Peaceful Streams

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4 NLT

What an idyllic picture David paints, with his canvas containing green meadows and peaceful streams. We can all let our imaginations build our own versions of what he describes in our minds, personal pictures that would be largely based on our own experiences of farmland and the countryside. We can even visit an art gallery and there we will soon find a landscape or two that could have been lifted right out of Psalm 23. But David’s word picture was based on his own personal experience of the meadows and streams he visited while leading his sheep around the hills and valleys of rural Palestine. 

After the “green meadows” David moves on to the “peaceful streams” that make them green in the first place. Water, pure and clear, bubbling into a steady stream of peace, providing precious water for his flock to drink in a dry and dusty land. But David wasn’t writing about his sheep and their provision. He put himself into the position of being like a sheep with the Lord Himself being his Shepherd. The description of the meadows and streams provides a picture of a journey through a countryside that wasn’t all green and lush, a journey that David would have know well as he travelled with his flock. And here he is, walking along beside a stream of water, peaceful and pure.

We pilgrims are on a journey as well. There are times when we rest in a place of refreshing but other times when we journey onwards, never far from the life giving water that flows from God Himself. The Lord provides for us, body, soul and spirit. These days in the West it is unusual to find physical hunger, with most people having the wherewithal to be able to feed themselves. But spiritual hunger and thirst is a national disease of epidemic proportions, with most people unable to find the Source for which their souls and spirits yearn. There is something within each one of us that longs to be satisfied. God provides all that we need but most people try and satisfy themselves from a source that is man-made and ineffective. A source like alcohol or drugs. Sex or the occult. Sin has so twisted and screwed up people, and the world on which we live, that most will never find the way of true provision, the lush “green meadows” and the “peaceful streams” supplied by God for all to enjoy.

David knew all about the importance of being rooted in a “peaceful stream” somewhere. About God’s people he wrote, “But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do” (Psalm 1:2-3). God has supplied water for us to drink to satisfy our bodies, and He has supplied His Word to satisfy our souls. David could see the connection between people and trees, with those that are planted where they can access His life-giving water functioning just as He designed. Back in Genesis 2 we read about God’s plan, “The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches” (Genesis 2:9-10). One of the trees was the “tree of life” that supplied everything Adam needed for his existence. But that tree reappears in Revelation 22:1-2, “Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the centre of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations“. David could see God’s provision for him and he knew that he had to stay close to the “peaceful streams” because otherwise his spirit would soon shrivel and die, like a tree planted in the middle of a desert. 

In a sense we pilgrims are living between two trees. The tree of life in the garden of Eden and the trees of life planted either side of the “water of life” that flowed from the very throne of God. God has never stopped the water flowing. It flowed in Eden and it will flow from His very presence in the New Jerusalem that we read about in Revelation 21. We pilgrims know all about God’s life-giving water because of Jesus. In John 7:37b-39a He said, “ … 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. …)“.  God promised His supply through a prophetic message brought by Isaiah, “For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children. They will thrive like watered grass, like willows on a riverbank” (Isaiah 44:3-4).

On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came with a mighty roar and His presence has never left us ever since. We pilgrims each have living within us God’s Spirit, a Source of living water that Jesus first introduced us to in John 4:10, “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””. So in this period of living between the two trees, we pilgrims are the Source of the living water that mankind so desperately needs.

Where is God leading us today? Are we walking besides a “peaceful stream” or have we camped somewhere dry and barren? Perhaps we need to get up and get moving. We may be tired, perhaps resigning ourselves to a dry and waterless existence away from any thought of life-giving spiritual water. We may go through the motions of Christianity but denying its power, as Paul wrote. But there is something in God’s hands that will flow into our souls, empowering us and commissioning us for His Work. We can’t produce the fruit that God requires in a waterless desert. That’s the place where the God-deniers live, a place full of sin and evil. But we can walk by the “peaceful streams”, drinking our fills, and then visit the dry places to tell the inhabitants about Jesus. There is a world out there dying of thirst, but we know where there is water, the water that will refresh their souls.

Dear Father God, thank You for Your life-giving water, so freely given. Amen.

Fruit Bearers

Posted on by korgrocker

“But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
Psalm 1:2-3 NLT

A very good morning today to all you trees. Well, that was the analogy the psalmist used, to compare those who spend their time in God’s Word and in following Him and His ways, and the trees we find next to rivers, trees vigorous in their growth and in their fruit bearing. In our wetter Western climes, the spectre of fruit bearing trees next to rivers is not so unusual, but in hot and dusty lands the healthiness of trees adjacent to a water source is very visible. 

