Mystery and Victory

1 Corinthians 15:50-58 (ESV)

Mystery and Victory

50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery.We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Mystery and Victory is the title of this passage in my Bible. I love it! Sometimes, it is my sheer delight to simply bring us to a passage that is full of victory for the refreshment of our souls. It seems to me there should be something in the heart of every believer that jumps to their feet at attention and salutes when these words are read...no, let me change that...there should be something in our hearts that drops us to our knees in reverent awe! Sometimes, I let it slip from my mind that I have already put on the imperishable. My mortal body has already put on immortality. Death has already been swallowed in victory! I am not waiting to be changed. I have been changed. Of course, there are things that are not yet realized, but when my Lord looks at me, He sees Jesus. The Holy Spirit is living proof inside of me of my redemption. I am just waiting for the trumpet sound. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 13:12 (ESV)

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Guest Blog by Emily Venable

I always get excited when we have a guest blogger! I love when all of you get to hear from someone who is precious to me. Today's is no exception. Enjoy this blog by my oldest daughter, Emily...fresh out of Columbia International University and soon to be married. You are sure to be blessed!

Luke 8: 42-48

As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians,she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

I love this story.  I don’t really have any major connection to it.  I’ve never had a life threatening illness.  I’ve never touched Jesus’ clothing.  I’ve never been trampled in a crowd.  I haven’t been to very many doctors in my lifetime.  Really, I have nothing in common with her.  

However, I find her story so profound.  

In Luke 8:41, we’re introduce to a man named Jairus.  His daughter was dying and he had gone into panic mode for sure.  And that’s pretty much all we know about him when our scene comes into view.  The guy is panicking, Jesus is walking with him and listening, the crowd is pressing around them because they want to see Jesus, and then we are introduced to this woman.  We don’t know her name.  We just know that she has been bleeding for 12 years and she has no money because she has spent all her money on doctors bill that didn’t do any good.  Here we find her in the middle of this crowd, pressing in toward Jesus just like everyone else.  Let’s stop to think about this.  During the time that this was happening, it was a big “no-no” for a woman who was bleeding to be out in public.  She was “unclean.”  And so was everything she touched!  Here she is pressing in with the crowd.  Do you see what I am getting at?  My point is, she was a determined woman.  She was going to touch Jesus.  

And she did.  But so did lots of other people.  Remember?  Big crowd, lots of people trying to touch Jesus.  But for some reason, Jesus takes note of the fact that she touched Him.  He didn’t see her, but He knew that something had happened.  So he asked the crowd, “Who touched me?” to which Peter responded with “There are people everywhere!”  But somehow the woman knew that He was speaking to her.  

The passage says that “she came trembling, and falling down before Him.”  She proceeded to tell Him and all of those around why she had come to touch Him and that when she had, she was healed.  Can you imagine that?!  You’ve been sick, dirty, unclean, shamed for all these years and now you announce to everyone what has happened.  That’s bold.  She could have snuck away in the crowd.  Jesus response: “Your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

I wonder why Jesus wanted her to identify herself.  In his book called The King’s Cross, Timothy Keller answers that question this way: “She needed it...she had a somewhat superstitious understanding of Jesus’ power.  She thought it was the touch that could heal her.  She thought his power was manageable.  And Jesus made her identify herself so he could say, ‘Oh, no, it was your faith that healed you.’...There’s all the difference in the world between being a superstitious person who gets a bodily healing, and a life-transformed follower of Jesus for all eternity.”

I think the application is pretty clear.  Are you lacking in faith?  You need to trust that Jesus is perfectly capable of doing what He says he can do.  Or maybe it’s pride.  Do you need the humility to crawl to your Maker and reach out to Him?  Or maybe you see something else in her that you wish that you had.  Ask the Lord to make you like her.  

