The Samaritan Woman- A Faithful Witness

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John 4

Vs. 13-15

It is difficult to passionately and faithfully witness about Christ if you are yet to have an encounter and revelation of His person.

• The Samaritan woman knew from her experience, that the natural water of the world could not quench the thirst of a man’s soul.
• She understood that Jesus is the WAY; the only person qualified and able to give living water.
• She believed that this living water progresses into a fountain, springing up into everlasting life.
• Her thirsty soul reached out to Jesus- THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE.

Vs 16-18

A faithful witness will not allow past/current guilt; failures; success or pain to rob them of who they can become inside Christ. They graciously allow JESUS to probe into their past and present.

• Jesus delved straight into her personal life and she did not shut HIM out. She was transparent with Jesus, not offended that HE hit a touch spot in her heart. 

Vs. 19-26

A faithful witness who will preach Christ and HIM crucified, is one who has been stripped empty of religion; incomplete gospel; false doctrine; and remnants of Mr. Flesh.

• She persisted in engaging Jesus, allowing HIS Word to wash her heart of all relics of the old nature/religion/culture/wrong mentality/insecurities and failures.

Vs 28

Faithfulness in witnessing about Christ is directly proportional to how much space HE finds to occupy in our heart. Evidenced with our response to the call to discipleship –Come, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.

• She left her waterpot not minding the cost; not sure where life will take her; ready to count the cost and follow the Master. Jesus’ labour on her life was not fruitless.

Vs. 29-30

A faithful witness seeks to redeem the time; maximising every opportunity to project Jesus.

• Immediately she went into the city to proclaim to all the little she knew about Jesus. She did not wait till she gained a PhD in theology.
• Her past did not rob or curtail her from becoming an evangelist.

Prayer Points

• Lord, I desire a fresh revelation of YOU so that my witnessing will not be theoretical.
• Let me passionately, boldly with deep conviction proclaim to others that which was proclaimed to me and received by me.
• Grant me grace, so that my past or current challenges do not rob me of faithfully witnessing for Christ.
• Please allow my past failures; pain; hurt and successes become a platform and leverage to reach people that others may have had difficulty witnessing to.
• Let my life inside Christ, be a testament to God’s saving grace. Cause many to see and fear and put their trust in God.
• Like the Samaritan woman, Lord, engage my heart until I am thoroughly washed by water with the WORD. Rid my life of all excess baggage owned by Mr. Flesh.
• As I grow in my knowledge of Christ, help me progressively let go of my waterpot, so that my message is simply: Christ, no more no less.
• Holy Spirit, help me to faithfully and passionately proclaim Jesus, irrespective of my growing knowledge of HIM.
• LORD, please do not let me be sluggish with my obedience to following Christ.
• Conquer my life Lord, and send this conquered life out as Your spokesperson.
• Let Your labour over my life be fruitful as it was with the Samaritan woman.

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Susanna Wesley

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Brief Background

• Susanna Wesley was the youngest of 25 children.
• Married when she was 19 (young wife).
• Susanna and Samuel Wesley had 19 children.
• Her husband was absent a lot due to church business and incarcerated twice due to poor financial decisions.
• She understood her role as a mother, and made the decision to spend 1 hour with each of her children over a period of a week.
• She worked the gardens; milked the cows’ daily but found time to devote 2 hours a day in prayer.
• Susanna and Samuel disagreed on religious and political subjects. Samuel on one occasion left her and the children for nearly a year after an argument.
• She was confronted with challenges and received strength to overcome them- suffered ill health; stresses of daily life; persistent financial challenges; lost their home to fire twice and 9 of her children died as infants.
• Home schooled and taught her children to read by age of 5. They were all proficient in Latin, Greek and classical studies.
• The lack of diverse spiritual teaching (the church focused much on debt repayment) caused her to assemble her children on Sunday afternoon for family services. At one point, over 200 gathered at her home for service while service attendance dwindled to nearly nothing.
• In a letter, she wrote ‘Salvation is the aim and end of existence. A matter for agonised striving’.

And what profit is there in gaining the whole world when it means forfeiting one’s self? Luke 9:25 (TLB) 

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants-You have ordained strength,
because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. 

Psalm 8:2

Useful Gleanings

• She desired nothing (not the limelight, not the pulpit or recognition) more than to live a godly life pleasing to God.
• She recognised and embraced her call to motherhood; raising all her children to love and fear the LORD.
• Despite marital, health and financial challenges; she did not resign her divine call as a help meet and spiritual midwife.
• Her communion with Jesus was of utmost priority despite multiple responsibilities.
• A woman of vision who partnered with God – His quest for children out of whose mouth His strength and praises will go forth. Children that He will use to silence the enemy- the devil. Children that He will use as arrows in His quiver.
• She found that needful thing (CHRIST for her life and family).
•  Her resilience, patience and dedication to God and her family is noteworthy
• She was a woman of focus, vision, prayer and not afraid to go against the tide.

