Encouragement
We are SO weary in Oklahoma of the drought and the triple digit weather!
It is SO hot and dry and there have been many heat-related deaths.
This, along with the war in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan and the continuing terrorist threats, has caused me to say this week, "Even so, come Lord Jesus!"
In 11/11/05, I wrote a website paper entitled "The War and the Wearies".
I wrote that Psalm 37 is my favorite for the wearies IF we:
trust....delight....commit...rest...cease from anger...wait on the Lord...depart from evil...
and let God direct our steps.
This is a large order for 'the flesh', but not for the Holy Spirit,
Who will lead and empower us. Also along with this, we must make much of prayer!
I don't remember being 'weary' much on the farm, as we stayed quite busy...
and love was very prevalent among the 6 of us.
I DID learn a lesson about 'weary' at the county jail.
My Grandad Savage was Sheriff of Jackson County in Altus, Oklahoma.
I watched my Grandmother Savage as she prepared and delievered food for the prisoners. Their faces expressed lonliness, bitterness and weariness.
It taught me a lesson and I vowed never to be in jail.
But the 'wearies' affect a lot of folk, most of whom are not literally in jail, but they are imprisoned by sin and lack of forgiveness...and basically no walk and talk with the Lord.
Therefore, they have no vision, no victory and no reliance on the 'vitals for victory'.
The word 'weary' is mentioned sixty times in the Bible.
Here are a few:
Isaiah 43:24: "God is wearied over our sins." (also Malachi 2:17)
Proverbs 3:11: "My son, do not be weary of the Lord's corrections."
Job 10:1: "My soul is weary of my life."
Jeremiah 2:13: "Israel was weary for the people had forsaken the fountain of living waters and had gone to the old mud holes of this world."
There are a lot of those today that can not quench spiritual thirst.
Isaiah 40:28-31 is perhaps the greatest Scripture in the Old Testament on 'what to do with the wearies'.
II Corinthians 11:23-28. Paul was weary for many reasons, but he knew 'where' to go with them.
Galatians 6:9: "Let us not be weary (falter) in doing well for in due time, we will reap if we faint not."
Hebrews 12:3....The writer considers all of the saints in Hebrews 11 (Hall of Faith)
who won the victories in spite of weariness.
The best passage of all is John 4 which teaches us 'how' to win over the wearies.
If this weary woman could win, anyone can!
Please read on and note:
THE WAITING SAVIOR...
THE WEARY WOMAN...
THE SUFFICIENT WELL...
THE WILLING WITNESS
1) THE WAITING SAVIOR (Vs. 1-6)
Jesus was walking from Judea to Galilee and He MUST needs go through Samaria.
The Disciples did not like the Samaritans (a mixed race of people) and would even go around Samaria when journeying from Judea to Galilee or vice versa.
Jesus had a way of cutting across prejudice and replacing it with Love!
I pray that the Middle East, wearied with war, would look to the waiting Savior for Peace! He is the ONLY physician Who can heal anything!
Two of my favorite invitation hymns are:
"The Savior is Waiting" and "Without Him, We Can Do Nothing".
Notice, Jesus was there without prejudice, waiting for all who came to the well...
but especially this woman.
Do you believe in 'destiny'? She does now!
She had 'baggage' that He needed to get rid of, before the spiritual birth.
a) Vs. 9: He cut across the prejudice toward women.
b) Vs. 10-15: He cut across cultural prejudice
c) Vs. 16-18: He deals with her sin
d) Vs. 19-26: He deals with religion
Is Jesus waiting for you..
to be saved,
to be sanctified,
to be serious about full salvation, praise, prayer and possibilities?
Jesus had walked 42 miles for this encounter with this woman....
and He waits for us and is never too weary for us.
2) THE WEARY WOMAN (Vs. 7-12)
She was weary of her sinful life.
She came to the right person, for Jesus can...
forgive sin...
wash us 'white as snow'...
save us...
and fill us with the Holy Spirit.
In Psalm 51, David found how weary sin can make a person.
David found that sin:
soils the soul,
saturates the mind,
strickens the conscience,
saddens the heart,
sours the spirit,
seals the lips and
separates us from fellowship with God.
There are 2 revelations in the start of the Christian life:
One is the revelation of God and the other is the revelation of self.
No person really sees 'self' until we see 'self' in the presence of God.....
and then we are convicted of our need.
This happened to her and she realized that life as she was living it, would not do.
She awakened to her sin, saw her Savior...and then, as always, there is Victory in Jesus!
3) THE SUFFICIENT WELL (Vs. 13-14)
"Jesus answered the woman and said, 'Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst, but the water that I give shall be a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
She found in Jesus what the Apostle Paul found in Him, that His sufficiencies take care of our deficiencies. (See II Cor. 3:4-5 and 9:8 and 12:7-10)
His water is life abundant and eternal....and is sufficient.
La Moyne read that every person needs a minimum of 62 ounces of water per day in order to survive the weariness of this heat wave. It is SO dry and hot that we decided to drink even more than that.
The drought has really dried up the ponds and the farmers/ranchers are having great difficulty coping with it, as they are losing their cattle as well as their crops.
Water is SO important....we can not live without it...and we can not really live without Jesus, the Water of Life.
John 7:37-39 is a great Scripture about this Water of Life for it speaks of the:
'in-flow', the 'up-flow' and the 'over-flow'.
One man said, "I may not can hold much, but I can overflow a lot."
In this story, the key for her was her thirst...and where she went to quench it.
Today, people try to satisfy their inner thirst (and hunger) with so much else other than Jesus.
4) THE WILLING WITNESS (Vs. 28-30)
"The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and said to the men,
'Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Is not this the Christ?
Then they went out of the city and came unto Jesus."
a) She was changed
b) She left her water pots...
There are priorities in the spiritual life more important than food or drink.
These priorities are, 'Come, See, Go, Tell'. This she did.
God can hit 'straight licks with crooked sticks'.
Let God hit a home-run with your life (make sure that your life is clean)
c) Jesus became the center of her life and witness.
Colossians 1:27: "Christ in you, the hope."
d) Jesus spoke to His Disciples "The greatest good in life is to do the will of God"
(Vs. 34) "My will is to do His will and to finish His work."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a great preacher in England, was offered a job that paid $50,000 per year (which was a lot back then). He declined and when asked 'why',
he replied, "I will stay in London and win 50 souls to Christ."
Jesus is too good to keep....please share Him with others!
If not you, who?
If not now, when?
If not here, where?
Annie Johnson Flint suffered from extreme arthritis.
She allowed Jesus, the Water of Life, to turn her pain into gain...
and began to write beautiful poetry.
One that I like, as we think about weariness, is entitled: "What God Hath Promised".
'God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
But God hath promised strength of the day,
Rest for the labor and light for the way.
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love,'
Poetry is great, but memorize Matthew 11:28-30....
"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (NIV)
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He is a Master teacher, isn't He Travis? Thank you for this great article in "winning Over The Wearies" it is something that one has to not succumb to isn't it? Blessings, Sharon
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