Jesus did not say - "he that believeth in Me shall realize the blessing of the fulness of God," but - "he that believeth in Me out of him shall escape everything he receives." Our Lord's teaching is always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a man; His purpose is to make a man exactly like Himself, and the characteristic of the Son of God is self-expenditure.

If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain, but what He pours through us that counts. It is not that God makes us beautifully rounded grapes, but that He squeezes the sweetness out of us. Spiritually, we cannot measure our life by success, but only by what God pours through us, and we cannot measure that at all.

When Mary of Bethany broke the box of precious ointment and poured it on Jesus' head, it was an act for which no one else saw any occasion; the disciples said it was a waste. But Jesus commended Mary for her extravagant act of devotion, and said that wherever His gospel was preached "this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her." Our Lord is carried beyond Himself with joy when He sees any of us doing what Mary did, not being set on this or that economy, but being abandoned to Him.

God spilt the life of His Son that the world might be saved; are we prepared to spill out our lives for Him?

"He that believeth in Me out of him shall flow rivers of living water" - hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. It is time now to break the life, to cease craving for satisfaction, and to spill the thing out. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him?

A river touches places of which its source knows nothing, and Jesus says if we have received of His fulness, however small the visible measure of our lives, out of us will flow the rivers that will bless to the uttermost parts of the earth.

We have nothing to do with the outflow - "This is the work of God that ye believe. . . ." God rarely allows a soul to see how great a blessing he is.

A river is victoriously persistent, it overcomes all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, then it comes to an obstacle and for a while it is baulked, but it soon makes a pathway round the obstacle.

Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, and presently emerge again broader and grander than ever.

You can see God using some lives, but into your life an obstacle has come and you do not seem to be of any use.

Keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you round the obstacle or remove it.

The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles.

Never get your eyes on the obstacle or on the difficulty.

The obstacle is a matter of indifference to the river which will flow steadily through you if you remember to keep right at the Source.

Never allow anything to come between yourself and Jesus Christ, no emotion, or experience; nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.

Think of the healing and far-flung rivers nursing themselves in our souls!

God has been opening up marvelous truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is an indication of the wider power of the river He will flow through us.

If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has nourished in you mighty torrents of blessing for others.

Some of us are troubled, wondering why the Holy Spirit doesn’t fill us. The problem is that we have plenty coming in but we are not giving out to others. If you will give the blessing you have received, planning your life around greater service and being a blessing to those around you, then you will quickly find that the Holy Spirit is with you. He will bestow blessings to you for service, giving you all He can trust you to give away to others.

No music is as heavenly as that made by an aeolian harp. It is a beautiful occurrence of nature, but it has a spiritual parallel. The harp is nothing but a wooden box with strings arranged in harmony, waiting to be touched by the unseen fingers of the wandering wind. As the breath of heaven floats over the strings, notes that are nearly divine float upon the air, as if a choir of angels were wandering about and touching the strings.

In the same way, it is possible to keep our hearts so open to the touch of the Holy Spirit that He may play them as He chooses, while we quietly wait on the pathway of His service. DAYS OF HEAVEN UPON EARTH

When the apostles “were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4), they did not lease the Upper Room and stay there to hold holiness meetings. They went everywhere, preaching the gospel. WILL HUFF

“If I have eaten my morsel alone,” The patriarch spoke with scorn; What would he think of the Church were he shown Heathendom—huge, forlorn, Godless, Christless, with soul unfed, While the Church’s ailment is fullness of bread, Eating her morsel alone?

“Freely you have received, so give,” He says, who has given us all. How will the soul in us longer live Deaf to their starving call, For whom the blood of the Lord was shed, And His body broken to give them bread, If we eat our morsel alone! ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM ALEXANDER

“Where is your brother Abel?” (Genesis 4:9).

If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.—If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.

Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.—If ye, . . . being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?—Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find.

Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.—Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.