The Impoverished Ministry of Jesus

Where then do You get that living water? —John 4:11

“The well is deep”— and even a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew! (John 4:11). Think of the depths of human nature and human life; think of the depth of the “wells” in you. Have you been limiting, or impoverishing, the ministry of Jesus to the point that He is unable to work in your life? Suppose that you have a deep “well” of hurt and trouble inside your heart, and Jesus comes and says to you, “Let not your heart be troubled . . .” (John 14:1). Would your response be to shrug your shoulders and say, “But, Lord, the well is too deep, and even You can’t draw up quietness and comfort out of it.” Actually, that is correct. Jesus doesn’t bring anything up from the wells of human nature— He brings them down from above. We limit the Holy One of Israel by remembering only what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past, and also by saying, “Of course, I cannot expect God to do this particular thing.” The thing that approaches the very limits of His power is the very thing we as disciples of Jesus ought to believe He will do. We impoverish and weaken His ministry in us the moment we forget He is almighty. The impoverishment is in us, not in Him. We will come to Jesus for Him to be our comforter or our sympathizer, but we refrain from approaching Him as our Almighty God.

The reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed to recognize that Christ is almighty. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, “Of course, He can’t do anything about this.” We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. Beware of sitting back, and saying, “It can’t be done.” You will know it can be done if you will look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and to look toward Him.

-Utmost for His highest

Comments

Issues of the mom-heart

I've read somewhere that everyone's miserable. They're just good at hiding it. I have been trying to find out why this new season seems to be a burden to me. Don't get me wrong -- I enjoy motherhood and I love my little one but something seems to be blocking my view of experiencing it joyfully. Callie's already 10 months and everything just dawned on me -- why I was struggling, why I can't see things the way it should be, why I felt ineffective and frustrated and depressed. I think I just had post-partum depression. I just got back from my US business trip and I just bursted into tears a few days after while singing Jesus loves me -- as if I'm telling that to myself. I'm grateful that I have a husband who listens and understands and encourages me that I can do it! I just realized the root cause(s) of what's going on after that incident. I was too attached to Callie that I don't want her to leave my site when I'm with her. I

Maturity

I was reading a long-overdue-book and I bumped into this: I have been married for almost two years now and I suddenly reminisced my late teenage years... It was in those years when God made me realize that maturity doesn't come with age... I was younger then, when I understood this very excerpt from the book Let Me Be a Woman (funny how everything He taught me is already in this book had I not stopped reading it! Indeed His humor is amazing). I started reading this way back 2007 or 2008 only to continue it now and read this now. I stopped reading it way back then because I don't have plans of getting married yet... little did I know that He will make me understand this in His own personal way. And right now, I was like, "So Lord, You must be saying, 'I told you so..' right?" haha! ... The key to meeting your better half starts with maturity. And maturity comes from God. To those who are still searching for their better half, don't. Don&#

Thoughts

Exodus Moses brought Joseph's bones out of Egypt when God freed them. Joseph made his family swear under oath that when God pays them a visit, they have to carry his bones with them. Joseph mentioned that surely, God will take them to the land He promised Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. Maybe, Joseph's brothers tell this to their sons & daughters so even after x number of years, they are still reminded of Joseph's request. The Israelites know that the time will come when God will take them out of Egypt but maybe they just didn't believe so He needed Moses to perform the miracles, that they might know Him, trust Him and believe in Him. Sometimes, we know what God said and what God promised us... but when it's already in front of us, it's hard to determine that God is already moving. Why? Because we are comfortable with the misery that we are in to. It dulls our senses and makes us forget the promise of God. Be careful with where you are right now.

Livin' only by Grace

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