Thought for the Week - 7th August 2016

Pastor Gareth Watkins
John 4: 7-30

A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her,
“Give me some water to drink.”
(For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.)
So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would have asked him,

and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said to him, “you have no bucket and the well is deep;

where then do you get this living water?
Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.”
Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again.

But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water,

so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
He said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.”
The woman replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her,

“Right you are when you said, ‘I have no husband,’
for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!”
The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not know.

We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.
But a time is coming – and now is here – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers.
God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ); “whenever he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”
Now at that very moment his disciples came back. They were shocked because he was speaking with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?”

or “Why are you speaking with her?”
Then the woman left her water jar, went off into the town and said to the people,
“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.

Surely he can’t be the Messiah, can he?”
So they left the town and began coming to him.

Over the past few weeks I’ve reflected on the keys to a successful life in Christ.

Trust can be hard to achieve in life today, but to trust God and Christ Himself is a big key for successful living in God.  Indeed, we read in Proverbs 3:5Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”.

We have to trust sometimes when we don’t know the outcome.  Perhaps at times where we have no natural desire to go in a particular direction.  It’s when we have that trust in God, in Christ and in the Holy Spirit that a successful life in God will follow.  The disciples weren’t sent out without any authority… they were sent out after being baptised in the Holy Spirit, when they had the power.  They had to trust that they would have the power and authority to deliver what God wanted for them.

Trust is where many keel over.  People want to work things out in their natural way, in own power, their own way or in a way that suits them.  Peter had to trust God when he got out of the boat!

There’s so much in the chapter above.  In verse 29 we read “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did”.  He knew she’d had husbands and that she was living with a man who was not her husband.  He exposed her life before God to her.  That’s similar to what we see in our church – we find that hidden things, issues, and sins eventually become revealed and exposed.  It’s a miracle of God!  When this woman comes before Christ, he exposes all the things in her life… Christ knows all!  Everything is revealed, nothing is hidden.

The next thing we see is the woman trusting in Christ.  Earlier, she says ” I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ); whenever he comes, he will tell us everything.”.  Christ exposes her life before her.  She decides to trust Him.  She steps out in faith to speak to the men of the village: “Then the woman left her water jar, went off into the town and said to the people”.  This was a woman and a Samaritan – she wouldn’t have been regarded highly or as Holy.  But she steps out in faith and tells the people of Christ… such is her trust and her faith!

Would we trust God with the hidden things that comes to us?  Our life, our pride, our sins?  He exposes all these things!  Will we trust Christ with all of these things?

Sometimes we see Christ, but we don’t want to see Him.  This woman chose to see, and share what she saw!  Christ didn’t tell many people He was the son of God… but in this instance he tells the woman He is the son of God.  She has to work out how to deal with it and the way she should react.

We get to the same point…. where everything is laid bare. We need to trust Him to give us the next step.  Praise God that He does!  He gives us those steps, the authority, the enablement!  This woman trusted and moved forward with Christ.  If we choose to do the same thing, so these things happen.  What a wonderful Christ we have!

Will we trust Him?  Some people trust to a point, but don’t want to trust in other ways.  We need to bring everything to the light of Christ, which will expose and deal with it.  The victory of God will come!

This woman was a wonderful woman of faith!  She trusted Christ in such a way that she could move forward with her life.  Christ knew her thoughts, actions, her natural and her hidden life.  Christ told her secret sins.  He spoke with authority and revealed Himself as the son of God.  It all comes down to trust!  We need to trust in Christ and the Ministry that Christ works through.

God uses weak instruments!  That woman in that time was a weak instrument… a woman, a Samaritan, not a Pharisee, and not a Sadducee.  God still uses weak instruments to this day.  But look at what happened as a result of her faith… she goes out and speaks to the men – those meant to have power and knowledge!  She almost becomes an evangelist!

Few want to lay their lives down in this way – transparent on the altar before God.  Few want to live in a place where everything is revealed.  People want to hold onto their sins, rather than have them dealt with.  Have trust that God wants to move you on in your life and work miracles in you… He’ll fill the dark places with light!  He’ll give you strength to overcome and give you a new life.

John 11:9 – 10

Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours in a day?
If anyone walks around in the daytime, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
But if anyone walks around at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

Sometimes, to trust, we have to walk not according to our natural sight but in His light.  We need to walk in His light and His direction!  When everything is laid before Him, we need to gather ourselves and live in that light that He’s given us.  He will show us the way to go!  The successful Christian lives in a place where everything is exposed – where nothing can rob him, where they’re not holding onto the things of this world; everything is laid before God.  Then we move forward in trust.

Will you trust Christ?  Will you trust Him with the circumstances you can’t work out, with your faith, that He is Christ and He has come just for you?  Be encouraged!  We will not stumble!  Those who are taught by God desire to learn more.  Those who are in the light, want more light.  Those who find the Word of God want to hear the Word of God more.  Trust him!  The woman at the well trusted Him.  Stay in that place of trust!

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