Jesus specifically referred to the Holy Spirit as “living water” and, as here with the Samaritan woman, urged people to come to him and “drink” (John 7:37-39).
2. Christians “drink” of the Holy Spirit first when they are converted (Acts 2:38-39; 1 Cor. 12:13).
3. Christians continue to “drink” of the Spirit as they continually seek to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) by singing and making melody with their hearts to God (Eph. 5:19), feeding upon “the sword of the Spirit” which is God’s Word (Eph. 6:17), and praying for strength through the Spirit (Eph. 3:16; cf. Luke 11:13).
4. Jesus said that his water quenches thirst (John 4:14).  Isaiah said the same thing about the water which is the Spirit (Is. 44:3).  The Spirit, through the Word he inspired (2 Pet. 1:20-21), quenches our thirst by meeting our spiritual needs (Rom. 5:5; 8:12-13, 15; 15:13; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 3:16; cf. Ps. 119).