185 Rivulets III: More Flow

   (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Rivulets III: More Flow”, originally shared on January 27, 2022. It was the 185^th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

    The life of a Christian is a lot like a power station. Today, we’re going to find out why. And we’re going to see how 10 practical things can help us do what it does.

   The power of Holy Spirit flows like the power in a sub-station. It isn’t created there, but it is distributed through various means and flows through it.

   Electric and nuclear power is produced in power plants. They can be federal, state, or local power plants, but the power is made by something whose main purpose is producing it.

   Then it’s distributed through a network, sometimes called “the grid”, including power lines, substations and transformers.

   Power can also be generated by solar panels and wind turbines and follow a similar network as short as from the roof of your house to your inverter, transformer, and electric box, or as long as from offshore wind “farms” to the utility’s power grid.

   Power plants, whatever their kind or size, produce the power. A network brings it to places that benefit from it.

   In the same way, we don’t produce the power of the Holy Spirit in ourselves or in others. We are the conduits of that power to the people whose lives are transformed by it.

   We uploaded a blog called “Rivulets of Living Water” a couple of weeks ago, and “Rivulets: The Sequel” last week. Today, we uploaded “Rivulets III: More Flow”. 😊

   A rivulet is a small stream. It can be the means by which people come to the larger stream.

   Today we’re going to look at 10 more “rivulets”. That is, practical means that might guide people to receive the streams of living water that is God, the Holy Spirit, and be filled.

   These rivulets won’t make people Christians. But they can be the conduits by which the Holy Spirit works in people’s true selves to lead them to new life in Jesus Christ, and we pray that they will.

     21.    Love Your Neighborhood

   Does your church’s neighborhood have a common concern? A house rehabbing project, a parent’s day out, potty-training classes, financial management skills, automobile maintenance, an after-school program, etc.? Promote it or organize it for your church, or even for your own neighborhood. Involve your neighbors. Do it in Jesus’ name.

     22.    Look With New Eyes

   You are a new creation. You have been born again. Look at others with new eyes. Think about the value of everyone you meet today to God, value them in the same way. Let all your interactions with people come from that value. Let the Holy Spirit guide you to a way to live that kind of love and express it daily. Share Jesus, who showed God’s love on the cross.

     23.    Use Snail Mail

   When was the last time you received a hand-written note in a hand-addressed envelope and a commemorative stamp? It made an impression, didn’t it? It felt personal. Mail a note of encouragement with a Christian message of hope to someone.

     24.    Point Out the Beauty of Creation

   Was it another beautiful day in Southern California? Point out nature’s beauty to someone and mention that it is a gift from God. Speak of gratitude to God the Creator.

     25.    Welcome Company

   When you have non-Christian or unchurched guests over for dinner, pray as you usually do and add special thanks for your guests. If you have family devotions after dinner, explain and proceed.

     26.    Contact Missing Members

   Is there someone you haven’t seen in worship for a while, either in person or online? They may be ill, or falling away, and sometimes people leave just to see if anyone notices. Contact them and tell them that you missed them. Sometimes people just need a little encouragement to know that they belong. Invite them to return and be a part of the community of believers.

     27.    Be A Gentle Spirit

   Being calm under stress, avoiding gossip, sarcasm and whining say a lot about your faith. Let the Holy Spirit work in you when you engage with others to show who you are, and that God is in charge.

     28.    Celebrate Christian Holidays at Home

   When Advent comes, make your own Advent Wreath and put it center state at Christmas parties. Decorate a Christmas tree and explain its origin to guests. Bring palms indoors for Palm Sunday and an Easter Lily for Easter and explain their significance to guests. Serve and share foods that are associated with the season.

     29.    Send Cards Associated with Christian Holidays

   Find greeting cards with real Christian messages or make your own. Choose the stamps most clearly associated with the holiday. Send them to friends and family.

     30.    Distribute Invitations to Christian Holiday Events at Your Church

   Use the invitations and promotional materials that your church produces for Christian holidays. Leave them where community literature is allowed. Send them with your holiday cards. Leave them at the doors of homes in your neighborhood. Contribute funds to your congregation’s bulk mailing project. Digitize them and send them to your online friends and family.  

   Maybe these 10 rivulets will stimulate your own thinking about how you can share the faith that God has given you.

   May they be the means by which the power of the Holy Spirit flows through you to give those you share them with strength, faith, power, love, and the fullness of God.

   May they be the means by which people you know and care about come to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit that wells-up like streams of living water flowing within them.

   As Paul writes of his prayer for the readers of his letter to the Ephesians, in Ephesians 3:14-21,

¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. ¹⁶ I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, ¹⁷ and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. ¹⁸ I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰ Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.