Sept. 2, 2004

[Kidan]

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow . . .
—John 7:38
[/QUOTE]

Quote[/b] ]Jesus did not say, "He who believes in Me will realize all the blessings of the fullness of God," but, in essence, "He who believes in Me will have everything he receives escape out of him." Our Lord’s teaching was always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a person— His purpose is to make a person exactly like Himself, and the Son of God is characterized by self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us. Our spiritual life cannot be measured by success as the world measures it, but only by what God pours through us— and we cannot measure that at all.

When Mary of Bethany "broke the flask . . . of very costly oil . . . and poured it on [Jesus’] head," it was an act for which no one else saw any special occasion; in fact, ". . . there were some who . . . said, ’Why was this fragrant oil wasted?’ " ( Mark 14:3-4 ). But Jesus commended Mary for her extravagant act of devotion, and said, ". . . wherever this gospel is preached . . . what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her" ( Mark 14:9 ). Our Lord is filled with overflowing joy whenever He sees any of us doing what Mary did— not being bound by a particular set of rules, but being totally surrendered to Him. God poured out the life of His Son "that the world through Him might be saved" ( John 3:17 ). Are we prepared to pour out our lives for Him?

"He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water"— and hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. Now is the time for us to break "the flask" of our lives, to stop seeking our own satisfaction, and to pour out our lives before Him. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him?

 

[Kidan]

This is an interesting devotional.

Truly it's one concept that I've never even thought or considered of before.

I always considered myself successful. My purpose, my major goals, involved being a good husband/father/provider. I am all these things. I believe that I am a success story.

Yet this tells a different story.

This tells me, that I'm not allowing the blessings from God to flow through me, to all others, but rather I horde them for myself and my family.

I never thought long and hard about the fact that we are to be rivers of living water, refreshing those around us. While I'm certain that some of what God has blessed me with has spilled over to those around me, I'm also fairly certain that it's not nearly of the amount that God desires to flow to those around me.


How about you? Do you allow the living water to flow through you or do you put up a barrier to keep the living water within?

 

[Avesther]

hmmm...wow. I've heard and read about this concept. About how the fruit of the spirit that we are to develop are not for us, they are others to pick from us. Joyce Meyer in Secrets to Exceptional Living discuss this as well that we are to provide fruit for others to pick, over and over and over again. This really goes hand in hand about how our blessings for the Lord flow through us.

Compare that further to:

II Corinthians 1:3-5 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”

Paul is telling us that our Lord will give us an overabundance of comfort when we need it so that we can comfort others who need it. It too is saying we are "flow through" entities.

I've never really put any thought into it, but certainly, I have to ask, am I hording it?