One last thought: I found Job 26:14 several years ago and I thought it had such a neat connection with the story of this woman.  You know the story of Job.  He had everything stripped away from him.  He knew suffering.  In chapter 26, he starts declaring various attributes of God, declaring that He alone has power over the wind and the waves and the moon and death and the heavens.  And then at the end of the chapter he says, “these are but the outskirts (or fringes) of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him!”  The woman in our story listened to Jesus’ “whispers.”  She touched just the fringe of all that He was and is and her life was forever changed.  I wonder what happened during the rest of her life.  I wonder what she learned and saw and heard of Jesus once she turned to Him.  I wonder what happens when we reach past the fringes.  

(Side note: You can also find this story in Mark 5 and in Matthew 9.  READ THEM.  It helps you put together all the different pieces of the story.  If you and I were at the scene of the car wreck and we were asked to explain what we saw, we would both take note of different things.  Now we would both have the same big picture like, “the white car ran the red light and the blue car pulled out,” but the details would be different.  The same is true when it comes to the Gospels.  Different eyewitnesses wrote down different details.  What different details can you find in these passages?)

HE is so very good to us!

Nehemiah 9:17-21

New Living Translation (NLT)

17 They refused to obey and did not remember the miracles you had done for them. Instead, they became stubborn and appointed a leader to take them back to their slavery in Egypt! But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love. You did not abandon them, 18 even when they made an idol shaped like a calf and said, ‘This is your god who brought you out of Egypt!’ They committed terrible blasphemies.

19 “But in your great mercy you did not abandon them to die in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud still led them forward by day, and the pillar of fire showed them the way through the night. 20 You sent your good Spirit to instruct them, and you did not stop giving them manna from heaven or water for their thirst. 21 For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell!

These verses are part of a prayer from the book of Nehemiah. After the wall was built,  the Israelites separated themselves from all the foreigners and confessed to the Lord their own sins and the sins of their ancestors. All of chapter 9 is great reading! I have pulled out these verses to particularly focus on the fact that the Lord never did leave them or forsake them despite all of their failures and short comings. It's easy for us to think that surely we have blown it with our Lord. Surely, this time we have messed up so badly that their can be no redemption. He must be done with us once and for all. NOT SO! He is all the things I Corinthians 13 describes as love. His mercies are new every morning. Maybe it is time for us to pray our own prayer like this one prayed by His people so long ago. Yes, we have made a mess of things, but He is faithful...yesterday, today, and forever!

Let Brotherly Love Continue

Hebrews 12:28-13:1 (ESV)

28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

13 Let brotherly love continue.

Once again, tornadoes and flooding have taken lives and property. I am reminded of my desire to one day work with a Christian disaster relief team. I was thinking about that idea when the Holy Spirit prompted me to remember there are plenty of people around me who are devastated. No, their houses have not been blown away or washed away, but their self-worth or trust might have been. I will pass by many in my own church today who will need a touch or a listening ear. It is easy to watch television and find a mission field in the uttermost parts of the earth and don't get me wrong, I want to go to those places. But, it is sometimes hardest to reach out to the woman next to me who has in some way been bruised or battered.

As believers, we have a powerful testimony of a kingdom that cannot be shaken with a King who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not run out of love and acceptance, mercy and grace. I am convicted that we need to be paying attention to those around us like we do those on the news and be willing to bring them the Good News of the unshakable kingdom. I pray my worship be acceptable today and my eyes be open...let brotherly love continue and let it flow through me.

Saturday in the Psalms (Psalm 36)

Psalm 36 (ESV)

How Precious Is Your Steadfast Love

To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the Lord.

36 Transgression speaks to the wicked
    deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
    before his eyes.
2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes
    that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3 The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
    he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
4 He plots trouble while on his bed;
    he sets himself in a way that is not good;
    he does not reject evil.

5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
    your judgments are like the great deep;
    man and beast you save, O Lord.

7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
    The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house,
    and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light do we see light.

10 Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
    and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
11 Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
    nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 There the evildoers lie fallen;
    they are thrust down, unable to rise.

