“Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done! Can this be the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)?” ~John 4:29
I admit my Facebook post was probably a tease, but if I had just posted that I was in love with Jesus and asked you to read this blog would you have come to my page? Some people probably think that my love for God is extreme, and I'll admit I am very vocal about that love. To understand, you have to know where I've been and how far I've come. I have come to understand that until a person has had a real experience of encountering God for themselves, then it is very hard to identify with others' devotion in seeking to be more intentional in not taking His grace for granted.
In Pastor Steven Furtick's message God Works in Mysterious Ways, he gave insight to the encounter in John 4:7-29 that took place between Jesus and the character we have come to know as the woman at the well. The sermon was so compelling that I wanted to read that story again.
After I re-read that story I knew Jesus went to that well with purpose all those years ago. He could have traveled another way to get to Galilee quicker, yet He chose a longer route, with purpose. He sat at the well, with purpose. And He waited on the woman to come draw water from the well, with purpose. Although Jesus asked the woman for a drink of water when she got there, that was just His way to begin a conversation with this woman. What she thought was a chance meeting was actually fate, and this encounter changed her life forever.
As I read this chapter of John I cast myself as the leading lady of this well-known story in the bible. I was this woman for a long time. Just as Jesus sat at the well waiting with patience just so He could talk to this woman, I imagine that He was waiting on me patiently to come to Him. He waited on me so that I could experience Him in a way that would change my life forever.
I imagine that this woman was much like me when she met Jesus, at a breaking point in her life. I imagine that she, like me, felt so broken and so used up in so many ways. She could have been searching so long for a love that would last, yet still found herself without the love she sought. The purity of her body had been long gone because she had given it away with no thought about the shame and guilt she would feel later in life when she thought back on her past. All of the above describe me on the day I truly experienced Jesus for what I know was the first time.
The day that I truly met Jesus was a day I'll never forget. I was so tired of being tired, and I wanted a change. Although I desired this change, I just didn't know how it was possible. How could I turn away from things that had defined me for a huge part of my life? How could I become brand new? I wasn't sure how this could be possible, but then, in a church service, I met a Man.
His voice was so tender, and His heart was so pure that when He spoke to me the love in His voice rocked me and reached me in the innermost part of who I am.
This Man awakened a love in me that was so tender that I knew I had never truly been in love before. Those things that were always so hard for me to do or not do became easy to do or not do. When I thought about how much this Man loved me from the start, it ignited a passion so strong that I knew I never wanted to do anything to ever hurt Him.
This Man's love didn't require me to be anyone other than myself. He loved me on the days that I was super sweet and on the days that I was not so very sweet.
Although He knew about the men I loved before Him, that was not His concern. You see, He knew my whole life's story, and despite my mistakes and flaws He assured me that the best was yet to come. He desired to give me this amazing love that would leave me fully satisfied so that I would never again need to search for a love that would eventually end and leave me unfulfilled (John 4:13-14)
When nightfall came I didn't have to worry about this Man asking me to do anything that would make me shameful. With this Man, I didn't have to undress because all He required of me was my heart. He knew that once He had my heart the rest of me would fall in line, and He would keep me strong with His love and devotion to me.
The day I met this Man I could hardly contain the joy that I felt, and even today that joy is still there except it has expanded and each day it continues to grow. As my joy for Him grows so does my devotion and desire to do things that will be pleasing to Him.
I had heard of the freedom that comes with loving this Man, but I really couldn't understand it until I met Him. Now I'm free to walk in love, purity, with faith and conviction no matter what others think or how they try to persuade me to be unfaithful to my Love.
Because the love of this Man of mine is so wide, long, high and deep (Ephesians 3:18:) and I can never be separated from it no matter what (Romans 8:38-39), I want others to know the Man I have fallen madly and head over heels in love with.
Won't you come and experience Him for yourself? I have no doubt that the love, joy and exhilarating peace you experience upon meeting Him, and every moment after, will be like no other you've ever known before. After your first conversation with Him you'll be so excited and filled with hope for your future that you will leave this experience feeling an intimacy you've never known, and you will be brand new.
If you open your heart and mind to this Man's love, everything that has oppressed you will begin to fall away. The habits and addictions you never thought you could or would escape will become your past, allowing you freedom to live apart from those things. Your feelings of guilt, shame, pain, emptiness and any other thought that makes you feel unworthy or less than will be exchanged for the beauty that is His love. The more you open your heart the more you can walk in your deliverance.
Because of the love of Christ nothing can hold you down, nothing can steal your joy, nothing can dwindle your hope and nothing can make you feel like you are unworthy of good things. If this is what you absolutely desire, and if this is what you have been longing for then I invite you to come. Come and sit at the well with Jesus. Let Him fill you abundantly until your heart overflows, and when you think you can't receive anymore, experience Him more as He continues to fill you over and over again. Come to the well and meet a Well, and before you realize it you will become a well.
