Tag: overflowing

Awaiting His Arrival: From Emptied to Overflowing

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poliswaterfall2

He has satisfied the hungry hearts and sent the rich away with empty hands.
Luke 1:53

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14

 

 Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
All for love’s sake becamest poor;
Thrones for a manger didst surrender,
Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
All for love’s sake becomes poor.
~Frank Houghton

 

Breath, mouth, ears, eyes
he is curtailed who overflowed all skies,
all years. Older than eternity, now he
is new.
~Luci Shaw from “Mary’s Song”

 

Do you think you could contain Niagara Falls in a teacup?
Don’t come with a thimble when God has nothing less to give you
than the ocean of himself.
~Brennan Manning

brussels1127

Called to Advent–overflowing

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photo by Josh Scholten

…continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Colossians 2: 6b-7

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
1 Thessalonians 3:12

Overflowing has always been something I’ve been particularly good at, especially first class in the category of overflowing tears. My family knows it doesn’t take much to get my lacrimal faucets going: saying goodbye, saying hello, listening to a childrens’ choir singing, listening to any of our own children singing, a heartstring-tugging commercial on TV, the whistled “Greensleeves” theme to the old Lassie series, not to mention the whistled theme to the old “Leave it to Beaver” or “Andy Griffith” series–you name it, whistling does it.

I would like to think that I’m overflowing with thankfulness, hope, joy and love but it may just be, as my husband suspects, that I’m suffering from an overabundance of sentimentality and nostalgia. …whatever.

He’s right. My easy tears and emotions run amok are not proof my tank is full or my heart overflows. It is only through the power of the Spirit–through the work of His Word preached faithfully each week, feeding my hunger, slaking my thirst, supporting my weakness, easing my emptiness–that I find my heart filling up, bit by bit.

There was a moment today after worship together as a church and a powerful sermon. I watched the Sunday School Children rehearse their parts for next week’s Christmas Childrens’ Program, as a two year old “angel” clasped her hands in prayer over an imaginary manger. I could see what she “saw”. She was looking into the face of God, watching Him sleep, in her mind’s eye. My heart filled even more. I wanted to look into that “manger” right along with her.

I hope when I overflow, it is with Spirit, not sentiment and I continue to look for His face wherever I go.

When the heart is full of joy, it always allows its joy to escape. It is like the fountain in the marketplace; whenever it is full it runs away in streams, and so soon as it ceases to overflow, you may be quite sure that it has ceased to be full. The only full heart is the overflowing heart.
Charles Spurgeon

A beam of God’s countenance is enough to fill the heart of a believer to overflowing. It is enough to light up the pale cheek of a dying saint with seraphic brightness, and make the heart of the lone widow sing for joy.
Robert Murray McCheyne

Adoration of the Shepherds van Honthorst