Blog

Living Water (2)

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.””
John 4:13-15 NLT

In John 4:10 we read, “Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”” Tantalisingly and perceptively, Jesus had put His finger on an important, if not the most important, aspect of the woman’s life. Drawing water was a daily and menial task for women in those days and it was an unceasing demand that could not be avoided. But Jesus seemed to be offering the woman a way out of her drudgery. All the woman could focus on was the water lying at the bottom of Jacob’s well, but Jesus had something better for her. The “living water” Jesus was talking about was the Holy Spirit – He could not remove the harsh and repetitive demands of fetching water from the woman’s daily schedule, but He could give her something meaningful in her life instead. Sadly, even by this stage in the conversation, the woman could still not see beyond water pots, wells, ropes and the water she and her dependents needed for their natural lives.

As we fast forward to 21st Century Planet Earth, we notice that in certain parts of the world, water supplies are extremely vulnerable. In fact, it has been calculated that over half the world’s population (4 billion people) suffer some form of water stress for at least one month every year. Even here in the UK, climate change has brought times of drought leading to water shortages, stunted crops, and hosepipe bans. It was no different in the Western Mediterranean countries in Biblical times – the scarcity of water was a constant concern for the people who were growing crops and tending livestock. 

But Jesus was concerned about His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. In His Kingdom, then as now, spiritual water was and is an essential commodity, and there is no limit to the life-giving Spirit that is accessible to all. There are no hosepipe bans in Heaven! However, there is one essential caveat. In John 7:38 Jesus said, “Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” No-one can drink the Heavenly water unless they embrace, and believe in, the Saviour, Jesus Himself. The word “believe” implies an intimate trust and faith in the God-Man Jesus, and a personal relationship with Him that will never die. It is so sad, though, that many believers fail to drink deeply of the life-giving spiritual water so freely available to them, preferring instead to soldier on in their own strength. We need to drink Jesus’ living water every day. Sometimes several times during the day. Just as physical water needs replenishing in our physical bodies, so does the spiritual water in our souls. 

So today, right now even, let us open up our hearts and ask the Saviour to fill us anew. And “Rivers of living water” will flow, and flow, and flow. Until we are overflowing. We may still have to do the menial equivalent of going to draw water, but we will do it with joy and gratitude, full of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord Jesus. We do believe in You. Please fill us afresh with Your Living Water again today. Amen.

Ancestors

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?””
John 4:10-12 NLT

The dialogue between the woman and Jesus continued, with the woman bringing in the importance of ancestry. But the content of the exchange is interesting – Jesus is talking about the “living water”, the Holy Spirit, and the woman still has the pool of water at the bottom of a well in her head. So superficially they might have been talking about water, but the two scenarios were totally different. The woman’s sceptical thoughts burst out into the accusation that because Jesus didn’t have the necessary accoutrements to bring the water to the surface, he therefore couldn’t access it. And anyway, she accused Him of making a claim to be greater than the man, Jacob, who found the well in the first place, many years before. 

Such misunderstandings in a conversation are common. The act of being able to articulate our thoughts to another person is a skill we acquire from childhood, but knowing the other person is an important factor in a conversation, because over time both people get to know what the other person thinks about, particularly when they talk about subjects that are familiar to them. This can be observed between a married couple who have been together for many years, for example. Amusingly to an observer, they will even finish each other’s sentences. Up to this point in the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman the connection between physical water and spiritual water had not been made.

How do we pilgrims communicate the Good News about Jesus, and all that He did for mankind? At Jacob’s well, Jesus used a common commodity important to the people in that culture to start a conversation. He could have sat by the well ignoring the woman, which would have been her expectation because of the hostile relationship between Jews and Samaritans. But the poor woman had to carry water in a heavy pot daily some distance back to the village of Sychar. If there was anything that would have grabbed her attention it was the possibility that she could be relieved of that burden. 

