For thought and meditation

[rl69]

He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. JOHN 7:38
A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, “rivers of living water” will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow— “This is the work of God, that you believe…” (John 6:29). God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.
A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the lives of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ— not emotion nor experience— nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.
Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.

[Pine Baron]

Very encouraging. Amen.

[USMC87]

Amen Rivers of joy!

[Blackwater]

Sometimes, we forget that conversions don't stop just at the individual we may help find Christ. They go on and on, and echo through the years. Who knows? One person we may lead to Christ, even a recalcitrant one, just may lead some important person to all of us to Christ, and that can never be a bad thing. Sometimes I think we Christians, once we have OUR faith, get lazy, and don't feel up to dealing with the ones who deny Christ most vehemently. But remember C. S. Lewis. He was a VERY dedicated atheist, until he tried to prove faith a willful and fictitious thing. Then he became a convert himself! And then he became one of the most prolificly read and serious apologists for the Christian faith who we've ever had. The hard ones won't all come to Christ, but we cannot ever know who will and won't succumb to the appeal of Christ and all His teachings. It's given to us to cast our bread upon the water, and we seem to always be surprised at who responds, and who doesn't. So nobody should be beyond our efforts! We can never know who will respond. Only God can know such things. It's our job to comply with His directions, not to prophesy the results.