IF YOU ONLY KNEW!

John 4:10 Jesus replied, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water."

Have you ever said that to anyone? "If you only knew!" meaning that if they did know they would understand why things are the way they are, or they'd understand you better because they'd know the whole story instead of only a part.

Jesus walked miles out of His way to speak to this lady to meet her where she was at. He knew all about her, but she didn't know who He was and how He'd come to give her a gift that would change her life for ever.  When He offered her living water she could only think inside the box "But you don't have a rope and a bucket" she said. She kept offering up excuses as to why it wouldn't work for her.

How often do we come to Jesus and He offers us this living water too? If we only knew He offers us the gift of the Holy Spirit; He offers us supernatural ability to walk through life's problems with His perspective and power instead of with our rope and bucket.  

When this lady heard what Jesus was saying to her, even before she fully understood what He was offering but she saw the love and compassion in His eyes, she said "Please sir, give me this water!"

Jesus offers us His life giving water right now to each one of us, He says it becomes a fresh bubbling spring within us giving us eternal life. (v.13). We don't need a rope and a bucket we only need to ask for it and Jesus promised He would give it to us. 

You probably 'knew' all this already but sometimes we need a gentle reminder. So if you're feeling 'dry on the inside', and now you've been reminded, let's accept His offer and ask Him for His fresh bubbling spring of life giving water to bubble up in us today and ever day. Amen.

LET'S GIVE GOD GLORY

Psalm 44:8 O God, we give glory to you all day long and constantly praise your name.

It's very easy when talking to people to join in with all the doom and gloom and go over all the 'wrong' things going on in the world. But our Psalmist has a different approach because he wants to give God glory all day long, and I thought what a wise man!

He wants to recount all the things God has done and will do for us. v.5 Only by your power can we push back our enemies, only in your name can we trample our foes. v.6 I do not trust in my bow; I do not count on my sword to save me. v.7 You are the one who gives us victory over our enemies; you disgrace those who hate us.

This man had learned the importance of putting all his hopes and focus on God Himself,  and he'd learned a thing or two about praise too.

v.8 O God, we ...constantly praise your name. We know praise defeats the enemy at every turn  and there is power in constantly praising the name of our Wonderful Saviour, our Great Deliverer. It moves our focus from our problems to our Problem Solver.

So rather than us all going on about what's 'wrong' let's try and remember to turn it round and constantly praise our God for what's good and what's lovely, because only He has the power to change the unlovely and He deserves all the glory.

Have a blessed week.