So we pilgrims pray that God will reveal something about who we are speaking with to form a relational bridge over which the Gospel can be delivered. Something to grab their attention and open up the conversation. I find that dog walkers are always ready to talk about their pets. Someone tending a planter outside our community centre will often respond to a question or comment about the plants or shrubs. But sometimes God will reveal something supernaturally about the person – but more of that in a future blog.

Paul wrote in Colossians 4:3, “Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains”. Paul didn’t hold back at all, and ended up in all sorts of trouble because of his zeal to share the Gospel with whoever he met. In the UK at the moment, street preachers are being arrested for sharing the Word of God on our streets, wrongly as it turns out but there is increasing hostility to the Gospel in our secular society. It won’t be long until this becomes a crime, along with other demonstrations about the Kingdom of God. We have a window of opportunity to start a conversation with a stranger at a modern equivalent of Jacob’s well. In a coffee bar or restaurant. In a supermarket. At the petrol station. In the office or classroom. And we pray for the communication skills that will transform the ordinary into the supernatural.

Father God. We pray that through Your Spirit we will have the words we need to say at just the right time. and we pray for the people we meet, that Your Spirit will go before us, opening hearts and minds. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Living Water (1)

Posted on by korgrocker

“Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.””
“The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”“
John 4:7, 9-10 NLT

‭‭Jesus was sitting by Jacob’s well near Sychar in Samaria, when a woman came out of the village to draw some water. And we read that the woman was surprised when Jesus asked her for a drink, because Jews don’t have anything to do with Samaritans. They hated them but I wonder if that feeling was reciprocated? Jesus told a parable about a Good Samaritan, which we can read in Luke 10. As a summary, an expert in Jewish Law asked Jesus a question about the greatest commandment, and according to the Law, after making God the first priority, Jesus said that we should treat our neighbours as well as we treat ourselves. The lawyer asked a loaded question about who the neighbours were, trying to be clever I suppose, or trip Jesus up. The example in parable form that Jesus gave him turned a Jewish custom on its head. A Jewish man had been attacked by robbers and left for dead. Two Jewish religious officials came by but refused to help. But then a Samaritan man treated him, continuing to care for him in a local inn for the rest of the day. The next morning, the Samaritan gave some money to the innkeeper to care for him until he was better, promising to provide more money the next time he passed, if necessary. Then came Jesus’ question – who was the best neighbour to the Jew robbed by bandits? The lawyer would not even say the dreaded word “Samaritan”, but just said “the one who showed him mercy” (Luke 10:37). 

But Jesus wasn’t fazed by the woman’s frosty response to His question “Please give me a drink”. He immediately took hold of the narrative and turned the conversation around from one about a drink of water from the well, to one focused on the Living Water that was a gift of God. Jesus spoke about this “Living Water” again, when He attended the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. We read in John 7:37-39, “On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)” 

John’s explanation about the living water being the Holy Spirit was very clear, but such “water” was a spiritual element not understood by the natural people of His day. But we pilgrims know the living water of the Holy Spirit as it infuses and refreshes us. We are indeed a blessed people, who have benefitted, and continue to benefit, by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So the question is to Christians everywhere – have you received this gift? Jesus offered it to the Samaritan woman, and offers it to everyone today. But there is a catch – the prerequisite is that to access living water, we have to believe in Jesus. There is no other way.

Father God. I pray for a new infilling of Your living water today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Please Give Me A Drink

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.”
John 4:6-8 NLT

So, we have a well, Jesus, tired from the journey and sitting by it, and a Samaritan woman coming out to get some water. Nothing remarkable about any of that, until we realise that Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink. And worse, there was only the two of them at the well that hot day. In those days Jews didn’t even talk to Samaritans, trying their best to avoid any sort of contact with them. And then there was the social etiquette of a man talking to a woman not known to him, something else forbidden in that rather misogynistic culture. But why was a woman coming out to draw water from the well in the middle of the day anyway. This task was normally reserved for the cooler times in the day, with groups of women coming out together. A simple scene but one that to an onlooker would have seemed a bit strange. 

