Can I Get a Drink?

While listening to a podcast by Steven Furtick titled ‘Tired on the Inside’, a part of his message jumped out to me. During the sermon, he was discussing about the time Jesus went to chill by a well in order to ask a woman for a drink and it occurred to me that this was a question that had both a physical and spiritual meaning.  

Looking at it from a physical perspective, at different points in our lives, our body prompts us to get a drink and we instinctively respond by getting a drink to quench that thirst. Imagine yourself on a long walk in the blistering heat (the 45⁰c type of heat), as you approach the end of the walk, you see a familiar friend or maybe an aboki kiosk; you instinctively ask for a drink and you get your request fulfilled. The problem with this type of drink is that within a few minutes you will get thirsty again, after all, according to mayoclinic.org men and women require an average of 3.7L and 2.7L respectively of water per day. Yet, no matter how much water you drink, you’ll still end up thirsty. That was what Jesus was trying to tell the woman of Samaria at the well (John 4:5-26). In vs.7 when Jesus asked the woman for a drink, she responded just like anyone of us would. Based on the assumption that the requester was looking for water (H₂O). But when Jesus asked her for a drink, He was really prompting her to ask Him for a drink: Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” (John 4:10, NKJV)

As you would notice from the verse, Jesus didn’t just say water, he said “living water”. At this point, the woman responded just like any one of us would, by asking where He would get that living water. She went as far as asking how there could be any water better than the water that could be gotten from the well of their father Jacob (John 4:12). Unknown to her, she had met the son of God and his question had a spiritual meaning. There are times in our life when we get thirsty and we long for a way of quenching it and in doing so, turn to the wrong well and drink the wrong water. All through life, we see people turning to all sorts of things to quench their thirst or asking the wrong source for a drink. And the water can come in many forms: money, porn, prostitution, alcohol, cocaine, weed etc. But one thing you would note is that everyone that drinks from these waters still end up thirsty. Isn’t that strange? If you want your quench to be completely sated, then you need to turn to the one who gives living waters and ask Him for a drink; and you know what? He will gladly give you a drink (Rev. 3:20).

As we go into the rest of the week, the charge is simple. Ask Jesus for a drink. Whenever you find yourself turning to the wrong source to ask for a drink, turn back to Jesus and ask Him for a drink. He will never leave nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5) and you will never be thirsty again (John 4:14).

Photo cred: YouVersion

You & God Are A Majority

I just realized that a whole month had gone by since my last post. I have a lot of work to do to make this more consistent and not a once in a while thing. I know I can do it because greater is He that is in me. The idea for this post came while reading my Joel Osteen devotional for the 7^th of June titled “Don’t Talk Yourself Out of It”. The devotional referenced the scripture about Jesus’s encounter with the woman of Samaria at the well (John 4:1-26). In the course of the devotional, there was a line in there that got me thinking “you and God are a majority”. As I thought of this, my mind went to sports, specifically the game of football. In every football match, there are meant to be 22 players (11 players per team) on the field at any given time. However, there are instances when one team becomes the majority; either due to a player injury after all the substitutions have been exhausted or the dismissal of a player (the more likely scenario). Whenever a player is dismissed, all of a sudden, the team with the numerical advantage begin to try to assert their authority in the game and exploit the other team’s weakness and more often than not, secure victory. Why? Because there is a mental edge to having the numerical superiority. Or think back to your days on the playground, the kids with the larger numbers more often than not called the shots on the playground because they believed no one would dare challenge them or their authority.

This was the situation with Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings 6:14-17. Elisha’s servant had just woken up from what was likely a good night’s rest, stepped out to do whatever it was that took him out and behold, he saw his city surround by an army of horses and chariots. In those days, having an army of horses and chariots gave you an instant advantage over your enemy. Now, based on his knowledge and understanding, the situation was lost, right? That’s when Elisha dropped one of the baddest lines of all times “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (Vs. 16). I can imagine the facial expression of Elisha’s servant when his master told him that. Was Elisha lying? No. Was his servant’s vision limited? Yes. And Elisha prayed for his eyes to be opened and they were and behold he saw that those that surrounded them were also surrounded by a superior force (Vs. 17). What do you think that knowledge did for his courage? Definitely bolstered his courage.

As we go through circumstances in life, it is important that we keep this in mind. You and God are a majority. Regardless of the mountain or obstacle, you and God are a majority. Even when life gives you a red card and you feel like you’re a man down, you and God are a majority. The charge is simple, never forget who is in you and that He that is in you is greater than anything or anyone that is in the world.

P.S. We live in interesting times and it is easy to get overwhelmed by the uncertainties and the insecurities all over the world but remember this, “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world”.