Whilst muted-

Allow the Lord to pass through the life of Susanna to highlight salient points to take up in prayer.

Be determined that this session will not be information gathering; but the LORD will arrest your heart and help you take practical steps regarding any matter He raises in your heart.

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Not the Labour of My Hands Oh Lord

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Exodus 2: 1-9

Now [Amram] a man of the house of Levi [the priestly tribe] went and took as his wife [Jochebed] a daughter of Levi.

² And the woman became pregnant and bore a son; and when she saw that he was [exceedingly] beautiful, she hid him three months.

³ And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark or basket made of bulrushes or papyrus [making it watertight by] daubing it with bitumen and pitch. Then she put the child in it and laid it among the rushes by the brink of the river [Nile].

⁴ And his sister [Miriam] stood some distance away to learn what would be done to him.

⁵ Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked along the bank; she saw the ark among the rushes and sent her maid to fetch it.

⁶ When she opened it, she saw the child; and behold, the baby cried. And she took pity on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children!

⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call a nurse of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?

⁸ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the girl went and called the child’s mother.

⁹ Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages. So the woman took the child and nursed it.

• Miriam, Moses’ sister played a very important role in helping her brother fulfil God’s destiny for his life.
• The deliverance of the entire Hebrew race depended, so to say on Miriam’s faithfulness.
• Her labour was outstanding – beginning from the birth of her baby brother, labouring all the way till he was safely brought back to the mother to nurse for a while.
• Such wisdom, such tenacity of commitment, risking her own life – being young herself also.
• As a result we can understand her devotion to her brother…..

However, as can be observed in the narrative of Numbers chapter 12, this devotion had been carried too far:

Numbers 12: 1- 15:

1 Now Miriam and Aaron talked against Moses [their brother] because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite woman.

² And they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Has He not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.

³ Now the man Moses was very meek (gentle, kind, and humble) or above all the men on the face of the earth.

⁴ Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting. And the three of them came out.

⁵ The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the Tent door and called Aaron and Miriam, and they came forward.

⁶ And He said, Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make Myself known to him in a vision and speak to him in a dream.

⁷ But not so with My servant Moses; he is entrusted and faithful in all My house.

⁸ With him I speak mouth to mouth [directly], clearly and not in dark speeches; and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?

⁹ And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and He departed.

¹⁰ And when the cloud departed from over the Tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron looked at Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous!

¹¹ And Aaron said to Moses, Oh, my lord, I plead with you, lay not the sin upon us in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.

¹² Let her not be as one dead, already half decomposed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.

¹³ And Moses cried to the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech You!

¹⁴ And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed for seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp for seven days, and after that let her be brought in again.

¹⁵ So Miriam was shut up without the camp for seven days, and the people did not journey on until Miriam was brought in again

• She’s been throwing her weight around in Moses’ life.
• I see a subtle attitude of “you owe your life to me” in her meddling in her brother’s life.
• She failed to recognise that she was only an instrument in GOD’s hand in fulfilling destiny.
• She failed to withdraw after her work was done as Mordecai did. – Esther 6: 6-12.
• She now presumed to play God in Moses’ life, as a result of which she incurred God’s anger.

Beloved I noticed two other women in the Bible who did not recognise that they were only instruments in God’s hand, thus, failing to see that the special men God had brought their way were ‘larger’ than their domestic affairs: 

• Michal failed to recognise that David was no longer the poor shepherd, errand boy used by her father at his will and whom she had helped to escape her father’s attempted murder on several occasions. 2Sam 6: 20-23, 1Sam 19: 11-17.
• Mary the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ seeking to forcefully take him home, away from fulfilling destiny. Luke 8: 19-21, Matt. 12: 46-50, Mark 3: 31-35. 

³¹ Then His mother and His brothers came and, standing outside, they sent word to Him, calling [for] Him.

³² And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, Your mother and Your brothers and Your sisters are outside asking for You.

³³ And He replied, Who are My mother and My brothers?

³⁴ And looking around on those who sat in a circle about Him, He said, See! Here are My mother and My brothers;

³⁵ For whoever does the things God wills is My brother and sister and mother!

PRAYERS:

• Dear Father God, the reason I ask to be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit is for the fruit and not the ‘gift’. God testified of Moses that he was MEEK and FAITHFUL (fruit).  Miriam was only referred to as a ‘Prophetess’ (gift) – Exodus 15: 20-21.
• Please Father, do not allow ‘the labour of my hands’ (to my husband, children, heartcry, etc) to become my undoing in Your sight. Help me to not see as an advantage to hold on to whatever You have accomplished or will accomplish through this life. – Phil 3: 7-8.
• Help me to see Your singular purpose for my life: Phil 3: 10 & 14 – TO KNOW CHRIST and THE UPWARD CALL OF GOD IN HIM.
• Help me Lord, to seek the FRUIT of the Holy Spirit always and not the GIFT. – The gift will dazzle and puff up but fruit will nourish me always.
• Help me Lord, never to touch Your glory in any labour or in anyone’s life, not even mine!!