Jesus was obviously tired and thirsty and asked for a drink. We of course remember the first temptation that Jesus endured while He was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. The devil knew that he had the power to turn stones into bread and this would have applied to water to drink as well. But Jesus replied with a quotation from Deuteronomy 8:3b, “ ….  people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord“. ‭‭So without a doubt Jesus didn’t need to ask for a drink. He could have spoken the word and a jug of water, cool and refreshing, could have immediately appeared before Him.

I wonder what the Samaritan woman was thinking. As she walked out of the village, she could see this figure, obviously a Jew, sitting by the well. Would she have been feeling rather unsure and even vulnerable? After all, there was no-one else present. What was He sitting there for? Was He waiting for someone? All sorts of thoughts would have been going through her mind. And then there was that question, polite and to the point, “Please give me a drink”. That was the question that started a remarkable conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, that culminated in a revival bursting out in the village of Sychar.

We pilgrims often come upon other people not known to us. In the supermarket. At the bus stop. In the work place. But for all we know, God has a message for them, something tailor-made just for them at this point in their lives, and He wants us to provide it. Often there is a bridge over which a conversation can be started. I recently spoke with a lady who was walking a dog along a woodland path. The dog was an unusual breed, so I asked her about it, and where it had come from. There then followed a tragic tale of an estranged son who had died on his own and prematurely in his early thirties from a congenital heart problem, and all she had to remind her of him was his dog. I believe God brought about that meeting that day because I was able to encourage her with a few words of comfort.

But none of us know what is around the corner. Are we heading for a well and water experience today? Is there someone God wants us to encourage? It may not be with a Gospel message but it could be with a cheery response, or a listening ear. The Holy Spirit will guide us in God’s ways and plans if we are open enough to hear His voice.

Dear Father God. You have plans for each one of us and often You ask us to share Your love for them. We commit to hearing Your voice today and every day. In Jesus’ holy name. Amen.

On The Move

Posted on by korgrocker

“So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime.”
John 4:3-6 NLT

In Jesus’ day, there was no quick way of getting from A to B. It was a case of travelling by foot, or possibly by a horse or donkey, but 20-30 miles per day was the norm. To get from Judea to Galilee by the quickest route involved a journey through Samaria, a place that was not popular with the Jews, as it would mean potential contact with the hated Samaritans. This journey took about three days to complete, though the longer route skirting Samaria, and favoured by some, took five to seven days. But Jesus and His disciples took the route through Samaria, and ended up at a village called Sychar. But who were the Samaritans and why did the Jews hate them so much? “In Jesus’ day, the Jewish people of Galilee and Judea shunned the Samaritans, viewing them as a mixed race who practiced an impure, half-pagan religion” (quote from Gotquestions.org). But more on that in a later blog.

Jesus and His disciples had apparently walked some distance to get this far, and we read that Jesus was tired. It was the hottest part of the day and Jesus was resting, sitting by the famous well that had a history stretching back to the time of Jacob. But some people perhaps have a problem with the thought that Jesus was tired. After all, they think, how can the Son of God, with all the divine resources at His disposal, be wearied by a journey? Jesus came to this earth, taking on human flesh and all the baggage that came with it. So like us, He would have needed to eat and sleep, and even use a toilet, something that perhaps we Christians don’t like to think about. In Romans 8:3, we read, “The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins”. 

So on the journey from Judea to Galilee, how would we feel if Jesus, the Son of God, was suddenly transported there by some divine process, leaving His disciples to make their way on foot? At a stroke, it would destroy the reason why He came – to live in the likeness of a human being from His birth all the way to Calvary. It was important that Jesus’ humanity was seen by those around Him because through it He gave sinful mankind a hope for the future, a hope that promised them that they could be forgiven their sins and one day join God in Heaven. Jesus was on the move as part of Father God’s plans for Him. He was sent to His people the Jews and there would come a time when He would return to Judea and Jerusalem. But on the journey to Galilee He stopped at Sychar. A divine appointment was about to emerge.

