From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Revelation 4:5
“God communicates Himself to pure souls and blesses through them other souls who are in a state of receptivity. All these little rills, which water others, little compared with the fountain from which they flow, have no determinate choice of their own, but are governed by the will of their Lord and Master.
The nature of God is communicative. God would cease to be God if He should cease to communicate Himself, by love, to the pure soul. As the air rushes to a vacuum, so God fills the soul emptied of self.
The seven blessed spirits around the throne, are those angels who approach nearest to God, and to whom he communicates Himself the most abundantly. St. John, perhaps, was better prepared than any of the apostles to receive the Word, incarnate, dwelling in the soul.
On the bosom of Jesus—in close affinity with Him—John learned the heights and depths of divine love. It was on this account our Lord said to his mother, “seeing the disciple stand by whom he loved, Woman behold thy Son.” He knew the loving heart of John would give her a place in his own home.
God communicates Himself to us in proportion as we are prepared to receive Him. And in proportion as He diffuses Himself in us, we are transformed in Him, and bear His image. O, the astonishing depths of God’s love giving Himself to souls disappropriated of self, becoming their end, and their final principle, their fulness, and their all.”
Madam Guyon in The Letters of Madam Guyon: Selections of Her Religious Thoughts and Experiences, translated and re-arranged from her private correspondence by P.L. Upham (Boston: Henry Hoyt, 1858) Letter 5.
Madam Guyon shines light three ideas that relate to generosity. It starts with taking receptivity. He communicates or shares Himself with those “ who are in a state of receptivity.” Before we can do any giving, we must receive.
He does not overwhelm us, either. “God communicates Himself to us in proportion as we are prepared to receive Him.” This shouts of His love and His knowledge of each of us. He supplies what we need for ourselves and others.
And He does all this—“giving Himself to souls disappropriated of self, becoming their end, and their final principle, their fulness, and their all”—to the measure that we are empty and waiting for what is best, being filled with His fullness.
It may sound lofty, so let’s simplify all this. Let’s start the week by taking a receptive posture and emptying ourselves so that in proportion, God can fill us and transform us into conduits of material and spiritual blessings for God’s glory.