The heart is the reservoir of a person, from which the streams of life flow. That life may flow through different channels — the mouth, the hand, the eye — but everything draws its source from the great fountain and central reservoir: the heart.
Not only must the heart be kept pure, but it must also be kept full. However pure the water may be in the central reservoir, it will not be possible to have an abundant supply unless the reservoir itself is full. An empty fountain will most certainly produce empty pipes.
✦ Full — Not Only Pure
Spurgeon at his most practical. The heart is the central supply for everything: the mouth, the hand, the eye. Purity is necessary — but purity without fulness is an empty pipe. The machinery can be perfect. The channels can be clean. But an empty fountain produces nothing.
The question is not is your heart clean? but is your heart full? And the answer to that question depends entirely on where the springs are. 🙏
"But how can I keep my heart full? How can my emotions be strong? How can I keep my desires burning and my zeal inflamed?"
Christian, there is one text that will explain all this: "All my springs are in You," said David. Psalm 87:7. If you have all your springs in God, your heart will be full enough.
If you go to the foot of Calvary, there your heart will be bathed in love and gratitude. If you are often in the quiet place of retreat, talking with your God, your heart will be full of calm resolve. If you are continually drawing your impulse, your life, your whole being from the Holy Spirit — without whom you can do nothing — there will be no danger of your having a dry heart.
✦ One Text — Everything Explained
All my springs are in You. Five words — and Spurgeon says they explain everything. How to keep the heart full. How to keep the desires burning. How to keep the zeal inflamed. One answer: the springs are in God. Not in effort. Not in discipline. Not in the next location or the next chapter. In Him.
Guyon's deep well-spring from day thirty-three — God does not give you the sweet rain, but the deep well-spring by which means you live and flourish. And Spurgeon today: all my springs are in You. The same water. The same source. Guyon named the well-spring. David named the Source. Spurgeon connects them. 🙏
"All my springs are in You."
Psalm 87:7 · The one text that explains everythingThe one who calls in secret on his God, who spends much time in holy quiet, who delights to meditate on the words of the Most High — such a person must have an overflowing heart.
And as the heart is, so the life will be. It will be a full life — a life that will speak from the grave and wake the echoes of the future.
"Keep your heart with all diligence" (Proverbs 4:23), and ask the Holy Spirit to keep it full. Oh, for a heart that is full, and deep, and broad! Find the person who has such a heart, and that is the one from whom living waters will flow, refreshing the world with their streams.
There are many opportunities to dehydrate and dry up. I have to go to the Source of Life. 🙏
✦ The Source of Life
There are many opportunities to dehydrate and dry up. Le names the daily reality of the testing season. The packing drains. The stress drains. The deadlines drain. Every day offers new opportunities to run dry.
And the answer: I have to go to the Source of Life. Not to the helpers. Not to the mentors. Not to the journal. To the Source. The mornings before dawn. The quiet place of retreat. The Word meditated upon. The Holy Spirit drawn from continually. The springs that are in God — and in God alone.
Spurgeon describes Le's mornings without knowing her name: the one who calls in secret on his God, who spends much time in holy quiet, who delights to meditate on the words of the Most High. The reservoir is filled in those hours — and the streams flow through the day, through the road, through the packing, through whatever comes. The mornings are the springs. The life is the overflow. 🙏
✦ Speaking from the Grave
A life that will speak from the grave and wake the echoes of the future. The journal at devotional.ledamorais.org. Entries written in Caldas da Rainha, stored in a fortress in Helsinki, read by souls not yet born. The full heart overflows beyond the life that filled it. The streams do not stop when the reservoir's keeper is gone. They flow on — through the entries, through the words preserved, through the echoes that wake in the future. 🙏
The Reservoir
The heart is the central supply. An empty fountain produces empty pipes. Not only pure — full. The question is not is it clean, but is it full.
All My Springs
Psalm 87:7. The one text that explains everything. The springs are in God — not in effort, not in the next chapter. In Him. Guyon's well-spring. David's Source. Spurgeon's connection.
The Overflow
The mornings are the springs. The life is the overflow. A life that speaks from the grave. Living waters flowing, refreshing the world. The full heart overflows beyond the life that filled it.
Spurgeon's third day. And today he gives the one text that holds everything together: all my springs are in You.
Guyon's day thirty-three — the deep well-spring: "God does not give you the sweet rain, but the deep well-spring." And Spurgeon today: "All my springs are in You." The well-spring and the springs are the same water — sourced in God, flowing through the soul, overflowing into the world.
Guyon's day four — the vacuum: "As the air rushes to a vacuum, so God fills the soul emptied of self." And Spurgeon: "An empty fountain produces empty pipes." But the emptiness Guyon describes is different from the emptiness Spurgeon warns against. Guyon's empty soul is emptied of self — and God fills it. Spurgeon's empty heart is emptied of God — and nothing can fill it. The discipline is to be empty of self and full of God at the same time.
Le's mornings — the springs: Spurgeon describes the soul that calls in secret, spends time in holy quiet, meditates on the Word. That is Le — every morning, before dawn, for years. The reservoir has been filling in those hours. And the streams that flow from it — through the journal, through the road, through the testing season — are the overflow of a heart kept full at the Source.
Le's honesty — dehydration: "There are many opportunities to dehydrate and dry up." The testing season drains. The packing drains. And Le's response is not to pretend the draining doesn't happen. It is to go to the Source. Not the helpers. Not the mentors. Not the journal. The Source. All my springs are in You. That is where the refilling happens. Everything else — every mentor, every entry, every pastoral note — is overflow. The Source is God. The springs are His. And the heart that draws from Him will never run dry. 🙏