
Quote for the Day
“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony…”
Today's Prayer
This week pray for those away from their families. Pray that they seek and are open to the Holy Spirit as they live each moment in spiritual joy with Jesus.
John 4:27-42
John 4:27-42 (NIV)27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”~
Message
We continue to see the story of the woman at the well unfold and come to a conclusion. The conclusion: many believed. What is interesting is the way they believed. A couple of chapters previous we saw that there was a discussion among the disciples of John that Jesus was gathering more disciples than John. We saw that not only was Jesus teaching and bringing many to Himself, but also His disciples, who were the ones actually doing the physical work of baptism. Here we see that the testimony of the woman caused many to believe in Christ.Remember our comment from last week? Worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth? The same continues to apply here; our salvation comes from the Lord Himself. It is a spiritual salvation. It may be a friend, or brother, or even a stranger who delivers the message we hear, but it is Jesus who brings about our salvation, not man. It is a Spiritual event. While our physical lives may be changed or impacted, our salvation is a spiritual event that is caused by our acceptance of God’s revelation. Jesus reveals Himself to us, we accept Him, and a spiritual birth is completed. We now have the ability to worship God spiritually which we did NOT have prior to salvation. The flesh has died (see Galatians , “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” We now are fully owned by Jesus. Just as the Samaritans said, “…now we have heard for ourselves…” we too have heard and have been given this new life, a spiritual life that supersedes this flesh we live in on this earth.