Changing The World Starting With You!

Have you ever set before the Lord by yourself with no distractions and your heart opened for God to pour fourth His life changing truth into you? Let me say it like this, have you ever set before the Word of God and let the Holy Spirit guide you through the scriptures and illuminate something He wants you to see? This morning I woke up, and again like I usually do, I read my daily Bible reading. Before I started I asked God to show me what He wanted me to see in order to transform me into the purpose He has called me to be in this life. It wasn't long before the Holy Spirit had me sitting before 4 different Bibles (NKJV, NLT, Original Greek, and the Dake) all turned to different openings. God through the Holy Spirit has opened my eyes to some truth this morning. My hope is to share with you what He has showed me and that the effect will be the same for you as it was for me, life changing transformation. I believe as you go before the Lord with the expectations of receiving life change He is more than able, He is willing, and the outcome will be elevating your experiences to a higher and deeper level of intimacy with Him. Hallelujah!

This morning I began this journey in John 4, but as you can imagine I didn't stay there. In John 4 we read the story about the Samaritan woman at the well. Usually Jews went out of their way to go around Samaria because they despised them, but not Jesus! He went right through there and never batted an eye. Now to give you some back round on the hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans you would have to do some research, but this is what you would find in a nutshell. After the Assyrian army conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, the Assyrians intermarried with the Jews still left in Samaria. These people now referred to themselves as Samaritans. Then after the Judeans returned from Babylon, conflict arose between the Jews and Samaritans. The Samaritans built a revival temple on Mount Gerizim, and used their own version of the Holy Scriptures. The hatred between the two increased when the Jewish King John Hyrcanus attacked the Samaritans and destroyed their temple about 128 b.c. This sparked the racial prejudices between the two.

Now Jesus understood this conflict existed, but He had a purpose while He walked the earth. He knew that if He let man's ignorance persuade Him of God's purpose for Him then no longer would it become the purpose of the Father but of men. So Jesus was not lead by ignorance of men but rather by the Holy Spirit. Remember in Luke 4 Jesus said the Spirit is upon my for he has anointed me... Now back to John 4:4 we see that Jesus "needed" to go through Samaria. Why? Because that's what the Holy Spirit led Him to do. As you read on you see that Jesus sits a while with this young lady, whom by her own people considered her an outcast. Most likely considered a harlot of her time. Jesus had such a profound impact on this woman's life that she ran back to town and told everyone about Him. In verse 39 we see that many believed based solely upon her testimony. Now pause right here and think... This woman was an outcast, a tramp, a prostitute in the eyes of the town. Most people wouldn't even give her the time of day to listen to her, but the Bible says the believed her and they followed her to meet this man of God! This just shows that when you spend time in the presence of the Lord, not only are you transformed, but you take with you some His anointing! Hallelujah! So the city came out to meet Jesus, and after hearing Him for themselves they believed even more and declared that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world!

So you're probably saying to yourself, "Yeah so what, I knew that. What's the big deal?" I am glad you asked! In John 4 we see that this city in Samaria was completely convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. They even invited Him and His crew of Jews to stay with them for a couple days. But I want to show you something else. Something that happened later. It's found in Luke 9. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem as He knew the time was drawing near for Him to finish the work He was sent here to do. So Jesus sent messengers to Samaria ahead of Him, but they did not receive Him. Something had changed in the hearts of the Samaritans. We just finished reading they declared Jesus and the Messiah, the Savior of the World! And now they are hardened against Him. Why? What could have changed their beliefs? The Lord showed me the answer in Luke 9:54, and we see the disciples react in such a way as millions of Christians are reacting today. “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” Oh friends do you see this! For two whole days Jesus and His disciples pour into these Samaritans everything they had. They gave them their best! And now these Samaritans have shut them out and denied Jesus. It is easy right here to fall into the snare of the enemy and get offended. It is so easy to react in a way that displeases the Lord such as James and John. But how many know that instead of jumping out in the flesh and pushing them farther away, sometimes we need to be slow to speak and slow to wrath and quick to listen?

Reacting out of the flesh is more dangerous than keeping your mouth shut. Some believe that they must always be bold and take stands against their oppressor. Some believe that if they don't they are showing weakness. Friend that's just pride, and God resists the proud. Humble yourself and understand that your oppressors are needy in the eyes of the Lord. And that you are called to be a light unto them. This is why you pray for your enemies. They are deceived and are held captive by Satan. They need to be liberated and set free by the Blood of Jesus! And you can not get your enemy to see that unless you are transformed by the renewing of your mind. Millions today are reacting to the enemy's distractions the same way James and John did in Luke 9:54. But we need to see things from the perception of Jesus. In Luke 9:55-56 Jesus rebuked them and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” Glory to God! Jesus Saves! Can you see why we as the followers of Christ we cannot afford to react out of our flesh? Actually I believe the reason why these Samaritans had a change of heart was because the continued to receive persecution from the Jews. Even though it was the Jews that Crucified Jesus, the Samaritans saw Jesus as one of them and hardened their hearts toward all Jews. Similar to today, many Christian's reactions to our oppressors hinder the works of Jesus through us. Now it makes sense to me why Jesus prayed for unity in the Church in John 17:21, "...that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me."

There is a solution to all of this. The solution is found in Proverbs 4:20-22, "My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh." Ephesians 6:17 calls the Word of God a sword. We have got to clothe ourselves in the complete armor of God. And let our lives be a witness to the world as His Word corrects us and brings us into unison. God's Word says the world will see us and that's how they will know that Jesus is the Son of God and that through our faith in Him alone have our debts been paid in full. Hallelujah!