We all know the interesting story of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman by the well of Sychar. I think it’s got to be one of the most remarkable stories in the Bible.
Jesus had just concluded one of those very high-intensity Ministerial Schedules in Judea and was now en route Galilee, for perhaps a nice, little and well-deserved vacation. However, He perceived the need to go through Samaria. It wasn’t the typical route to pass, but yeah, He was being led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knew a woman’s life was only a conversation away from deliverance and transformation.
He got to Samaria tired, exhausted and hungry, so He told His disciples to go fetch Him some food while He tarried by a well, waiting for them. Yes, Jesus used to eat! Somebody needed to hear that. Lol
While Jesus waited for His disciples to return, He saw a woman come to the well to fetch some water. Then Jesus struck a conversation with this woman, a conversation that was going to transform her life and that of an entire City.
One of the most important skills every believer ought to develop is the ability to strike a conversation, especially with new faces. Imagine how Jesus would have fared without it? He had to talk to total strangers and even asked some to leave what they were doing and follow Him, many of which became His Disciples. Imagine what a total stranger would have to tell you today, for you to leave your career and follow him? Would you even give such a person your attention? But Jesus had such a command that whenever He spoke, people had no choice but to listen and oblige.
Back to the well, Jesus begins the conversation by asking for the woman’s help. He asked her to give Him some water.
Here is another key lesson in striking conversations with people, especially the new faces; you get the best of responses when you give the person a reason to feel valuable. No one wants to speak for the first time, to someone who is so full of himself or herself. Learn to make people feel valuable.
You can do this by asking them a question you think they can answer or by asking them to talk to you about themselves, their achievements or by simply giving them a compliment. You have no idea how much can be gotten out of that simple interest shown towards another person. They will literally light up and be more open to speaking with you.
Ever observed how enthusiastic people become, when they have to describe a place to someone else? Some will even walk a distance in an attempt to ensure the newbie doesn’t miss his turn. That’s because in that moment, they felt valuable and capable of giving something useful to someone else.
No one rejects the opportunity to feel valuable.
Imagine Jesus approached her by asking the question “Do you know who I am?”, btw, that’s about the commonest question on the streets of Lagos. “I am The Messiah, sent by YHWH to deliver this miserable earth full of despicable humans from their well deserving damnation. Would you like me to give you some of my power?” But not Jesus!
The humility of Jesus is one of the most gorgeously majestic things about Him. If Jesus walked the earth today, many of us would totally miss Him. Why would the God of the Universe ever need to ask a “Samaritan” woman for that matter, anything?
Jesus got this woman to a very good place, mentally. He got her comfortable with Him and then He began to Minister to her by a manifestation of the Gift of the Spirit; the Word of Knowledge. By then, He had gotten her full attention. At the end of the conversation, she was so blessed, edified, strengthened and encouraged that she forgot her water pot. Aha! What an impact that conversation must have had on her!! Ever had a conversation with someone that made you switch purposes in an instant?
This woman came to the well to fetch some water, but left the well with a transforming message to fetch some souls. She came to the well with a water pot, small enough for her alone to carry, but big enough to last her only for a couple of days; but she left with a river of living water, portable enough to be carried everywhere within her spirit, but everlasting enough to draw all “men” to itself, without getting depleted. Wooosh!
She came with one purpose in mind, she left with a totally different agenda for the Kingdom! It’s okay to exchange that selfish ambition which would only serve you and your needs for a moment, for a satisfying pursuit of an eternal venture.
What a charge that must have been!
A truly remarkable thing to note here was that this supernatural conversation happened within the time it took for the disciples to get Jesus some food. How long does it take to get a meal from a nearby restaurant these days? That was how long Jesus needed to change the life of a woman who had been battered by life’s string of woes, and the lives of her army of Samaritan men.
Mind you, this was a tired and hungry Jesus, who only some minutes before, was visibly exhausted and famished, but now with His sleeves rolled up, was emptying hell of its inhabitants with just ONE conversation.
God is not asking us to convert the world in our strength and power. This story makes it clear enough, that the arm of flesh ultimately fails. But it also goes to tell us how far our body can go, if it becomes yielded to our spirit. If you will wait upon The Lord, He will renew your strength! Where your running will not cause weariness, and your walking will not cause fainting. And if you don’t faint, you won’t stop. You don’t stop because you were not running or walking in your power in the first place. There is a limit to the capacity of the body, but where the flesh stops, is where the spirit kicks in. Jesus wrought that wonder that day, not because He was physically refreshed, but because He was spiritually energised.
2 Corinthians 4:16 KJV
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
How we don’t faint is only by the spirit and not by might.
As I conclude my thoughts, I’d like to point you to a truly amazing realization. There was something that acted as catalyst for this supernatural encounter between the Samaritan Woman and Jesus. Without that thing, Jesus would have remained tired and hungry until His disciples brought Him some food. Jesus would have stayed Tired and Hungry, if something didn’t propel Him to reach out to this poor Samaritan Woman in His famished state. What was that thing?
LOVE!
Love was the only thing that made Jesus see the Samaritan Woman as One Extra Soul worth exhausting Himself over. And just as He dragged His tired self to do some more Ministry, the Spirit of Might kicked in!!
Listen Friends, Love has the power to get you past the limitation of your flesh into the portal of the Spirit, operating at the same frequency of God’s Strength and Power.
Ephesians 3:19–20 KJV
and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
We don’t see enough of God’s Power at work, because we don’t exercise enough Love towards our brothers and sisters. Power’s residential address is spelt LOVE!
The fullness of God, which is void of weakness, is waiting on your Love, so as to plunge you into this realm of The Overflow!!!
This week, let Love lead!
Have a productive week.
Dami Oguntunde
@damioguntunde