The challenge to us pilgrims is about the choices we make. Are we satisfied in camping in desert places, where we don’t bear any fruit, where our leaves whither in dry periods, where our seasons are without the delights and joys the psalmist has experienced? Are we just going through the motions of following God, perhaps attending the occasional Sunday service, but not really enjoying the Christian life? Finding ourselves lacking the prosperity we should be enjoying in God’s kingdom? 

The Apostle Paul gave us examples of the fruit that we should be producing as we plant our spiritual roots deep into the Holy-Spirit-watered ground that is God’s Word. Galatians 5:22-23, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Jesus too gave us great advice. He said, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:33). 

Living next to the life source that is the river of God is a great place to be for us pilgrims. But there are many who live close to the same river but have rejected its life-giving power. Sad but true, and we pilgrims have the mission and opportunity to encourage them to drink deeply from the well of life, God Himself.

Dear Lord Jesus. You are the way to eternal life. Through the power of Your Spirit we have access to the Living Water that supplies all that we need to sustain us, day by day. We are so grateful. Amen.

Recharging Batteries

Posted on by korgrocker

“So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death. As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. He went to a place near the wilderness, to the village of Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples.”
John 11:53-54 NLT

The village of Ephraim wasn’t far from Jerusalem – just thirteen miles. But in those days that was far enough for Jesus to allow things to calm down in Jerusalem and get some peace from the threats of the religious leaders. His public ministry had divided the people into those who believed in Him, and those who didn’t, and it was the latter group that had decided to look for a way to kill Him. Such a course of action, by the religious leaders and their followers, men and women who claimed to follow the Law of Moses, people who knew that murder was on the list of the Ten Commandments, was extraordinary. But such was the anger being stirred up by the devil. He knew that Jesus was a real threat to him and he was going to do anything he could to close Jesus down, and allow him to get on with his devilish business of interfering with the lives of men and women, by introducing more and more evil and wickedness into the world. 

Jesus stayed in the village with His disciples. A useful time for bonding and teaching. A time for a de-briefing to allow all that His followers had seen to be discussed. Learning opportunities and a time of rest to enable Jesus to prepare for what was about to come next. 

We pilgrims sometimes need to take an example from Jesus, in that He spent time with His Father, resting in Him and recharging His spiritual batteries. And by so doing He was always ready and prepared for what was to come next in His life. By spending time with God we pilgrims will find answers to our questions, refreshment for our souls and resources for the day ahead. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need“. In our time spent with God we mustn’t neglect reading the Bible. Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path“. And of course we mustn’t neglect John 15:4, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.”

Just as we can never survive for long in a natural lives without food, we cannot survive for long spiritually without spiritual food. Jesus went to Ephraim to receive His father’s wisdom for what was to come next. We pilgrims must often head for our spiritual Ephraims to recharge our batteries, and receive a new infilling of the Holy Spirit to resource our day ahead.

Dear Father God. We ask today for a fresh infilling of Your Holy Spirit so that rivers of living water will flow from us to those around us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Abundant Life

Posted on by korgrocker

“All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
John 10:8-10 NLT
“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].”
John 10:10 AMP

Before we start getting excited over the potential material benefits of a “rich and satisfying life” in the years we have left in this world, we should note that Jesus was referring to spiritual life. The parable of the Good Shepherd and His sheep created a wonderful picture of how God looks after us, and what He has to offer. The life that Jesus offered is eternal life, because He said in John 3:16, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”. Believing in Jesus will not mean we will live in our natural bodies forever, but He will provide a home for our souls eternally. Jesus told His disciples about eternal life in John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent”. This is the abundant life that Jesus referred to in His Good Shepherd parable. We should also note that Jesus said, about our natural lives, in John 16:33, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world”. So, on the one hand we have our natural lives, and on the other our spiritual lives. How do we reconcile the two?

Our natural and spiritual lives are intertwined – one affects the other and vice versa. The conflict that can sometimes develop was summed up by Paul in Romans 7:21-24, “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” Thankfully, Paul left us a legacy that saw through the dilemma we all face and he wrote, “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death” (Romans 7:25-8:2). 

In the UK, established denominations are on the decline but where have all the believers gone? Other churches don’t see to have benefited greatly by picking up those who have left declining congregations. Have all these church members decided that they don’t believe anymore and so stay at home on a Sunday? I’m sure there is an element in that, but perhaps many Christians are instead waiting for the day when they cross the Great Divide and move on to eternal life, or so they hope, disillusioned by a denominational Christianity that doesn’t contain the abundant life Jesus promised. Perhaps many churches have become religious social clubs failing in their mission to the world, and failing in their relevance to a needy generation.

