I was sad to hear last night, how otherwise a wonderful couple stated that they were not led to attend the revival meetings. It is fine, and God does not have an issue with it, and neither do I. I fully understand personal choices. But it makes me sad, nevertheless. I have been translating a book on the first ten chapters of the Gospel of John, dissecting it verse by verse, and as we all well know the Gospel of John talks a lot about the ministry of Jesus from a spiritual viewpoint. Jesus, He was the Son of God, and He, God Himself came to His own. And they did not recognise Him. That was the saddest thing imaginable. I understand that going to every night to a meeting may be tiresome, especially to the elderly, and even more so, if they still go to work every day. I can regulate my work routine and do things flexibly, so it is easy for me. I understand the business and tiredness. But not being led to go where God is moving is truly hard to understand. It is hard to understand for it speaks of recognition, or the lack of it. And if we have the heart for God and we even minister at places, and are otherwise so spiritually inclined, how can it be that we have an ear, but do not hear, and an eye, but do not see. What has managed to dim our sight and hearing then? Jesus, the Son of God Himself, or to be more precise God Himself who had come down and taken on the body of a man, was not recognised, was accused even in having a demon and ministering with a demonic spirit and finally captured and killed on the cross. Now, we know that this was Gods mission for Him, and He took it on voluntarily. No one really had the power to harm Him, unless He allowed it to happen. And He allowed it. At His appointed time, but no earlier, His captors could lay their hands on Him, and arrest Him. He was appreciated by some, who recognised Him, and saw His miracles and signs and wonders which testified of His origin, that God had sent Him. But there were too many who closed their hearts and took Him as another prophet, in a good case, or a heretic and wannabe, in a worse case. Or a blasphemous person in the worst case. But we, we have the Holy Spirit. Matthew 10:41 ► tells that if we welcome a prophet as a prophet, we will receive a prophets reward. Now, what is that prophets reward? It is the message the prophet brings. And the message is from God. It is also the anointing and the impartation and everything God wants to give through the vessel He has sent. But it is up to us to recognise and welcome the messenger of God as such. And if we do, then we naturally run to him. But if we dont, then it leaves us maybe slightly excited, but taking it as another good meeting and the speaker as another okay preacher, and nothing more in particular. But if we can recognise the Hand and the voice and the message of God which He has sent us and wants to give to us, then we would not hesitate to come. Then we would rush and hunger and thirst with passion, as if we would run to Jesus if He would appear in His physical form. But He has preferred to come in disguise. Will we have eyes to see and the ears to hear....that is the question. And if we dont and wish to have, then the first step would be to rise and go to the source of living waters to have a drink which refreshes our soul and charges our spirit. But would we recognise Him if He comes or would we be like the majority of the Jews of His time, maybe taking Him as a prophet or a good man, or a great speaker and miracle maker, but nothing else in particular. Definitely no one sent by God to bless us. He cannot bless us if we dont come and receive. And yes, the question remains. There were 120 disciples only tarrying in the upper room, after Jesus had left. They all saw Him taken up alive. They marvelled and knew it had been Jesus indeed. And He had told them to go and wait on the Promise of the Father. But out of the multitudes which had been following Him, only 120 went. Where were the others and why didnt they go...... Hunger motivates. A starving man would do anything for a piece of bread. Even if we are dry, but recognise our needy condition, and ask for God for His fresh and enlivening touch.....He would come. He would wash with His glory over us, He would stir the hunger and thirst where it has dried up and shrunk, such dryness, but He would send His fire and make us aflame. He would transform the desert and make the waters flow in it again. He would resurrect the dry bones. But it still takes one - the desire. The yearning for more. For He can give only if you come. The Samaritan woman, something drew her to the well in the heat of the day, where most people were having their siesta for it was scorching hot and unpleasant to the flesh, but she felt the pull and went. As she felt a need for water and responded to it. And Jesus, a Jew, was waiting for her on the well. And she had her encounter. And her life was never the same after that. It was not just a Jew, whom she met that day. Even meeting a natural Jew would have been a miracle big enough for her, especially the one who talked to her. As the Jews loathed the area. It had mixed blood, the Jews which had married the foreigners, and they were frowned upon, as their descendants had mixed blood, with one Jewish and another non-Jewish parent. As a result, even if it took shorter time to go to Jerusalem through Samaria, Jews avoided that route, and took a longer one, by the river of Jordan, thus making a circle. But they despised the mixed crowd of the Samaritans. And they did not associate with them. And now, a Jew had come. And a Jew who talked to the woman. A stranger, who knew all her life. But who didnt condemn her, but ministered to her. A stranger who engaged himself in a talk to her by asking her for a cold refreshing sip of water. It was revolutionary in the life of the Samaritan woman, and she forgot the natural reason why she had come, leaving her buckets to the well, and running to let everybody know...that she had met the Messiah. Some say that she must have been a sinful woman, who sneaked out in an hour where she knew most people were at their homes, for she wanted to avoid them. But, that opinion is untrue. For if the people would have taken her as a slut (for she had had so many husbands.....but we do not know what happened to them, maybe they died for natural causes.....the Bible does not really say), the town people would have paid no attention to her talk. But they did. They trusted her enough to come and follow her to the well. And they too, had an encounter with Jesus. But they had to decide to believe her and come to experience that. And they recognised the Messiah then by themselves and did not believe in Him because of the words of the woman who had called them there, but for they had heard and seen His Words and encountered Him by themselves.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 14:22:54 +0000
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