The Cup, The Pitcher, The Well and the Stream

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A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

John 7:38
Whoever believes in me,
as the Scripture has said,
streams of living water
will flow from within him.”

When I was a new believer I was satisfied by getting my cup filled each week at church. Soon I found that serving others was fun and I got a bigger cup and then a pitcher to serve others during the week. I found that I was spending a lot of time running back to get more water for my pitcher.  I began to wonder if it was possible to stay connected to the source of the water. I believe it is
Revelation 7:17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Yes this is another message on abiding but it is also about hearing God. You may not feel like you are good enough or worthy enough to go directly to the thrown room of God, none of us are. Jesus has made a way for us to enter into the very thrown room of God. Our access to the thrown room is our acceptance of what Jesus has done for us on the cross. He has atoned for our sins. It is not about us being good enough it is about us accepting what He has already done on our behalf.
I think these feeling of not being good enough are often what keep us out in the desert searching for the next well of refreshing. We fill up our cup or our canteen and travel on through our week hoping we will have enough water to make it back to the well on Sunday. We may believe in Jesus and hunger and thirst for more of him but we have not figured out how to connect directly to him or how to stay connected to him. Even the woman at the well in  John 4:11 -12  says “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”
Jesus did not need a cup or a pitcher to draw water from the well. He is and was the very stream that flows from the presence of God almighty.
I love the verse from Isaiah 12:3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Do you realize that if you are saved and have accepted Jesus you can become one of the wells of salvation. It is a joy to draw water for others from that well from the places of abiding in His presence. Some times wells get filled up with dirt. They may not be dug deep enough for times of drought. My topic this week is about abiding and hearing God. You can take your cup or canteen or pitcher and go to a well. A church or to another believer who is abiding and get your cup filled by the revelations that they share as a result of their time of abiding with the Lord. We can hear God speak through others who know him.  There was a time in my Christian life when everyone I knew was running all over the place to find the next place where God was moving. They wanted to go find the places where revival was happening and soak up as much as they could at those meetings. I never wanted to chase revivals. I’m not saying that it is not wonderful when God is moving. I wanted my own deep abiding relationship, my own personal daily revival in the transforming presence of Jesus. I wanted to become a well in the desert or like be like the oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor spoken of in Isaiah 61.  In Jeremiah 17: 7-8 it says “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought it never fails to bear fruit.  I have sought out that deeper relationship with Jesus. It starts by making time to spend with him. I stopped coming with my list of prayer needs and started coming because he became my very best friend. Every deep friendship where one is known and knows that other person starts with both parties being willing to be open and honest and willing to listen. That relationship is not possible if you don’t make time to spend together.
 
Questions:
What are some ways you could find to develop your friendship with Jesus?

The Reason You Do Not Hear

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A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

John 8:47 (NIV1984)
47 He who belongs to God hears 
what God says.
The reason you do not hear is 
that you do not belong to God.”

I’ve been asked recently about hearing God. Its a topic far bigger than one post could possibly cover so I will try and break it down into little bites of truth. So lets start at the beginning and try and understand why you might not be hearing God.

If you are trying to hear God and do not belong to him - you don't hear because you don't belong to God. Its not because He is not speaking or calling unbelievers to come. You are not listening. It says in Revelation 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” God is knocking and calling but it much like all the radio signals that are out in the airways, you can’t hear them unless you are tuned into the station. The acceptance of Jesus is like the radio being tuned to the station broadcasting Gods voice. He is both all loving and he is just. We have a big problem called sin. The beginning of the journey is to realize our good works, our sacrifice, or rituals are not enough to fix the problem of sin so we could  reach God.   It says in Acts 2:21 "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” You won’t call on him or open the door to him as long as you think you have no need for what he offers. The following passage illustrates that it is not about being good enough. It is all about believing and turning to Jesus.  In Luke 23:39-43 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
That guy was a bad man deserving his sentence for the crimes he had committed. He did not do most of the stuff that we include in "getting saved". He never said a sinners prayer or walked to the alter in a church. He never got baptized or took communion.  He did not have time to learn the Bible or amend in any way the wrongs of his life. Yet Jesus said he would be with him in paradise. All he did was believe Jesus was innocent and asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

My posts are written mainly for believers, to encourage them in their walk with Jesus. So this may seem like a repeat of things you already know. If you are a believer you should be able to hear God and I will look at some possible reasons in future posts, why you might be struggling. Perhaps however, you have friends who are asking you questions about God, I hope this helps.  The starting place for hearing God is to believe, just like that thief on the cross. In John 10:25  Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” The thief on the cross did nothing more than believe.  In that moment he was “tuned” into Jesus by believing and was able to hear his voice and he followed Jesus right into paradise. He heard the knock, and he answered the door in that moment Jesus came into his life. He would come into yours too.
Prayer:
Dear Lord,
I hear you knocking and calling. Like that thief on the cross I suddenly realize that you did not deserve death on that cross. I call to you - remember me Jesus, I need you. God sent you in his love and you took the punishment to satisfy Gods justice. You took on the punishment my sins deserved. I turn to you as my God and as my saviour. Tune my heart to hear your voice that I may follow you today and every day until I follow you into paradise.