Jesus is the living Well, the Well that will never be emptied, the Well that will never become dry, and the Well Whose supply will never be depleted. When you leave the place where you met the Well, you will become a well who others will draw strength from as you pour into the them the knowledge of Christ's never ending love. Come, my friend, and meet a Man Who could tell you all you've ever done. With just one word He can heal all your pain and fill you with a love so rewarding that you'll know you have met the One and only Man who could love you far beyond your imagination. Jesus is this Man!
In Pastor Steven Furtick's message God Works in Mysterious Ways, he gave insight to the encounter in John 4:7-29 that took place between Jesus and the character we have come to know as the woman at the well. The sermon was so compelling that I wanted to read that story again.
After I re-read that story I knew Jesus went to that well with purpose all those years ago. He could have traveled another way to get to Galilee quicker, yet He chose a longer route, with purpose. He sat at the well, with purpose. And He waited on the woman to come draw water from the well, with purpose. Although Jesus asked the woman for a drink of water when she got there, that was just His way to begin a conversation with this woman. What she thought was a chance meeting was actually fate, and this encounter changed her life forever.
As I read this chapter of John I cast myself as the leading lady of this well-known story in the bible. I was this woman for a long time. Just as Jesus sat at the well waiting with patience just so He could talk to this woman, I imagine that He was waiting on me patiently to come to Him. He waited on me so that I could experience Him in a way that would change my life forever.
I imagine that this woman was much like me when she met Jesus, at a breaking point in her life. I imagine that she, like me, felt so broken and so used up in so many ways. She could have been searching so long for a love that would last, yet still found herself without the love she sought. The purity of her body had been long gone because she had given it away with no thought about the shame and guilt she would feel later in life when she thought back on her past. All of the above describe me on the day I truly experienced Jesus for what I know was the first time.
The day that I truly met Jesus was a day I'll never forget. I was so tired of being tired, and I wanted a change. Although I desired this change, I just didn't know how it was possible. How could I turn away from things that had defined me for a huge part of my life? How could I become brand new? I wasn't sure how this could be possible, but then, in a church service, I met a Man.
His voice was so tender, and His heart was so pure that when He spoke to me the love in His voice rocked me and reached me in the innermost part of who I am.
This Man awakened a love in me that was so tender that I knew I had never truly been in love before. Those things that were always so hard for me to do or not do became easy to do or not do. When I thought about how much this Man loved me from the start, it ignited a passion so strong that I knew I never wanted to do anything to ever hurt Him.
This Man's love didn't require me to be anyone other than myself. He loved me on the days that I was super sweet and on the days that I was not so very sweet.
Although He knew about the men I loved before Him, that was not His concern. You see, He knew my whole life's story, and despite my mistakes and flaws He assured me that the best was yet to come. He desired to give me this amazing love that would leave me fully satisfied so that I would never again need to search for a love that would eventually end and leave me unfulfilled (John 4:13-14)
When nightfall came I didn't have to worry about this Man asking me to do anything that would make me shameful. With this Man, I didn't have to undress because all He required of me was my heart. He knew that once He had my heart the rest of me would fall in line, and He would keep me strong with His love and devotion to me.
The day I met this Man I could hardly contain the joy that I felt, and even today that joy is still there except it has expanded and each day it continues to grow. As my joy for Him grows so does my devotion and desire to do things that will be pleasing to Him.
I had heard of the freedom that comes with loving this Man, but I really couldn't understand it until I met Him. Now I'm free to walk in love, purity, with faith and conviction no matter what others think or how they try to persuade me to be unfaithful to my Love.
Because the love of this Man of mine is so wide, long, high and deep (Ephesians 3:18:) and I can never be separated from it no matter what (Romans 8:38-39), I want others to know the Man I have fallen madly and head over heels in love with.
Won't you come and experience Him for yourself? I have no doubt that the love, joy and exhilarating peace you experience upon meeting Him, and every moment after, will be like no other you've ever known before. After your first conversation with Him you'll be so excited and filled with hope for your future that you will leave this experience feeling an intimacy you've never known, and you will be brand new.
If you open your heart and mind to this Man's love, everything that has oppressed you will begin to fall away. The habits and addictions you never thought you could or would escape will become your past, allowing you freedom to live apart from those things. Your feelings of guilt, shame, pain, emptiness and any other thought that makes you feel unworthy or less than will be exchanged for the beauty that is His love. The more you open your heart the more you can walk in your deliverance.
Because of the love of Christ nothing can hold you down, nothing can steal your joy, nothing can dwindle your hope and nothing can make you feel like you are unworthy of good things. If this is what you absolutely desire, and if this is what you have been longing for then I invite you to come. Come and sit at the well with Jesus. Let Him fill you abundantly until your heart overflows, and when you think you can't receive anymore, experience Him more as He continues to fill you over and over again. Come to the well and meet a Well, and before you realize it you will become a well.
Jesus is the living Well, the Well that will never be emptied, the Well that will never become dry, and the Well Whose supply will never be depleted. When you leave the place where you met the Well, you will become a well who others will draw strength from as you pour into the them the knowledge of Christ's never ending love. Come, my friend, and meet a Man Who could tell you all you've ever done. With just one word He can heal all your pain and fill you with a love so rewarding that you'll know you have met the One and only Man who could love you far beyond your imagination. Jesus is this Man!