Streams in the Desert - Sep 23
by L. B. E. Cowman and Jim Reimann
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. (John 7: 38)
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.
~from 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
Reference
Cowman, L. B. E.; Reimann, Jim (2008-09-09). Streams in the Desert: 366 Daily Devotional Readings (p. 362). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Categories: spiritual