Do You Feel the Power of the Word of Christ?
Good Morning Friends,
Christ is absolutely necessary, instantly accessible, totally sufficient, singularly satisfying and eternally wonderful. Do You Feel the Power of the Word of Christ?
68Scripture: So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
John 4:5-15 (NRSV)
Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.
John 6:68 (NRSV)
37On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38and let the one who believes in me drink. As* the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart* shall flow rivers of living water.” ‘ 39Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit,* because Jesus was not yet glorified.40 When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ 41Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’* But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah* does not come from Galilee, does he? 42Has not the scripture said that the Messiah* is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ 43So there was a division in the crowd because of him. 44Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not arrest him?’
John 7:37-45 (NRSV)
Message: In today’s scripture from John we read about Jesus standing up on the last and seventh day of the feast of Tabernacles after the seventh long procession symbolic of the wilderness journey. Here Jesus invites us to drink. And it makes us wonder why so many souls are shriveled and dried up in our culture when we are surrounded by the beauty of Christian Books, Bibles, Churches and groups? Maybe people just don’t know they need to be thirsty. They do not long for spiritual drink or if they take a drink, they fail to share. So too maybe the Word itself divides between those who welcome it and those who reject it. Maybe the Word sparks an interior conflict in our hearts between the attractiveness, beauty and truth of Jesus’ words and the challenging difficulty that they cost us a lot to observe. But this overarching reality is clear, the Word of Christ is powerful. It is the power of a love that gives strength and is really a force like a mighty river that can change the world. Of course some people make the mistake of drawing water from the wrong source. People too often drink the wrong drink, trying to quench thirst with things that do not satisfy. Friends, it is Jesus that brings us to satisfaction and holiness. Jesus demonstrates that there is no lasting earthly satisfaction. Friends, ask for, receive and share with others your experience of spiritual thirst and your experience of the drink that satisfies. Friends, proclaim Jesus as Lord, the source of our joy and the reason for our hope.
Pray that you Lord would give us an overwhelming thirst for Jesus. Pray Lord that you make our lives like well-watered gardens with springs of water that never fail. Pray that our spirit overflow with your pure water of love for the unloved. Pray there be a great harvest of souls for the kingdom. Pray we have the wisdom to know when the season of harvest has come. Pray that out of our hearts flow rivers of living water. Pray we read and share God’s word each day so we do not become drought stressed. Pray we drink freely of God’s grace and forgiveness in the joy and satisfaction only Jesus can provide. Pray we drink of the Jesus water and share it. Pray we drink to those in need in remembrance of the only One who can satisfy that need. Pray we realize that Jesus is our only source of hope. Pray we embrace the words of Jesus and work together for the redemption of the places in which we live. Pray we experience living water in the grace of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 