The picture Our Lord gives is not that of a channel but a fountain. "Be being filled," and the sweetness of vital relationship to Jesus will flow out of the saint as lavishly as it is imparted to him. If you find your life is not flowing out as it should, you are to blame; something has obstructed the flow.

Keep right at the Source, and - you will be blessed personally? No, out of you will flow rivers of living water, irrepressible life.

We are to be centres through which Jesus can flow as rivers of living water in blessing to everyone. Some of us are like the Dead Sea, always taking in but never giving out, because we are not rightly related to the Lord Jesus.

Assurely as we receive from Him, He will pour out through us, and in the measure He is not pouring out, there is a defect in our relationship to Him.

Is there anything between you and Jesus Christ? Is there anything that hinders your belief in Him? If not, Jesus says, out of you will flow rivers of living water.

It is not a blessing passed on, not an experience stated, but a river continually flowing. Keep at the Source, guard well your belief in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow for other lives, no dryness and no deadness.

Is it not too extravagant to say that out of an individual believer rivers are going to flow? "I do not see the rivers," you say.

Never look at yourself from the standpoint of - Who am I? In the history of God's work you will nearly always find that it has started from the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but the steadfastly true to Jesus Christ.

My heart needs Thee, O Lord, my heart needs Thee! No part of my being needs Thee like my heart. All else within me can be filled by Thy gifts. My hunger can be satisfied by daily bread. My thirst can be allayed by earthly waters. My cold can be removed by household fires. My weariness can be relieved by outward rest. But no outward thing can make my heart pure.

The calmest day will not calm my passions. The fairest scene will not beautify my soul. The richest music will not make harmony within. The breezes can cleanse the air, but no breeze can cleanse a spirit. This world has not provided for my heart. It has provided for my eye; it has provided for my ear; it has provided for my touch; it has provided for my taste; it has provided for my sense of beauty, but it has not provided for my heart.

Lift up your eyes unto the hills! Make haste to Calvary, “Calvary’s awful mountain-climb,” and on the way there visit the slopes of Mount Olivet, where grow the trees of Gethsemane. Contemplate there the agony of the Lord, where He already tasted the tremendous cup, which He drank to the dregs the next noontide on the Cross. There is the answer to your need.

Provide Thou for my heart, O Lord. It is the only unwinged bird in all creation. Give it wings! O Lord, give it wings! Earth has failed to give it wings; its very power of loving has often drawn it into the mire. Be Thou the strength of my heart. Be Thou its fortress in temptation, its shield in remorse, its covert in the storm, its star in the night, its voice in the solitude.

Guide it in its gloom; help it in its heat; direct it in its doubt; calm it in its conflict; fan it in its faintness; prompt it in its perplexity; lead it through its labyrinth; raise it from its ruins.

I cannot rule this heart of mine; keep it under the shadow of Thine own wings. GEORGE MATHESON

None other Lamb! none other name! None other hope in heaven, or earth, or sea! None other hiding-place for sin and shame! None beside Thee! My faith burns low; my hope burns low; Only my soul’s deep need comes out in me By the deep thunder of its want and woe, Calls out to Thee. Lord, Thou art life though I be dead! Love’s Flame art Thou, however cold I be! Nor heaven have I, nor place to lay my head, Nor home, but Thee. CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

“Come to me . . . and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

For with thee is the fountain of life.

Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty.

Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.

The Spirit and the bride say, Come.

And let him that heareth say, Come.

And let him that is athirst come.

And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord : my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.—O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.—The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.—Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.—My blood is drink indeed. Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.