It has been a long time since I have known someone, who I thought to be truly wicked...someone who had no problem committing evil acts. The truth is that all sin is evil...anything that goes against God and His ways. Why is it we have developed levels of evil? Is it that we might make our own sin look less sinful? We like to use language that speaks of the varying levels of consequence as though the sins themselves don't deserve quite so much punishment. Indeed that is how our legal system works and how it should work. The punishment is designed to fit the crime. In God's law, there is only one level of crime and that crime is called sin. For sin there is only one punishment and that punishment is eternal damnation/separation. There are no varying levels of either. However, there is ONE method of pardon. Pardon it seems would cost more than most could pay. In fact, it costs more than any of us can pay. Without it, we are no less than evil. Within it, we are no less than free...no strings attached. Full and free, we can feast on the abundance of His house and drink from the river of His delights. Let us be cautious about arrogance and thinking more of ourselves than we ought. Except for grace...grace, grace, God's grace...we are all the same.

When I Am Afraid...

Psalm 56:3-4 (ESV)

3 When I am afraid,
    I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise,
    in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
    What can flesh do to me?

David was afraid of the Philistines for they had seized him in Gath. What is the source of your fear today? How is it that we can have complete confidence in our Lord one minute and then the next minute, something scary comes from out of seemingly nowhere and challenges our confidence. It's a choice to put our trust in God. Will you choose to do so today? Make these verses your prayer and fill in the blank as it fits your situation. "What can mere _____ do to me?"

Agur's Proverb

Proverbs 30:1-9

New Living Translation (NLT)

The Sayings of Agur

30 The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh contain this message.

I am weary, O God;
    I am weary and worn out, O God.
2 I am too stupid to be human,
    and I lack common sense.
3 I have not mastered human wisdom,
    nor do I know the Holy One.

4 Who but God goes up to heaven and comes back down?
    Who holds the wind in his fists?
Who wraps up the oceans in his cloak?
    Who has created the whole wide world?
What is his name—and his son’s name?
    Tell me if you know!

5 Every word of God proves true.
    He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.
6 Do not add to his words,
    or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.

7 O God, I beg two favors from you;
    let me have them before I die.
8 First, help me never to tell a lie.
    Second, give me neither poverty nor riches!
    Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
9 For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”
    And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.

Proverbs 30 is written at least in part by Agur, son of Jakeh. Agur's name means hired servant. Except for the name of his father and meaning of his name, we know nothing else about this man who had one "hit" record so to speak. His few verses will forever be included in the written Word of God. It's definitely worth reading if you haven't in a while.
I love how real he was at the beginning making it clear that he was weary and not very smart. I've felt that way plenty of times. He was confident in the Word of God and he had two requests: never to tell a lie and to be neither rich or poor. He didn't want to do anything in poverty or wealth that would blemish the name of God. I think it is worth considering what requests we would make of God were we to beg Him for only two things. Would we choose favors that would bring honor and glory to our creator or would they be self satisfying and full of personal ambition? Just a little something to think about as you go through your day today...have a great one!!!

Fools Vent...the Wise Do Not

Proverbs 29:11 (NLT)

11 Fools vent their anger,
    but the wise quietly hold it back.

Our Bible study teacher mentioned the practice of reading a Psalm each day, but only reading until you reach the point of a verse speaking specifically to you. "Then," she suggested," use the cross references to bring more insight to that particular verse." I have been enjoying this method in the Proverbs. Today, I am struck by chapter 29, verse 11, almost to the point of leaving you with the verse and no comment. In truth, it speaks for itself...don't you think? It's interesting to note that in my Bible, there are no cross references for this verse.  Let me simply ask us some application questions: About what have you most recently vented? How did you feel about your rant afterward? Justified, validated, or foolish? How do you feel when you manage to hold back your angry words? It is possible to be angry and not sin. Our Lord promises we always have a way of escape when we are tempted. Lord, this is a hard one. Help us hold our tongues and not behave foolishly!

Neighbor Friends

Proverbs 27:9-10 (NLT)

9 The heartfelt counsel of a friend
    is as sweet as perfume and incense.

10 Never abandon a friend—
    either yours or your father’s.
When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance.
    It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away.

