John 4:10 – J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

¹⁰ “If you knew what God can give,” Jesus replied, “and if you knew who it is that said to you, ‘Give me a drink’, I think you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water!”

Lord Jesus, open my eyes and give me the spiritual capacity to know what You can give – to know intimately what You offer.  Help me to be conscious every moment of every day of Your presence and the fact that I am not living out my purpose on my own. You offer me living water that refreshes and cleanses me from this world’s debris.

Lord, You are telling me that I need to know two things to be in a position to ask the right question:

1. I need to know what God can give
2. I need to know You personally

This is such simple direction, but not always so easy to execute.

Lord, this is also a great way for me to pray for myself and for my family.  I will begin to pray that our eyes will be opened to see what You can do and to see You, Jesus.  Once we have this knowledge, we will have the faith and courage to ask You for living water.  Our hearts will become aware of the fact the You offer refreshing life that gets better and better;  whereas, the world offers water that is sweet but then becomes bitter.

You offer life that refreshes us and others.  The world offers the self-destructive substitute that causes us to implode in selfishness, pride, lust and all manner of self-focused entrapments.

What I love about this story is that this woman wasn’t looking for You.  She wasn’t like the woman with the issue of blood who pushed through a crowd in her physical weakness to touch you; or like Jairus who put his position as a Jewish leader aside to ask you to come heal his daughter; or even Zaccheus, the tax collector, who was checking you out from a safe distance.  She was just going about her day, stuck in her pain and poor choices, and You sought her out. You found her and then opened her eyes to see what God had to offer her and Who You are.

You will do this for me and for my family and friends.  As I call out their names to You in prayer, You dispatch angels on their behalf to clear the way for Your Word to penetrate. You are seeking and saving my family; You are drawing in my unsaved loved ones with Your compassionate grace!

Now you:

• Does this story encourage your faith as you pray for people you love who don’t know the Lord?
  • This scripture can be a new strategy for you on how to pray for those you know who have never encountered the Lord.  You can pray that:
    • They will know what God can give to them (forgiveness, a clean heart, a new life, a fresh start, healing and so much more!)
    • They will know Jesus – really know Who He is as Savior; Lover of their soul; Redeemer; and Lamb of God, Who came to take away their sin.

Lord Jesus, thank you for seeking and saving my loved ones.  Thank you for invading their pain and stubbornness with Your kindness and compassion.  They have built up walls of self-protection because this world has taught them that they aren’t good enough to be loved, safe enough to trust or worthy of Your attention. Jesus, you know where to find them, how to break down those walls, and how to lead them gently into new life.  Thank you for hearing my prayer for them today.  Continue to give me faith to believe that they will see you and love you with their whole heart until the day I see it with my eyes! Amen.