Dear Father God. You have plans for us, plans that amongst other things provide us with a hope for the future. We are so grateful. Amen. 

Time to Go

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.”
John 4:1-3 NLT

‭Jesus had become aware that He had appeared on the Pharisee’s radar. This formidable group of Jewish leaders were very influential in Jesus’ day and they seemed to be quite popular with the people, though why this should be is unclear. The Pharisees promoted strict adherence to the Jewish Law – all 600 laws as recorded in the Torah – but they also followed the Jewish oral traditions that they believed had originated in the time of Moses. It must have been hard to be a Pharisee, but they were a self-righteous bunch and believed that if they kept all these laws and traditions then God would be pleased with them. Jesus had little time for them, as on several occasions he called them hypocrites, and we read what He said about them in Matthew 23:2-4, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden”. Jesus respected them to the extent of their knowledge of the Jewish Law, but He saw right through them into what was in their hearts. 

So why did Jesus want to leave a successful disciple-making venture in Judea and return to Galilee? Perhaps He didn’t want to confront and alienate the Pharisees just yet, as He was only at the start of His ministry. Or perhaps His Father communicated other plans. Or perhaps He knew that through His cousin John the Baptist, the baptismal ministry was in good and safe hands, and He was needed elsewhere.

It is human nature that should a person become successful at something, then they want to stay in that zone for as long as possible. This can particularly apply to people in an up-front church ministry, someone such as a worship leader or pastor. They feel that success gives them a right to continue even though God might be saying something else. It is very rare to find a leader with John the Baptist’s humility, as we read in John 3:29-30, “It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom’s friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less“. Paul the Apostle also taught humility, as we read in Philippians 2:3-4, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too”.

Very perceptively, John the Baptist said, “ … No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven” (John 3:27). Those in an upfront church ministry are anointed by God for their role but sometimes their conduct will bar them from continuing, as certain televangelists have found. In the Bible too we find the example of Saul who, through his disobedience, lost his anointing as king of Israel. 1 Samuel 15:22-23, “But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”” 

The lesson to us pilgrims is that we must always be in a position where we are totally reliant on God and obedient to what He wants us to do. There is no other way.

Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for Your guidance, keeping us on the path to eternal life. While we are here on earth please lead us in Your ways. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

A Father’s Love

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”
John 3:35-36 NLT

John wrote that Father God had placed everything into Jesus’ hands, and all through His love for Him. What a relationship they had! Ultimate and perfect trust. We already know that through the Word, the universe was created. John 1:1-3, “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him“. And now Jesus was entrusted with the salvation of all those living in the world, even to the point that the Son would bring into Heaven all those who believed in Him. Jesus was, and is, the gateway into eternal life, because John ends chapter 3 with the truth that all those who don’t believe in Jesus “will never experience eternal life”. Then follows the thought that all these unbelievers, by default, remain “under God’s angry judgment”. 

Why is it that the majority of people in today’s world just don’t seem worried about their future? Why is it they have rejected the Gospel and all that it means? This is not a new phenomenon – Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God“. John wrote that if people don’t make a decision to follow Jesus, then they continue in a state of suspended judgement. God is still angry today that people have rejected His Son, by not believing His testimony and what He has seen and heard. Perhaps they are like someone who has accidentally consumed a deadly but slow acting poison, for which there is a very good antidote. But they refuse to drink it, even if it means saving their life. That is the course of action that an unbeliever has taken. Their lives are poisoned by sin, and even though there is an antidote through repentance and belief in Jesus, they choose not to embrace it, and die of the poison anyway.

John wrote that God’s judgement was angry. But are we surprised? Imagine if the son we natural father’s have was abused, physically and emotionally. Accused of demon possession. Whipped, tormented, found guilty by a kangaroo court on trumped up false charges, and then crucified. I think I would be more than angry. In fact, a natural reaction would have been to send a legion of angels to annihilate the abusers. No wonder God was angry. Jesus spoke a parable about the wicked farmers, as recorded in Matthew 21. We read, “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’ “But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him”” (Matthew 21:37-39). 

