Monday 11 February 2013

DEFYING TIREDNESS


Memorise: Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 2 Timothy 4:2

Read: John 4:3-7

As bona fide children of God, we are expected to live our lives like He lived and copy Him in every area. 1 Peter 2:21 says, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:”
The Lord Himself said in Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
If you want to be like Jesus, you must be prepared to study Him and copy His deeds, actions, inactions, speech, silence, lifestyle, recreation, work principles, etc. To what extent have you learnt from Him?

One area we can learn from Him today is the way He evangelised. When we look at the popular story in John 4:1-42, the first thing we see there is a man led of the Spirit. He was on a particular journey but began to feel the need to go through Samaria. This was impressed on Him but He did not just waive it off like many of us do today. He confirmed that the Holy Spirit wanted Him to go by Samaria and He went to one of the villages. This tells us that the greatest, easiest and sweetest victories in evangelism can be recorded when the evangelist completely follows the leading of the Holy Spirit. When last were you lead of the Spirit to win a soul you knew nothing about? You must be totally yielded to God. If you frequently shun the impressions of the Holy Spirit in your spirit, a time will come when you may no longer hear from Him.

Another lesson here is that as tired as Jesus was from His journey, He still preached. We are commanded to preach in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2). If we were in Jesus shoes, do you know that, the woman at the well would have been lost? Consequently affecting the big harvest of the Samarians – they too would have been lost. How? We would have used our excuse of tiredness to defer the evangelism. Another lesson here is that God purposely sends some loners to you so that through them you can have a major breakthrough in evangelism. If you miss them for any reason, you would have lost a greater harvest. Never look down on anyone as you go out to preach the Gospel. You can never tell who they are connected to. Have you ever won a soul when you were tired? If you have not, then follow the steps of Jesus and reach out to souls in your tiredness and experience uncommon strength from God.

KEY POINT
Everyone has a circle of influence under a divine network of relationships. Leading that loner to Christ may mean leading a crowd to Christ.

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