The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him. (John 4:28-30)

To get the full impact of the encounter that Jesus had with a Samaritan woman by the well, you need to take into consideration the cultural and historic traditions that are interwoven in the narrative.

John addresses this squarely when he reports her words: “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” He follows it up with a word of explanation for his mostly non-Jewish audience: “For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”

The Jews considered the Samaritans to be heretic half-breeds. They had compromised the purity of their race by marrying Gentiles. And they worshipped God, not in Jerusalem, as the Jews did, but at a temple they built on Mount Gerizim.

For this reason, Jews did their level best to avoid travelling in Samaritan territory, as they were sure to be treated with hostility.

That is why the woman was so surprised

a. to see a Jewish man in town and

b. to hear him say: “Give Me a drink.”

Yet that one conversation initiated by Jesus in what was likely an awkward situation led to the transformation of that entire city.

You will notice that Jesus does not get “spiritual” with her to get the ball rolling. He just uses what is appropriate in that context to start a conversation.

She is there to draw water from the well. He is tired from walking all morning. (What the Bible calls the sixth hour of the day is noon, when the heat is intense and thirst is a natural consequence).

In other words, there was nothing out of the ordinary or inappropriate about his request for a drink.

That opening request from Jesus gets her talking. They go back and forth. As a matter of fact, she proves that she can hold her own in a theological discussion with Jesus. Of course, as time goes on, Jesus gets a revelation about her married life and turns the conversation around by asking her to go get her husband.

When she discovers that Jesus had access to insider information that a total stranger would not be expected to know…she calls him a prophet. Then she goes back into town and invites everyone to come and meet Jesus.

Here is what Holy Spirit is highlighting in today’s DWOD. It all began with a simple conversation starter on Jesus’ part. One response leads to another and before you know it, a whole city has come to Jesus.

There are times when we think we have to do something really great, complex or complicated to accomplish great results. We put pressure on ourselves to come up with the perfect opening line, the next three possible retorts and appropriate responses. Or we draw up a great plan and worry ourselves silly over everything that could go wrong.

Sadly, sometimes this results in us doing nothing at all, when all we have to do is obey the Holy Spirit’s nudge, open our mouth and say something that is not all that profound as: “Give Me a drink.”

Or “Can you please tell me how to get to the park?” Or “Is there a restaurant around here that serves fish?”

That one conversation that Jesus initiated with the Samaritan woman changed her entire city.

That one opening sentence you say to a total stranger could not only change their life, but also the life of their family and friends. Even their city!

Pastor Jeeva

P.S: Have you had any experiences such as this? Please share with the rest of your DWOD family.

His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5)

The life and ministry of the prophet Elisha is replete with astounding miracles that are unlike any other in the Old Testament. You may wish to read chapters 2-6 of 2 Kings in one sitting to get the full impact of how the Double Portion of Elijah’s spirit manifested in Elisha’s life.

Although these miracles are so different from one another, there is one characteristic that many of them have in common. They require the recipients of the miracle to do something rather unusual.

Here are a few that will catch your attention:

• Counselling the kings to get their soldiers to dig ditches, when they were already suffering from dehydration. Shouldn’t they be conserving their energy to fight the enemy instead of expending it on excavating?
• Urging the widow of the prophet to borrow vessels from all her neighbours. I mean you can explain why you need a bowl of sugar, but can you see the awkwardness she would’ve experienced in borrowing bowls only, no sugar?
• Commanding Naaman, the Commander of the Syrian army, to go dip seven times in the muddy waters of the Jordan so he could be cleansed of leprosy. Could you really blame Naaman for bristling at this unorthodox prescription?

As you can see clearly, no obedience to the prophet’s words, no miracles!

In John’s account of the very first miracle done by Jesus, Mary, the mother of Jesus, tells the servants: “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

The key word here is WHATEVER. No matter how ridiculous it may seem, no matter whether it makes logical sense or not, no matter whether it makes you look bad or not…WHATEVER He says, just do it. No questions asked.

Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it.  

Can you imagine how the servants would have felt when they were told to take the water to the master of the feast? The water had not yet turned into wine when they took the pots over. Ah, but, Mother Mary did say: “WHATEVER.” So they simply obeyed.

It was only when they started pouring it for the master of the feast that they discovered that the water had turned into wine.

Without the obedience of the servants, the water does not get changed into wine.

Go back and read the miracles that Elisha did. Do they not resemble the miracles of Jesus when it comes to requiring obedience?

