f or those with him.

We are such travellers, and for us the water which Christ gives is
better than that fabled fountain, for he who carries the precious water
may drop it in places where no spiritual water is, and so bring life
and blessing to the multitudes of needy souls. Oh, note the words, 'The
water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing
up', and 'out of him shall flow rivers of living water'. This He spake
of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should afterwards receive.

That is a very blessed promise, 'Ye shall receive power after that the
Holy Ghost is come upon you'; and yet, so far as we understand the
prevailing experience of Christian people, the promises of power are
very feebly realized, and very slowly acted upon. When we see the
manifest lack of the Holy Ghost in the experience, and ask, 'Why is
this?' we know that the cause may lie in certain easily defined facts.

One reason may be the actual _existence of sin in the heart_--some
hidden or secret wrong. There are numbers in whose hearts there is
something wrong. Is it so with you? Is there some inward love of or
desire for evil? Or the world spirit--is that there? Or anything of a
similar character? Now, before the Holy Ghost can flow into you, to say
nothing of Him flowing through and out of you, these wrong things must
be purged away by the cleansing stream; or, to change the figure, the
purifying flame must

_Burn up the dross of base desire,
And make the mountains flow._

Or the hindrance may lie in a _want of surrender and faith_, without
which the Spirit cannot possess and use us. I am not speaking of some
act of surrender or faith only, but also of that condition which must
be maintained. It is just that neglect or withdrawal which disturbs the
touch with God, and so the connexion is broken. You are all familiar
with the electric switch and the light. You know how slight is the
thing which connects or disconnects the current. A child's finger can
touch a button which will turn on enough electricity to blast a rock or
move the machinery of a great factory.

And so I tell you that little things which are held on to against God's
will switch off the Power. That unwillingness in some hearts to follow
the Lord, and do as He commands, will switch it off; that spirit which
chooses to do this, but won't do that; which says, 'I will go here, but
I won't go there', that sort of thing breaks the connexion.