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Leila Naylor Morris - A Silent Labourer

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BORN- April 15, 1862 in Ohio, USA, DIED- July 23, 1929 in her daughter’s home in New York.

Nothing much was known about this woman who silently laboured in God’s vineyard to author well over 1,000 gospel songs and hymns, both writing the songs and arranging the music. She simply wrote her name as MRS CHARLES HENRY MORRIS. She did not even insert her first names, she simply identified herself with her husband’s initials.

Even after suffering poor eyesight in her fifties and eventual blindness, this silent labourer continue to write and compose hymns until her death at the age of 67.

She lived with her daughter until her death, which suggests to me that this lady did not make any personal profits from her much labour in God’s Kingdom. She was a labourer who denied, disowned herself and that the world could see JESUS in her!

1. Do we live so close to the Lord today,

Passing to and fro on life’s busy way,

That the world in us can a likeness see
To the Man of Calvary?
Chorus:
Can the world see Jesus in me?
Can the world see Jesus in you?
Does your love to Him ring true,
and your life and service, too?
Can the world see Jesus in you?

2. Do we love, with love to His own akin,

All His creatures lost in the mire of sin?

Will we reach a hand, whatsoe’er it cost,
To reclaim a sinner lost?

[Chorus]
3. As an open book they our lives will read,

To our words and acts giving daily heed;

Will they be attracted, or turn away
From the Christ we love today? 

[Chorus]
MRS C H MORRIS

PRAYERS:

• Rom 8:29 – Dear Lord, You have predestined me to be molded into the image of Your Son Jesus Christ, let His life be evident in me.
• Phil 2:5-11 – Let the characteristics of His life be my daily experience:

• Dear Lord, please strengthen me to follow Your example in humility, let my attitude be patterned after Yours.
• You stripped Yourself of all Your heavenly glory and privileges, leaving the comfort and glory of Your realm to come to this world, assuming the guise of a servant. Lord, accomplish the same emptying in me please.
• As if coming to this very low realm was not degrading enough, You even abased Yourself the more, to the extent of a painful, shameful death, all in obedience to the Father’s wish. Lord, please rid my life, empty me of all accolades, achievements, etc, that are usurping Your complete ownership and control of my life.
• Your simple command is “DENY YOURSELF, TAKE UP YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW ME DAILY.” To this instruction Lord, I pledge my allegiance, so help me Lord!!

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Ann Hasseltine Judson

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 Ann Hasseltine Judson (1789-1826) -"Missionary Heroine" 

 - First American woman missionary to go overseas with her husband (Adoniram) for mission work in Calcutta, India, in 1812. She was born December 22 1789.

-Ann learned the Burmese and Siamese languages: translated the gospel of Matthew to Siamese language (official language of Thailand) and taught Burmese girls in grammar schools.

-She bravely endured inconveniences and lived under very trying conditions. Due to the exhausting effect of the climate in India, she went back to America for some time; where she got busy with lectures about missions and wrote the history of Mission in Burma.

-She went back to Burma when war broke out between Indians and English, the missionaries were seen as spies and some of them were imprisoned. Ann's husband was kept in "death-prison": she was kept in the mission-house stripped of furniture and her clothes were taken.

-She managed her household and cared for her husband during his 18-month imprisonment. She followed him from prison to prison, with her baby in her arms and gave him food throughout.

-Ann's heroic endurance showed the strength and greatness of her character. She died October 24,1826. After her death, she was described as a person of decided character, with remarkable courage, complete consecration, with strong intellectual powers, large heart with unaffected piety; simple, humble and sincere.

Lessons from Ann Hasseltine Judson's life

•      She was able to strike a balance between her family and the Kingdom work.
•      She got busy with God's work home and abroad.
•      She made an impact on her generation by translating the gospel into another language.
•   She went an extra mile for the gospel by learning the language of the mission field.
•     She endured all hardships.
•     She fulfilled her destiny despite all odds.

 Prayer

2 Timothy 2: 1 - 10: 

•  Lord, help me to take a major bold step that will glorify Jesus in my life. Grant me divine backing in whatever step You are helping me to take and see me through the step until You are fully glorified.
•  Lord, keep me busy in Your work, let me not be found idle at any time. Please unveil all the talents You have deposited in me, channel them towards the true gospel and let me make a lasting impact on my generation and generations after me.
•  Lord, please take care of all the conveniences in my life that are standing as barriers to Your full gospel. Help me to go extra mile for Your work and grant me the grace that is in the Lord Jesus Christ to endure all difficulties along the way.
•  Lord, consecrate me solely unto Yourself, enlarge my heart and fill me up with Your love. Help me to fulfil my part according to the order of Heaven, in preaching the message of The CROSS diligently and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Lord, please be the strength of my heart and my portion forever in Jesus name. AMEN!

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