He tells a man with a withered hand: “Stretch forth your hand.” What a ridiculous request! Jesus, can’t you see that’s his problem? He cannot stretch it forth because it is withered, hello! Yet, when he obeys, his hand is made whole. (Luke 6:6-11)

In John 9, we read about a man who was blind from birth encountering Jesus. He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” Pray tell, what does a mud plaster have to do with curing blindness? So he went and washed, and came back seeing. Obedience is the key that unlocks his miracle.

It was only when the servants filled the pots with water and then took it in faith to the master of the feast that the miracle happened. Water + “Whatever” leads to a miracle.

Dear DWOD friend, how good are you at obeying the Lord? Do you only obey when it makes sense? Or, like the servants in Cana of Galilee, do you obey commands which absolutely make so sense whatsoever?

The difference could be as dramatic as that between water and wine!

“The Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

Jake, our auto mechanic, was in the process of doing an oil change. He needed a particular wrench to remove the plug. It was not where it was supposed to be.

After looking in a couple of spots, he asked out aloud: “Now, where did I lose it?”

I shrugged my shoulders as if to say: “How would I know? Sorry, pal, can’t help you.”

His response completely caught me off guard. With a twinkle in his eye, he said: “Actually, it’s not lost. It just hasn’t been found yet!”

The moment he spoke those words, his entire demeanour changed. He was not in a panic to find the wrench anymore. He slowed down his pace, took his time, searched in a few more spots, and then exclaimed: “Ha! So that’s where you’ve been all along!”

Now he could proceed with the oil change that had been held up momentarily by the missing wrench.

The word “lost” is used quite frequently in the Christian world to describe those who have not yet turned to Jesus and received him as their Lord and Saviour.

Sometimes the word is used in a tone that is quite judgmental. At other times, when someone refers to the lost, there is more compassion than anything else in their voice.

Yes, it is true that without Jesus one is “lost”, but isn’t it also true that the reason they are labelled “lost” is because they haven’t been found yet?

Sadly, some prefer to remain in their lost state and are not open to receiving the gospel message. But how about those people who are just waiting to be found?

Over the past month, a number of people from our churches have been part of teams that have embarked on a Treasure Hunt.

What is a Treasure Hunt, you say? Here is how Kevin Dedmon describes it: “A group of people (three to five per team) asks God for words of knowledge about people’s names, clothing, appearance and prayer need(s). They also get words of knowledge about locations and other unusual things. They write these down on a paper called their Treasure Map and go to the locations on their Map to find “treasures”…people who correspond in some way to the clues that the team has written down. When they find someone, they show him or her their map and ask if they can pray for him/her.”

Some of you may have heard it described as “Prophetic Evangelism.” Members of our teams have been used by Holy Spirit to speak destiny over these “treasures”, often accompanied by healing, deliverance, salvation and even an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as in the case of the “treasure” in the photograph accompanying this post.

One of the reasons why outreaches such as Treasure Hunts produce remarkable results is because of the attitude with which teams go out. We are not looking for the lost, but for treasures that have not been found yet. We know they are out there. God has already given us enough details about them that we know for sure that we will find them. And we do.

This particular man told us: “The last five minutes have completely transformed my life forever. I cannot remain the same anymore.”

We too found, just as Jake did in his garage, that once the wrench (wretch?) is found, a “change” is bound to happen!

Have you ever embarked on such an adventure? Please share your experiences with the rest of your DWOD family.

So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” (II Kings 4:2)

“If only we had a bigger house, we could start a house church.”

“If only I had her money, I could do so much for the poor.”

“If only we had more members in our church, we could have such a great impact on our community.”

Ever make a statement like any of the above?

Quite often, when our mission/problem seems overwhelming, we are tempted to think this way, aren’t we? We look at what we don’t have and wish we had something that we lack right now.

The widow in 2 Kings 4 is faced with a seemingly insurmountable mountain of debt. She is at the point of losing all she owns, including her sons. She cannot see her way out of it. She cannot see what she has that could be used to bring about the breakthrough.

Notice how Elisha begins by asking her: “What do you have in the house?”

“Nothing but a jar of oil.” You can almost sense the despondency in her voice. Like, what good is a jar of oil to help me pay off these debilitating debts?

It is reminiscent of the time Jesus charged his disciples with the responsibility of feeding the multitudes. While they were questioning Jesus’ wisdom and calculating how much it would cost, Jesus asks a simple question: “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” (Mark 6:38)

Once they let him know what they have–five loaves and two fish—now Jesus can tell them what to do with them and the rest is history.

