Based on “What God Wants” by Pastor Dean Corns; 5/19-20/12,
Message #DC140; Daily Devotional #5 - “Truth Revealed”
Preparing the Soil (Introduction): When the Samaritan woman met Jesus at the well that day, she realized He knew the truth about her and must be a prophet (John 4:19). It appears that she started to feel uncomfortable and changed the subject. She asked Jesus a question regarding worship instead of continuing to let Him ask probing questions. The Holy Spirit convicts us of truth about ourselves to heal and restore us, but we often change the subject because we are uncomfortable (John 16:8). The only way to real healing and freedom is to be honest about our struggles. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (1 John 1:8-9, NLT). This is tough, really tough, because our pride gets in the way! God already knows the truth about us but wants us to humble ourselves and admit our dependence on Him. Pride keeps us in bondage and constant worry. Jesus died to free us of our struggles. When we confess our sin to Jesus (which He gladly bore on the cross) and accept His grace (which is sufficient for us), we are free.
Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): The Samaritan women questioned Jesus about worship, and He replied that soon we would be able to worship anywhere because we would be worshipping in Spirit and Truth. Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit to guide us in all Truth. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. (John 16:13-14, NLT) That Truth is what allows us the revelation of life and true freedom. In order for this to happen, we have to be genuine and honest about ourselves and accept His grace. The world’s sin is unbelief (John 16:9). We give Jesus control when we believe that He loves us and only wants the best for us. He wants a personal, love relationship with us over any other act of worship. Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-38, NLT). We can’t have genuine worship without our heart, soul and mind loving God. We will not trust Him to take care of the struggles we face without believing in His love relationship with us. He wants us to be honest with Him every day, about everything.
Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): Worship is more than music. Our time, our talents, our money and every aspect of our lives can be worship to our Creator. Genuine worship requires our mind to be engaged as well as our Spirit. We have to choose to think on His goodness, and He commanded us to love Him with all our mind, as well as heart and soul. It is important to constantly keep our mind focused on what He has done in our lives, believing He will get us through each and every struggle. When we have a genuine relationship with our Creator, we will have genuine worship for who He is, what He has done and is doing and what He is going to do. When we worship with this in mind, we have a genuine thankfulness and awe because we personally know the one we are worshipping.
Cultivating (Additional Reading): Romans 8:5-11; 1 Corinthians 2:12
Calvary Chapel of Melbourne; 2955 Minton Road; W. Melbourne, FL 32904; 321-952-9673
All Bible references are from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted.
The New Living Translation = NLT.