When My Faith Seems Small

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When My Faith Seems Small

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio
 

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for 

and certain of what we do not see. 

 

I have faith in chairs, that when I sit in them they will hold me up. I have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow. I have faith that Mt.Rainier is still there on cloudy days when I can't see it looming over the Western Washington landscape.

Do I have faith to believe that God's promises in His word are true? Beyond that do I have faith to believe the things He has spoken to me in my quiet time with Him? Do I really trust him like Abraham even when every circumstance seems to shout the very opposite of what God has said?   I do - I'm not saying I don't have days when doubts creep in and my faith seems very small - I do. We all have those days.  I want to share some of the things that I do on days when my faith seems small. 

 

I Spend Time With Jesus: The first place you will find me is at the feet of Jesus. I lay it all out before the Lord. He already knows the condition of my heart and I ask like the father in Mark 9:24b
 “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

 

I Remember: I remember the mercies and the goodness of the Lord. I make a point to tell others on those days about some time that the Lord has helped me in the past. In Revelation 12:11 "They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." The word of your testimony is a powerful weapon by which we overcome the enemy. 

 

I Use My Weapons: I  remember 2 Corinthians 10:4 -5 "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." We have already been given powerful weapons for demolishing the strongholds in our lives and in the lives of others. If I know the Word then I will know when an argument is setting itself up against the knowledge of God. The more of the Word I have in me the less likely I am to sin against God. Psalm 119:11 is a good case for Bible memory. It say's "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you". Now I have some friends who really work at Bible memory, they practice in their spare time and they have many passages memorized word for word. I am not very good at memorizing. I may not be able to quote word for word, or give you chapter and verse but the Word is in me. For example just in writing this devotional post I am able to remember key words and concepts so that when I can quickly find the verses that I want to use. I have may not have spent time consciously memorizing, but I have spent lots and lots of time reading the Word. I have spent lots of time singing the Word. God wired me in such a way that allows me to remember things that have been set to music. We all have little tricks that help us remember the things we want to remember. My point is that knowing the Word is a powerful weapon against the enemy. 

 

I Stand on the Word: As I am praying and seeking the Lord often I will come across a verse that jumps out and speaks deeply to me in some way. That becomes a Word that I begin to stand on. It is like it jumped out just for me. We are promised that the Holy Spirit will teach us in John 14:26  "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." Those words I often put on 3x5 cards and carry in my pocket or I post it places where I will see them and be reminded. 

 

I Ponder: There are things that I don't know how or when God will work out - I just know that He will. I remember that He is able.  They are for me like money in the bank. I know it will be there when I need it in the future. I am making faith deposits for the future in the little steps of faith I take today.   I don't generally tell anyone those private things that God has spoken to me. Like Mary I take those things and treasure them or ponder them. Luke 2:19 says "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." I often journal those things so that when they do happen - I have created yet another testimony that will help me with things in the future. 

 

I hope that these little tips are helpful. This is certainly not an exhaustive list but these are some of the ways that I build myself up. 

Oh one last thing...

 

I pray in the Spirit - I don't always know how to pray but I trust that the Holy Spirit knows the mind of the Father and is able to pray through me. I love how the message explains this in Romans 8:26-28 "Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good." I have to quote something my friend Mark Kenney posted today "Someone asked if I believed in tongues. I said I'm pretty sure that most everyone I know has one..so I'll say yes." I try not to make that subject a divisive issue. For me praying in the Spirit for me has been a huge blessing. It has added a deeper dimension my prayer life, particularly when I don't know how to pray. Its a gift - not a badge of spirituality.

 

I have found that I have faith for a given trial when I have been spending time at the feet of Jesus. It is a bad idea to wait for a trial and then to beginning cramming trying to work up faith. One must consistently be using faith and practicing faith in small things. Then when bigger things come our way we are able to look to the many small things that helped us to practice and grow in faith. David had practiced on lions and bears before he stood before the giant Goliath. Use what is going on now to build some spiritual muscle.

 

Prayer:  Dear Lord, Help me build some spiritual muscle in this trial I am facing. Help me to remember and to try some of the ideas in this devotional. Help me grow in faith so that I honor you in the situations that I face as I walk through day to day life. I invite you to be present with me as I go through this day.