This past weekend, we were privileged to host several long time friends. We discovered that for some of us, we had know each other now for 15 years. In our celebration, we decided a late night cake and punch party was in order. Truly, these friends have become as family to us over the years. They have stood by us through thick and thin and we have done the same for them. In ministry, our biological families have most often been far away. The Lord has been good to bless us with wonderful friends and neighbors in the places where He has sent us. Our lives are fuller because of them.
As we consider Proverbs 27:9-10, here are several questions for thought:
~ Who are your friends whom you trust for earnest counsel?
~ Are there friends with whom you have lost contact? Should you reconnect with them?
~ To whom does the Lord expect you to give earnest counsel?
~ Is there someone in calamity who needs you right now?
Let's thank the Lord today for the friends He has given us who have become like family. Let's be quick to obediently respond when the Holy Spirit prompts us to reach out to someone new and offer friendship. Have a blessed day!

Ebenezer

1 Samuel 7:8-13

Amplified Bible (AMP)

8 And the Israelites said to Samuel, Do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.

9 So Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord; and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him.

10 As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great voice that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel.

11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and smote them as far as below Beth-car.

12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and he called the name of it Ebenezer [stone of help], saying, Heretofore the Lord has helped us.

13 So the Philistines were subdued and came no more into Israelite territory. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

I thought it would be nice to put the words of this particular passage in scripture with the words of Robert Robinson's Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. What a wonderful tribute Robinson has given to Samuel's special stone of remembrance which marked the Lord's help for the people of Israel. May we be prompted to remember how the Lord has been our very present help. Have you remembered to thank Him? Will you take some time now to write down in a keepsake place (perhaps a journal) things the Lord has done to you? Will you celebrate Him? Will you worship Him? Will you lift your voice to Him and sing this familiar hymn?

400. Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Text: Robert Robinson, 1735-1790
Music: Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second
Tune: NETTLETON, Meter: 87.87 D

---

1. Come, thou Fount of every blessing, 
 tune my heart to sing thy grace; 
 streams of mercy, never ceasing, 
 call for songs of loudest praise. 
 Teach me some melodious sonnet, 
 sung by flaming tongues above. 
 Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, 
 mount of thy redeeming love. 

2. Here I raise mine Ebenezer; 
 hither by thy help I'm come; 
 and I hope, by thy good pleasure, 
 safely to arrive at home. 
 Jesus sought me when a stranger, 
 wandering from the fold of God; 
 he, to rescue me from danger, 
 interposed his precious blood. 

3. O to grace how great a debtor 
 daily I'm constrained to be! 
 Let thy goodness, like a fetter, 
 bind my wandering heart to thee. 
 Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, 
 prone to leave the God I love; 
 here's my heart, O take and seal it, 
 seal it for thy courts above. 

To Everything There Is A Season

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (AMP)

3 To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven:

2 A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted,

3 A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up,

4 A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6 A time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away,

7 A time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak,

8 A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Very late post...for that, I apologize especially if you are a faithful reader...
As a family, we are in a season of graduations and congratulations, finishing and beginning anew, considering accomplishments and dreaming new dreams, separating and joining together... Surrounded by friends and family, we will share laughter and teary eyed moments... I remembered this passage a coupled days ago when someone asked me if I was a crier when it came to events like graduation. I confessed that more often I am excited for the accomplishment and the next season of life. I thought of how the same season might stir joy in one person and sorry in another. I thought of how quickly the seasons of life change...
Will you join me in allowing the scripture to encourage us today? There truly is a season for everything and if you struggle in your current season will you trust that before long the seasons will change as sure as spring will make way for summer and summer for fall? May your weeping soon give way to laughter and your mourning give way to dancing. And if right now, your season is joyous, will you trust that if it should change without a moments notice, that too will pass as time passes on? Make the most in every season for the God of the seasons is working through every season in you!