In a similar vein, once the widow lets Elisha know that she has something, now the prophet can release to her a strategy for multiplication that turns the jar of oil into a pipeline of profits that will help her become debt-free and indeed sustain her family for years to come.

My dear DWOD friend, are you feeling overwhelmed by your present circumstances? A goal that you have set? A mission that you have been assigned?

The Lord is asking you: “Tell me, WHAT DO YOU HAVE in the house?”

You may not have hours and hours to spend with Him just yet…just give Him the 15 minutes you do have right now…watch what He does with it!

You may not have tens of thousands of dollars to tithe. Start with the tens and twenties you do have right now…watch what He does with it!

You may not have the polished skills you need to succeed in your profession/calling. Take the rough skills you do have right now and start working with them…watch how He makes you successful!

He is not asking you for what you do not have. All you have is all He needs.

Today He is asking you: “What do you have?”

What is your answer?

“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person…” (Matthew 15:18-20)

When you click on this thumbnail image and enlarge it, you will discover that it comes from Domino’s Pizza’s facebook page where customers are encouraged to provide feedback on their experiences with Domino’s offerings.

Recently a customer wrote: “Best Pizza Ever! Keep up the good work, guys!” followed by a smiley emoticon 🙂

Here is Domino Pizza’s reply to her compliment: “So sorry about that! Please share some additional information with us at bit.ly/dpz_care and please mention reference# 1409193 so we can have this addressed.”

Why such a bizarre response you may wonder. Here is the explanation.

Apparently, the comments on the page are not read and responded to by a human being. The entire process is automated using “bots” (short form for robot), which are programmed to scan the comments and post appropriate responses.

It seems that those who provide unfavourable feedback often use exclamation points, frownies (opposite of smileys) and other characters to emphasize their displeasure. Domino’s is, of course, used to seeing its fair share of these comments.

Thus, when the bot saw a post that looked like a caustic comment, it automatically generated an apology and offered information on how Domino’s would address it.

I did not take the time to verify this particular post…I’d heard about it on the radio and found this picture on www.consumerist.com. But, when I scanned Domino’s facebook page, I found this comment by a customer: “Large pineapple and banana pepper pizza. 2 liter of coke. Insidious.”

Once again, the bot generated an apology, only to have the customer post this response: “No. It was perfect. Insidious was the movie I watched during the pizza. I should have clarified :-)”

Even as I was laughing at these misreadings by the Domino’s bot, I couldn’t help think about how it seems that there is an “inner bot” at work in us as well.

Are there “triggers” that cause you to respond automatically as did the bot?

For example, you may run into someone who has been known to criticize you all the time. Your brain immediately switches to defensive mode. “All systems alert! Get ready to intercept incoming interlocutory verbalistic missile!”

They could say the nicest thing about you that has ever been said…but, unless you were really tuned in, you would likely strike back without even thinking!

Or, you may have grown up with an image of God as being a harsh taskmaster. You have been conditioned to earn His love by your good deeds for fear of punishment. You are likely to have initial difficulty accepting any teaching that stresses that He is your Father who loves you unconditionally and simply wants you to rest in Him. You will find it rather strange to serve from acceptance and not for acceptance.

Perhaps you were let down by a very close friend. Now when someone says anything remotely resembling what that former friend used to say (“We’re friends for life!”), you give your potential new friend the brush-off, much to their bewilderment.

You get the idea, right?

Dear DWOD friend, would you take some time today and ask Holy Spirit to show you ways in which your inner Domino’s bot might be at work?  You’ll be surprised!

Perhaps it is time to re-program that bot as Paul recommends in Romans 12:2, “by the renewing of your mind.”

Please feel free to contact me or Darren so we can direct you to someone who can minister to you.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me.  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.” (Psalm 81:11-12)

One of the not so enjoyable chores when you come home after being away for 10 days is to unpack everything you took and put each item in its rightful place.

We had to unpack one great big suitcase, which had both of our clothes in it. I promptly removed some of my apparel which formed the top layer, came to a couple of layers of Sulojana’s clothes and decided to stop until she returned them to their proper habitats.

Two days later, she reminded me that there was a bottom layer of my articles of clothing which still needed to be unpacked. I noticed it too, but being always in a hurry, chose not to do so right away. After all, they were not exactly hurting anyone, were they?

