What a Question! Ever asked it?

 John 4: 11 (New King James Version, NKJV).

The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?

What a question! This was a very normal question to ask in such a natural situation. This Man had offered this lady something that she had never heard of and therefore she just assumed He was talking about natural water at the bottom of a natural well. You and I say, “If she only knew who it was she was talking to.” That is the whole point of this encounter, she had no idea who Jesus was.

How many times have you and I been in natural situations in which we could not see a positive way out of them? As Christians we realize the power and ability of God and the willingness of Christ to help us but for some reason we have just a smidgen of doubt about the outcome. We think things like, “I know You can help me Jesus so I need You to do it for me,” only to harbor in the back of our natural minds it seems naturally unable for it to happen.

Take heart today and lean not upon your own understanding but believe in the power of Christ! Deep natural wells of despair or unrest are of no consequence to Christ. He has supernatural resources from whence He draws so remember today Who it was (is) the woman was talking to.

My Prayer: Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed is Your Name! Help me today to not see things with my natural eye but to envision You in Your Glory! My help is in You! In Your Name Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Attitude in Prayer

Matthew 6:6 (New King James Version, NKJV).

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

When Jesus said this to His disciples that day He had just told them about the religious leaders who prayed for show. Using impressive words and loud tones, perhaps even showing emotions that would convince the people they were sincere; but what they failed to do was pray to God in private. Jesus said how and where we pray is a reflection of our true relationship with God.

We usually do more praying when we need more help! At least it happens in my life, maybe not yours. I cannot remember when was the last time I thanked God that I woke up in the morning without a cold and sore throat; but I asked Him this morning to HEAL me because now I have one!

Prayer is an attitude of our heart. If all the praying I ever do is in front of our congregation than I am just like the folk Jesus talked about that day. When I pray for those at the altar then I have to pray for them, (even not knowing who they were at the time), in private if I am to expect results.

Get in private with God and the “real you” will be revealed in His presence. Then when you pray in public it will not be for show but to glorify Him!

What is Spiritual Discernment?

I took my daughter to a music store the other day to get her some stuff. I call it stuff because I am musical illiterate and don’t know a B flat from a flat B.  She is gifted and reads music and plays a variety of instruments. She and the clerk got into a big discussion about something having to do with a song and they were talking about notes and chords and keys and things. He looked at me and said, “I take it you are not a musician?” Apparently he noticed the deer in the headlights look on my face.

Although they were speaking English it still sounded foreign to me and I think that is similar to what the Apostle Paul was trying to get across in his letter to the church at Corinth. He had been there years earlier and stayed for about a year and a half preaching Christ to them. After he departed some people began to doubt some of the things he had told them and questions began to arise about this new doctrine of “saved by grace.” After moving on to Ephesus and hearing of their issues, he wrote them a letter explaining what he had told them earlier and telling them the problems with the doctrine were coming from those who were unbelievers and thereby causing doubt for the believers. He said this to them; [i]A person who isn’t spiritual doesn’t accept the teachings of God’s Spirit. He thinks they’re nonsense. He can’t understand them because a person must be spiritual to evaluate them.

You and I live in an unbelieving society that has no idea what saved by grace means. The majority live their lives not thinking about life after death or hoping for the best in the end. The Gospel is a foreign language to them. Before sharing Scripture with them tell them how you came to understand it first. They have more than likely heard of Jesus but until they come to know Him His words will make no sense to them.

 

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[i] 1 Corinthians 2:14 (Gods Word Translation, GW).

Labels Stick

Acts 9:21 (New King James Version, NKJV).

Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”

I have a Coors beer bottle in my office. It sits on the top shelf with some flowers in it. The label is scratched up and some of it is missing. I found it one day in a ditch across the road in front of our church. I was walking the property and saw the end of up sticking up. I was going to pass it by and then I had an idea; a Holy Spirit inspired idea. I dug it out of the dirt and took it into the janitor closet and washed it inside and out. The next Sunday I put some flowers in it and used it as an illustration of my life. The Lord dug me out of the dirt, washed me inside and out, and then used me for His purpose.

That beer bottle fulfilled its purpose as a beer bottle but I found a new use for it. Now the label will always give it away that it used to be a beer bottle, but now it’s a flower vase. None of us have any worse past than the Apostle Paul the Christian bounty hunter. His reputation preceded him everywhere he went. Some never believed that he had “fully changed.”

If people still label you as whom you were before Christ just remember they labeled Jesus first. “Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.”