It is a miracle that the Father’s love for His Son was not vindicated at the time. But God’s plan was to allow His Son to be sacrificed so that all those who believed in Him would benefit with eternal life. What a Saviour!

Dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We worship You today with deeply thankful hearts. Amen.

His Testimony

Posted on by korgrocker

“He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them! Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true. For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit.”
John 3:32-34 NLT

The importance of having a testimony is, without doubt, something that every Christian should take note of. As a minimum, we have that date, even a time of day, when we made that momentous decision to follow Jesus and to believe His testimony that He was (and still is) the Son of God. We add to our testimonies those occasions when God blessed us, healed us, helped us – the list of divine interventions can be endless. Often we don’t know what God is doing for us behind the scenes, so we need to be open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s ministry. There are some big things that God has done for me, but there are also times when He showed favour apparently against the odds. That time when a car crash of a job interview still resulted in an offer of employment. The beautiful young girl who, by a series of coincidences, appeared in my life, and who is now my wife of many years. We must always be ready with a testimony so that we have an answer for those who ask. 1 Peter 3:15, “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it”. 

Jesus had a testimony but when He testified about “what he [had] seen and heard“, only a few believed Him. Only a few, even though He spoke about God, their Heavenly Father. Isn’t it strange that people in general only believe what they want to believe. If what they are hearing doesn’t fit in with their world view then they refuse to believe it. Speaking about the “man of lawlessness”, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth“. Jesus had the words of eternal life, words of truth, words that, if applied in their lives, would ensure the people’s eternal life with God in Heaven, and yet they refused to believe them.

The devil is a master of lies and in every generation he concocts evil ideologies that are based on his lies. So just now in 21st Century society, he has propagated a raft of lies over sexuality and gender. So impressionable people have been deluded to think that they can change their gender. Homosexuals think that they can still become a Christian while practising their same sex acts. Politicians here in Scotland are now trying to introduce laws that will criminalise a pastor praying for someone who has gone to them asking for advice over their gender confusion. All actions emanating from lies planted in people’s hearts by the devil. A quotation from best selling Christian author Dr Rosario Butterworth, “The Biblical truth is that homosexuality and transgenderism are found in the flesh, forbidden in the Law and overcome through the Saviour”. When our minds are assaulted by all sorts of strange ideologies, we pilgrims instead lift and open our Bibles and find the truth, free from the devil’s lies.

Jesus had a testimony, but He never forced it upon people. Then, and now, people have a choice. To believe His testimony, or to reject it. One way leads to eternal life and the other to eternal death. As for me, I know what choice I have made.

Dear Lord Jesus. Only You have the words that lead to eternal life. I believe them, and I pray that those I meet day by day will believe them too. Your testimony is truth and life. Thank You Amen.

He Who Comes From Above

Posted on by korgrocker

“He who comes from [heaven] above is above all others; he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks [about things] of the earth [his viewpoint and experience are earthly]. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has [actually] seen and heard, of that He testifies; and yet no one accepts His testimony [as true].”
John 3:31-32 AMP

‭‭There are some potentially difficult thoughts in these verses. John the Baptist was setting out the differences between the inhabitants of Heaven and the inhabitants of earth. And, sadly, he pointed out that no one accepted what the Man from Heaven had to say about what He had seen and heard. Of course, we see the difficulty straight away because we look at these verses from a human perspective. We imagine in our minds a human being from Heaven and an earthly human, but of course this is not the case. Heaven is populated by spiritual beings and earth by natural beings. And the Man that John the Baptist was talking about had left Heaven as a Spirit and had taken on the form of a human being.

The Apostle John started his Gospel with the statement that “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). And a few verses on we read, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Paul wrote an explanation in Romans 8:3, “The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins“. 