Picture this. Big, open red suitcase on the floor on the path from the bedroom door to the bed. It was sufficiently out of the way that you could step around it and still get to bed without any problem.

Yet another alert from the missus. “Isn’t it time to get those clothes out of there?” I nodded in agreement, but still did nothing about it.

You will be glad to know that finally on Thursday all the clothes were outta there in a hurry…but not until something happened late Wednesday night.

Sulojana was already in bed when I came in, turned off the light and almost immediately went: “Ouch!” (rough translation). Yes, you guessed it, the red suitcase had become invisible in the darkness and I stubbed my toes when I tripped over it.

That’s when I realized that this needless shot of pain could’ve been completely avoided had I simply heeded Sulojana’s first request and acted on her subsequent reminder.

Have you ever learned lessons the hard way too? I would suspect that most of us can come up with at least one illustration of how we failed to follow the counsel of a parent, teacher, mentor, pastor or elder and got into trouble as a result. Amen?

There is a limit to how often they can tell us to do something or refrain from something. After a while, they let us learn our own lessons, when we trip up!

Do you realize that God does the same as well? Because He has given us the gift of a free will, He allows us to make mistakes, face the consequences, realize the folly of our ways and then acknowledge that He was right all along!

In the words quoted at the beginning of this DWOD, God talks about how He let the people of Israel go their own way even though He had warned them about not worshipping other gods. He “gave them over to their stubborn hearts.”

They could’ve avoided the pain, but they chose to stub their toes first. In the process they tied up God’s hands from “quickly subduing their enemies.” (v. 14)

God’s Word also warns us that failing to act after repeated warnings could lead to disaster: “Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.” (Proverbs 29:1) Harsh words for hard hearts, eh?         

Dear DWOD friend, do you realize that you can accelerate the journey to your destiny if you choose to obey right off the bat? Of course, on the other hand, you could delay the journey by tripping yourself up along the way too 🙂 The choice is yours!

“O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1)

Before we made the decision to rent the cottage at Huron City, Michigan last week, I was fully aware that there was no 24/7 internet access there. We would be able to go online through unsecured Wi-Fi hotspots at two different locations nearby, though.

Sulojana was not sure how I would cope with this, as she has reportedly spotted an IPhone growing out of my left hand. Apparently I have a reputation for being a quick draw when said device signalled the arrival of a text message or an e-mail or a Facebook message notification or a CBC news alert or a YouVersion reminder or…well, you get the idea!

Frankly, I was not sure, either, but I knew that I had to reduce the frequency with which I caught up with e-mails, Facebook updates and their ilk.

Amazingly enough, it did not bother me quite as much as I thought it would to wake up, reach for the IPhone and not be able to scan e-mails and other digital messages.

As a matter of fact, I was totally flabbergasted to discover that I had not missed out on much even when I waited till 10:30 or 11 a.m. to check these electronic notifications for the first time that day.

It was downright humbling to realize that the Kingdom of God was advancing very well, thank you, even when I didn’t check every Kingdom-related Facebook page first thing in the morning or read every anointed blog post that comes automatically into my inbox!

Instead, upon awakening, I would turn to the YouVersion app on my IPhone and read the Bible for a few minutes. I would write down any dreams that I still recalled from the previous night. I would stay still and allow the Father to love on me and whisper any revelations He had for me.

Most of our friends and family know that yours truly is not an early riser. Those who scrutinize time signatures on e-mails and Facebook posts have often rebuked me for staying up into the wee hours of the morning. For the most part, that’s when I get a lot of work done. I have justified it with Psalm 19:2: “…night unto night reveals knowledge.”

But the Lord was teaching me something about how to start the day right, by arranging for us to stay at this cottage without internet access. I began to see the value of beginning a day by feeding on His Word even before ingesting that first sip of caffeine.

This may sound like proof-texting, but it seemed as though I was obeying the command to “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” every day now.

Many anointed men and women of God with whom I am acquainted such as my close pastor friends, Ric Borozny and Dayo Adeyemo and one with whom I am most familiar, my dear wife, Sulojana make a conscious choice to get up earlier than they need to every morning, simply so they can seek God’s face and devour His word.

It has been only three days now, but I have managed to resist the temptation to scan the notifications on my IPhone screen first thing in the morning as I have done for many years now. Praise God!

Perhaps it is no accident that David wrote these words in Psalm 63: “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.”

How about you, dear DWOD friend? Do you start your day right? Please share your experiences with the rest of us in the box below.