Dear saints, I trust that the Lord has been keeping and prospering you🙂. When we start our walk with the Lord we’re full of enthusiasm and zeal to save the whole world! But as the years roll on dreariness sets in and that spark and zest we had for our Heavenly Father seems to disappear (Revelation 2:4). I’ve been a Christian for 22 years and I can tell you from my personal experience that the monotony of life seems to make bible study, prayer and fellowship very mundane, lacking the fire and passion when I was first converted. Most of it is due to fatigue, but of some it is also spiritual rot. If you feel the same as I, then let’s explore the way to re-kindle that passion for Christ in us.
I’d like for us to turn to John 4:1-42. This is the well know story of the Lord Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman at a well. The humanity of the Lord Jesus, i.e., His fatigue and thirst were quite evident (John 4:6). His human frailty set up a preordained encounter with the Samaritan woman. A very interesting discussion ensues which follows what King Solomon had foretold in the book of Proverbs (Ecclesiastes Chaps. 1-12). Sometimes it’s not the lack, but the excess of success that bores us to tears. A man or woman that is yet to reach the pinnacle of their career craves for success. But those of us who’ve attained the height of our careers (Professors like me, doctors, CEO’s etc.) find that there’s nothing left for us to achieve. Some people change their careers to take on new challenges but when they attain everything there is to achieve in that profession too, they’re back to square one. The Samaritan woman had a similar problem, except in her case she has had too much love (or maybe not enough, considering how often she changed husbands) (John 4:17-18).
It’s interesting to note that the Lord Jesus merely observed that she had five husbands but didn’t condemn her for divorcing her former husband (the issue of divorce was explained to the Pharisees : Mark 10:1-12. However, the Lord didn’t use it as a yardstick to judge and condemn the Samaritan woman), nor did he condemn her for cohabiting with a man without being married to him (Please understand saints that I’m merely narrating the events that transpired without commenting on the merits or sinfulness of the same). The point I’d like for us to consider is this: God has the ability to satisfy us and make us seek more of Him (Psalm 65:9, 81:6) unlike the world which either leaves us dejected with plenty or makes us addicted for more. The freshness of life that’s found in the Holy Spirit invigorates us and also makes us conduits for that life to reach out to others (John 4:13-14). All of us know that when water is contained or restrained by a dam, the water tends to putrefy from dead fish. We have to make sure that if God gives us a blessing (spiritual revelation, wealth, etc.) we share it with others. Else, that blessing can turn into a curse. King David wouldn’t drink the water brought to him in the heat of battle and instead poured it out before the Lord (2 Samuel 23:13-17).
When we’re physically tired it’s impossible for us to commune with God unless we’re refreshed. When the Prophet Elijah ran away from Queen Jezebel he was so tired and dejected that he asked the Lord to take his life (1 Kings 19:5)! The Angel of the Lord appeared to the Prophet Elijah and told him to do the most mundane thing “Get up and eat” (1 Kings 19:5). That’s what God tells us to do when we’re dog- tired (or bone-tired), not to pray for more strength, but to eat and sleep. In this passage the Prophet ate and slept twice before the Angel was able to get through to him (1 Kings 19:5-9). But then there are those of us who are in our mid-lives or latter stages and hot chocolate alone won’t do the trick. We should imitate our Lord and seek that renewing life from the Holy Spirit who always reveals new and fascinating things to us (Luke 5:16, Isaiah 43:19).
Dear friends, I’m quite certain that all of you are sanctified, Holy Ghost baptized saints. Should there be any among you that don’t know the Lord yet, I pray that the Lord of the Universe will set you free from sin and disobedience into His glorious light and freedom. Amen.