Saturday in the Psalms (Psalm 131)

Psalm 131 (ESV)

I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

131 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
    my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
    too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
    like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
    from this time forth and forevermore.

Oh! look not after great things: small breathings, small desires after the Lord, if true and pure, are sweet beginnings of life. Take heed of despising "the day of small things," by looking after some great visitation, proportionable to thy distress, according to thy eye. Nay, thou must become a child; thou must lose they own will quite by degrees. Thou must wait for life to be measured out by the Father, and be content with what proportion, and at what time, He shall please to measure.

                                                                                                                    Isaac Penington

Spiritual Hydration

John 7:37-44 (ESV)

³⁷ On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” ³⁹ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive,for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”⁴³ So there was a division among the people over him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

When have you been thirsty? Perhaps after mowing the lawn, jogging, or eating something very salty. It is tempting to try to quench our thirst with something high calorie, sugary, or carbonated. What our bodies are really craving is hydration. Water is the best thirst quencher! The people of Jesus day were spiritually thirsty, but some were not convinced Jesus was the best thirst quencher. Therefore, they continued to search for satisfaction in other forms. They missed out on true spiritual hydration. Aren't we tempted to do the same? We are enticed to believe that high calorie, sugary, carbonated spiritual-ish things are enough when only Jesus will truly satisfy our souls thirst. Jesus said, once we have come to Him, we will never thirst again. Of Him, we can continually drink. We need to be careful not to partake of things that will ultimately weigh us down, but instead drink continually of His living water and walk in spiritual hydration.

The Example of Christ

Romans 15:1-4 (ESV)

The Example of Christ

15 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ² Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. ³ For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” ⁴ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

My intention was to write about verse 4 and talk about the importance of being in the Word on a daily basis in order that we would have the encouragement of the Scriptures to give us hope and help us endure through tough times. I did not realize the content of the preceding verses. When taken in context (as we should always try to do when handling Scripture), we see that the verses specifically deal with bearing with those in our lives who are weak...going through a time of weakness...less mature in the faith...struggling... Chapter 14 reveals to us that the issue at hand was a sensitivity about what foods were clean and not causing one another to stumble over something as simple as food. If it causes your brother or sister to stumble, then refrain from it. We are not to be intent on pleasing ourselves. Jesus wasn't out to please himself and neither are we to be. These things are written for our instruction... I wonder what other issues besides food could fit into this scenario. I suppose anything that serves our own interest, but causes someone weaker to stumble. We might have to think for a minute to think of how this relates to each of our lives. Try filling in the blanks I've left in chapter 14, verse 29. The words in scripture are "food" and "eats." What word applies where you are concerned? "Do not, for the sake of ________, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he _______."

Romans 15:5-7 (NLT)

⁵ May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.⁶ Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
⁷ Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.

Jesus' Unconditional Love #4

John 4:1-30

English Standard Version (ESV)

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

4 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John ² (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), ³ he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.⁴ And he had to pass through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

⁷ A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)¹⁰ 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.” ¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” ¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” ²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
²⁷ Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” ²⁸ So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ³⁰ They went out of the town and were coming to him.

The Samaritan woman's story is one of my favorites. It is rich with application. We could spend several days right here growing in our knowledge and understanding of the Lord Jesus. I don't know if we could ever fully understand all the ways Jesus showed unconditional love to this woman, but let's name a few. First, He made a point to go to Galilee by way of Samaria. It would be worth your time to do a little research (if you haven't before) to better understand the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans. Jews did not travel by way of Samaria. Second, He exposed her sinful life. Third, He reveled himself to her. We could go on and on...notice how He spoke the truth in love. In regard to the the pressures Jesus experienced,  once again the disciples were amazed by what He was doing. He had to have known what they were thinking...a woman and a Samaritan! How do you think the woman was feeling standing there at that well talking to the long awaited Messiah? How would you feel having your sins named by One who knew all you'd ever done? Will you take a minute to think about it? He does know all you've ever done. He goes out of His way to be with you. Spend time with Him...drink of Him...He wants to reveal Himself to you.