We pilgrims all understand that within our human bodies is a spirit, and this spirit connects with our Father in Heaven through Jesus. But this isn’t the case for everyone. Those who don’t know God still have something within them that yearns for a spiritual connection with something or someone. So they try and satisfy that yearning by exploring other avenues. There are of course the other spiritual outlets emanating from the devil – he will always try and counterfeit the things of God. Then there are drugs like alcohol that seem to offer some sort of relief from the emptiness inside, but this is only a temporary solution. Some will try sex in all its deviancies, but find a downward path to oblivion. But John the Baptist knew the answer, and he pointed out that the Man with the solution to the spiritual yearnings, the Man who came down from Heaven, the Word of God Himself, but sadly He was not believed by the people of His day.

So what can we pilgrims learn from this? We too have seen and heard amazing things in the Spirit. We have glimpsed God Himself through Jesus. We have felt His loving arms around us. We have a testimony to tell others, a testimony about our amazing Heavenly Father. But we find that as we share our testimony with those around we are mostly greeted by scorn and derision, by ridicule and rejection. But, like Jesus, we never give up. In the background God works in the hearts of those around us, and we will find receptivity from those open to the truth.

Dear Father God. You have graciously given us a glimpse of Your heart, and have given us the privilege of sharing that with those around us. Please lead and guide us to those You have chosen for Your kingdom. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Generosity of Spirit

Posted on by korgrocker

“John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’ It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom’s friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”
John 3:27-30 NLT

How generous John the Baptist was, in deference to the Messiah. To say “ He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less” was truly counter-cultural. John had a particular calling from God and he stuck to it, knowing that one day his ministry would decline. But he came out of the wilderness at just the right time, and with an assurance of his mission, which was “to prepare a way for Him”, the Messiah. 

Over the years I have discovered that God introduces “seasons” to His church and to His people. John the Baptist introduced a season of baptisms and people came to him, acknowledging that he was a prophet and anointed of God. In that religious culture, people were desperate for another prophet to emerge in Israel, because there had been a long prophetic silence of over 400 years. John introduced a season of revival in a moribund spiritual environment. 

But John was comfortable with his relationship with God, to the extent that he knew that whatever happened God was with him. God had called him to preach repentance and baptise the people who responded to his message. Of course, all of God’s children have a mission on life. It may be a high-profile role such as John. Or it may be something less public. Some people are called to be intercessors. Others to be evangelists. Even others to be pastors and teachers. But most of us are called to be salt and light in our working or educational environment. This is however not to say that any role is greater or lesser than another. The joy comes from knowing that what we are doing is in the will of God.

Sadly, there are those in public ministries who want to hang on to their “ministry” regardless of what God has planned for them. It is particularly hard for a pastor leading a declining congregation, to realise that perhaps that particular ministry, that season, has come to an end and God has something else in mind. The secret lies in being open to what God wants us to do.

A dangerous prayer to pray goes like this. “Dear God, what do You want me to do for You today?” The answer might be a shock or a surprise. Or it might just be “keep going – you’re doing well”. There was a man called Ananias living in Damascus, going about his everyday business, when all of a sudden he heard God say, ” … Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight” (Acts 9:11-12). God can speak to us directly, as He did to Ananias, but are we listening? What if Ananias wasn’t listening that day? Or if he said to God, “No, this man Saul is bad news and I’m not going to risk my life for him”? 

But we pilgrims are here for this season, both in the society in which we live, and in this stage in our lives. Perhaps, though, God has a different plan for us, one that involves a decline in what we are doing and a door opening somewhere else for a new season. To be a Christian is not a boring, pew-warming experience. God has exciting things for us to do and it starts with “Yes Lord, Your servant is listening”. Are we prepared to lay down what we are doing, and move over to allow someone else to take our place? John the Baptist did, and so can we – if God wishes it.

Dear Father God. You have a mission for each one of us. Please help us to relax in You, our Leader and our God. Amen.