The human soul is the temple of the Spirit where we meet with God to commune with Him personally. Each one of us possesses our own personal temple; our own personal rooms where we may, at any time, sit and encounter God in meaningful fellowship—heart to heart. Judging from the Samaritan woman’s response to meeting Jesus spiritually, we must attest to the fact that such an encounter is life changing.
BIBLE TRUTH
“The woman said, 'I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.' Then Jesus told her, 'I AM the Messiah!' . . . The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, 'Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could He possibly be the Messiah?'” (John 4:25–29 NLT).
HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO ME?
Spirituality enabled this woman to see beyond Jesus’ humanity into His deity. Perhaps the reason it is so hard to experience Jesus as real and relevant is because we are not seeking Him in spirit and truth. In order to be desperately dependent on God we must confront the deception—our independence is leading us away from Him. It is essential to experience Him as relevant in every area of our lives while we apply truth concerning Jesus to the challenges of our lives. When we see Christ as relevant in our lives, we desire Him. As we desire Him, we draw into a closer love relationship with Him. Repentance is required to turn from our self-indulgence to finding our satisfaction in Christ alone. He is all we need.
PRAYER
Dear God, I don’t want to be a liar by saying I have fellowship with You but go on living in spiritual darkness; I am not practicing the truth. But I desire to live in the light as You are in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, Your Son, cleanses me from all sin. . . . (1 John 1:6–7)
(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)
We would love for you to share in the COMMENTS the insights you have received on your journey.
"In order to be desperately dependent on God we must confront the deception—our independence is leading us away from Him." The deception that the Lord has recently led me to confront in my life is that there are times when I believe I do not need (i.e. can live independently from) God. These are the times when everything seems to be going smoothly and there are no "serious challenges." The truth is, "The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are CONSTANTLY fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions." (Gal 5:17 NLT, emphasis mine) Every moment I breath is a challenging time because of the enmity between the Spirit and the flesh. Therefore, Jesus must be "relevant to every area" of my life, which means every moment I live.
ReplyDelete