Perhaps there are pilgrims out there today who can relate to this lack of abundance in their own lives, so how can they remedy the situation? We of course turn once again to Jesus. he will refresh our souls. He will provide the living water from a well that never runs dry. He will even feed us the very bread of life, sustaining our souls on the journey to our promised land. We have much to thank Jesus for. Abundant life is within our grasp, but we have to reach out and apply it to us every day and in every situation we are likely to meet.

Dear Father God. Thank You for all of Heaven’s resources that are available to us. Life so abundantly is the norm in Your Kingdom and we are so grateful. Amen.

Prophet or Messiah

Posted on by korgrocker

“When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, “Surely this man is the Prophet we’ve been expecting.” Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others said, “But he can’t be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee? For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born.” So the crowd was divided about him. Some even wanted him arrested, but no one laid a hand on him.”
John 7:40-44 NLT

There were obviously some people in the crowd who knew their Bibles. The reference to the “Prophet” came from verses in Deuteronomy 18, “Moses continued, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. … I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him” (Deuteronomy 18:15,18). And the prophecy about the “Messiah” came from Micah 5:2, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf”. Still others didn’t rate Jesus at all, presumably considering Him to be a fraud, so they wanted to arrest Him. It was not a time in history when you would want to make claims of divinity, it seems.

But the three-way schism in the crowd that had gathered in the Temple came to nothing, because “no one laid a hand on Him”. Jesus’ presence, and His teaching and miracles, started many people off on a spiritual journey by confronting their beliefs and behaviours. If Jesus was in fact the Prophet or Messiah, then what should they do? But their religious leaders had publicly rejected Jesus because He didn’t pander to their religiosity and because He didn’t behave in the way they, the religious leaders, expected. They were perhaps expecting a Jesus such as we read about in Revelation, coming on a white horse at the head of an army, ready to do battle with the forces of evil. So the people were indeed left, as Jesus said later, like sheep without a shepherd. 

Perhaps the question for today is what do we think about Jesus? At His first coming was He the Prophet or the Messiah, foretold by the ancient prophets? We pilgrims have the benefit of hindsight, and know the truth. Jesus came as the Son of God, fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies, and offering Himself as the Saviour of everyone who believes in Him. Most people in our Western societies today will have very different views, even if they have any views about Jesus at all. But there has never been anyone born in this world who has impacted history as much as Jesus did. 

In the Temple that day, the people were not aware of the importance of the occasion. They knew Someone significant was before them but that was probably as far as it went for most of them. But there would have been a few people that God had called who listened to Jesus and then went away changed by an encounter with Him. People who desired more than anything else the “living water” that Jesus was offering. These were people who became the bedrock of the early church, and to whom we should be grateful. In the generations since, there have been a significant minority of people who have heard God’s call and who have followed Him, often in difficult and life-threatening circumstances. One day we will all meet up, and be with our Saviour for ever, rewarded for our faith and belief in Him.

Dear God. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit, so available to all who ask. We thank You for refilling us every day, and for keeping us close to You. Amen.

Living Water

Posted on by korgrocker

“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 7:37-39 NLT

It was the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. For the previous seven days, water had been poured out at the base of the altar in the Temple, but on this day it wasn’t. So perhaps symbolically, Jesus stood up and offered to the people “living water”, with one proviso – the people had to believe in Him. Once again Jesus was talking about spiritual water, not the physical water so sought after in that dry and dusty land. Helpfully, John explained this for the benefit of the people reading his Gospel; the spiritual “living water” was the Holy Spirit, the giving of whom was a gift from God following a person’s salvation. In Acts 2:38, in the middle of Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, he said, “ … Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. There is no other way of receiving the Holy Spirit, although we read about someone called Simon who tried. Acts 8:18-19, “When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power. “Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!”” As we read on in Acts 8 we see how he received correction for his erroneous demands.

There are many references to “water” in a spiritual sense in the Bible. For example, Isaiah wrote, “With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!” (Isaiah 12:3). And there is Isaiah 58:11, “The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring”. Once before, Jesus mentioned living water. To the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well He said, “ … 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 4:10).

The Holy Spirit is a gift from God, and He brings to our spirits all the benefits that physical water brings to our bodies. So just as our bodies need water to survive, so does our spirits. But the “living water” for our spirits is alive and active, not stagnant and dead. It refreshes us and satisfies our thirst and leads us to eternal life. The “living water” within us refreshes those around us as well, as we make available God’s gift in our families and communities. And every day we can request a fresh infilling of the “living water”, the Holy Spirit, to help us face into the day and its challenges. 

Father God, we pray for a fresh supply of this living water, for the refreshment of our spirits in this dry and dusty land. Thank You. Amen.

Over the Sea

Posted on by korgrocker

“After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.)”
John 6:1-4 NLT

As written in the previous chapter in John’s Gospel, Jesus had been in Jerusalem for one of the Jewish Feasts, and while there He had healed a paralysed man lying next to the Pool of Bethesda. Jesus’ instructions to the healed man were recorded in John 5:8, “Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”” The Jewish leaders took exception at the healed man doing work on the Sabbath (they considered that carrying a mat was “work”) and this initiated a conversation between the hostile leaders and Jesus, where He explained His authority and mission. We now move on into John chapter 6, where we find that Jesus had travelled back northward to Galilee and then across the Sea of Galilee to a more remote region on the other side. He did this because, as we find out later, He probably wanted some peaceful quality time with His disciples. But the crowds kept following Him. They were huge crowds, John wrote, made up of people wanting to see the miracles of healing that Jesus was committing. 

Jesus had become a celebrated figure to the people in Galilee. Imagine the popular music stars of today, followed around by adoring fans and the newspaper photographers, never able to get any time on their own. Followed to their gigs. Followed to their hotels. Never a let up and never any privacy. But unlike the pop stars of today, Jesus never turned anyone away. Healing the sick was not the only reason why Jesus was in the Holy Land at that time. He knew His time on earth was not going to be very long, and He was desperate to train up the young men who were His disciples. So He climbed a hill with them, and we read that he “sat down with his disciples around him”. In those days Rabbi’s sat down to teach their disciples.

Matthew 4:23,25, “Jesus travelled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. … Large crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River”. This was perhaps Matthew’s account of what John was recording in his Gospel. But Matthew continued with, “One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them” (Matthew 5:1-2). Helpfully, Matthew recorded what Jesus taught about and we can read the Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7.

We pilgrims also have a mission here in our societies and nations. The Good News about Jesus and His love and saving grace, must be shared with those around us. And in the Great Commission we are told to make disciples. Not of us, or course, but of the wonderful Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is unlikely that huge crowds will be following us, but it is quite likely that distractions will try and pull us away from what we should be doing. Things like extra shifts at work, or lots of emails. Perhaps it is the golf course tugging us away from our mission. But whatever it is, we must be self disciplined just as Jesus was. But Jesus never stinted having quality time with His Father in Heaven and often He arose early to go out on His own to spend time in prayer. 

Do we pilgrims prioritise spending time in prayer and reading God’s Word in the Bible? For me it has to be early in the morning as otherwise the pressures of the day invade my personal space and it becomes too late. Jesus was in constant communication with His Father, and through that received guidance and spiritual sustenance for His mission. We pilgrims need to be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit who resources us for the day ahead and leads us into all truth. and as we listen to what He has to say, perhaps the day before us will become less of a hassle than we otherwise would have expected.

Dear Father God. We thank You for all Your resources and encouragement. We pray again today for more of the life-giving water of Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Get Your Husband

Posted on by korgrocker

““Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right You don’t have a husband— for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!””
John 4:16-18 NLT

The woman at the well seemed to have a problem with men. To be in the sixth relationship is going some, even by modern standards. The fact that she came to draw water on her own probably indicated that the other women in the village wanted nothing to do with her. For all we know, she had a local reputation for being a bit of a marriage wrecker. But how did Jesus know about her private life? It wouldn’t have been posted on the local Facebook page, or mentioned in a flyer pinned to the wall above the well. We can try and make sense of why she was so active in husband recycling, and presumably psychiatrists would have a selection of answers to her problem, but none of this matters very much. What does matter is that Jesus grabbed her attention and lifted her thoughts out of the drudgery of drawing water and forced her to consider her situation.

Jesus, of course, was in constant communication with His Father. We read in John 5:19-20, “So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished“. So communicating with His father through the power of the Spirit, Jesus would have known who the woman at the well really was. He saw right into her very soul and put His finger on the main issue driving, and destroying, her life. And by doing so He laid the foundation for a revival that was soon to happen in that Samaritan village. An uncomfortable and embarrassing experience for the woman led to her life, and the lives of others, being transformed.

We pilgrims also have access to situations where, through the Holy Spirit, a prophetic word, a word of knowledge, can expose the truth and transform the life of a sinner. We have a “still small voice” within us that we need to listen carefully to. It needs practice to hear it, but the Holy Spirit within us constantly speaks. A question we must often ask is, “What do You want me to know about this person, or say to them, Lord?” We pray for that insight that will unlock an otherwise lifeless conversation. And at the start of a day we pray for divine encounters, or opportunities to share the Good News with those around us, with people trapped in hopeless situations like the woman at the well. 

Dear Father God. We pray today for a fresh infilling of Your Spirit, revitalising us and equipping us for the day ahead. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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.