A Word For You | Walking Away

May the Lord bless you. May the Lord be with you.

If you are joining us live or you're watching the replay, you are very welcome. Um, I just wanted to come on here to share a word. This is a spontaneous stream. The stream was not scheduled. Um, I didn't even plan to stream today, but I just felt the Lord leading me to come on here to share a word.

But before I share that word, I just want to make a comment. Um, to those who are new subscribers, if you are a recent, a new subscriber, if you just came across this stream or this replay, if if this just popped on your feed, I just want to tell you that this channel exists to inspire and equip people through the word of God and with the power of the Holy Spirit to walk every single day with purpose as vessels for the Lord. And so we believe that every single person has a unique and a divine assignment. And our heart, my heart is for you to grow in the knowledge of God, for you to grow in the Lord, but for you to also discover God's purpose for your life and walk in in his perfect will and experience that abundant life that only comes from knowing him and walking in his will.

So if you are interested in connecting with this ministry um in joining our weekly live streams, I encourage you, this is for the new subscribers. I encourage you if you haven't already done so to subscribe so that you can stay connected to us and also like or comment on after this live stream so that we can spread this message so that this message can reach other people.

But I wanted to share something that God dropped in my heart, in my spirit. Um, and the Lord just I felt it in my spirit. God saying, speaking to people, speaking to to specific people, um, to discern when it's time to walk away. Let me put it that way. Time to walk away. Um, often we tend to just focus on walking into right? We focus on walking into new opportunities, new doors, new seasons, new lands, right? New territories. Um, but in order for you to walk into something new, like you have to walk out of something old. It's biblical, right? Kind of like when the Lord spoke to Abram and said, "Leave, leave your nation." Like I have this great land for you, but you need to leave your nation. You need to leave the season where you're at so that you can enter this new season I have for you. So when God walking in God's will will sometimes require you to walk out of certain things, certain seasons, certain places. Um, it will sometimes God will sometimes lead you to walk away from some opportunity, walk away from some doors, walk away from certain things that can't go with you into the new season.

And a perfect example um about this is the story of the Samaritan woman. So it's amazing because there's this one verse in the story with when Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman that just it's like it's like when you read something and it just jumps, right? You feel it jumping in your spirit. You feel like there's something there. And there's this one verse and I'm reading from John 4:28. It says, "So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 'Come and see a man who told me all that I ever did. Could he be the Christ?'" Um, it's so interesting because the Bible inspired, written by men, but inspired by the Holy Spirit, meaning the author of the word of the Bible is the Holy Spirit. And it's interesting that something so small was recorded in a verse. It was it had to be put in there, right? We know that everything in the Bible has is important. Every single word is important. So this one verse that says the woman left her water jar. When I read this, it jumped in my spirit. Um, she left her water jar. Now before she left her water jar, she was carrying her water jar, right? She was carrying this jar going into the to the well where she would usually go probably every day to fill up that jar. But this time, this day was different because Jesus was sitting at the well specifically waiting for her.

And when Jesus encounters her, um, she he offers her, he reveals himself to her in a powerful way. She has like this life-changing revelation of Jesus. He reveals himself to her as the source of living water, right? And he's saying, "If you," he tells her, "If you only knew the gift that God had for you, you would ask me to give you of this water that I have and I would give it to you." It's interesting because he said, "The gift is available. It's available." He said, "But if you only knew about it." And I as I was meditating on this, I began to think about how often we are unaware of the things that God has for us. Like in this case, Jesus was speaking about eternal life and salvation, right? He was speaking about that gift, the gift was eternal life and the gift of the Holy Spirit that when she would take on this water, when she would consume and drink this water, she would never be thirsty again. It was something that would satisfy and quench her thirst. He was speaking about salvation, eternal life, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

But I thought about how often in like we miss the gift, the plan, the thing that God has for us simply because we are unaware of it. We and sometimes we are unaware of this because we're so focused on the tangible physical temporal things like this woman was so focused on a water every single day that jar represented that that jar of water rep it was ordinary water that would make her feel thirsty again. And it's like it's like it represented someone who keeps going to the same place, to the same thing, to the same person, to the same temporary earthly things, trying to quench a thirst that nothing under the sun can quench because o only God can do it. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:1, he said, "God has planted eternity in the human heart." And so because God planted this sense of divine purpose, this longing for what is eternal, there is nothing under the sun that can satisfy, that can quench, that can fill that void. Right? So this woman with this jar represented someone who constantly try to fill herself with things and ultimately would realize that she ended up more thirsty than before.

And so Jesus said, "If you only knew, my goodness, if you only knew, if you could only be aware of what God has for you, that you would ask me and I would give it to you." Meaning it was already available. It was already free. It was it was ready to be given. She was just unaware. And so he offers her this water. He says, "Look, if you keep whoever keeps drinking of this water, this ordinary water, and um he was speaking about people who continue to fill themselves up with um the things of this world." He said, "If you keep drinking from this," he said, "you're going to end up thirsty again." He said, 'But if you drink of the water that I have for you, that I give to you, he said, that water that I give him, that person will never be thirsty again. You will be full, satisfied, whole, complete. And he said, that water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'

And the woman said, "Sir, give me this water so that I don't have to be thirsty so that I don't have to come here and draw water again." She was probably thinking it was, I don't know, a different type of water maybe. And Jesus was speaking about coming to him as the source of life, the source of eternal life, the way, the truth, and the life, the only one that can satisfy. And so she has this crazy encounter with Jesus because again he reveals himself as the source of life. And um she also he re he like she realizes that she is fully known by this man by Jesus like he knows her past. He knows her sin. He knows her mistakes her struggles. He knows her emptiness. He knows where she's been and what she's been doing for the past year for her whole life. And when she comes to that revelation, when she realizes, oh my good, you know everything about me and you're not judging me, but you're inviting me. You're offering me a gift that I don't deserve that you're just asking me to receive it. She ends up leaving her jar and that is so important. She left that thing that she kept going to to be satisfied and to be full. She left that thing that she kept going to day after day to try to satisfy and quench her thirst and realize it's not working out. It's not working out for me. And so she leaves it behind and she runs and tells people come and see the man who just encountered me and revealed himself to me and told me everything I've ever done. Like no one has ever been able to do that.

And so Jesus offered her this gift, this water. But for her to receive this water, she had to let go of the she had to stop consuming the water she was drinking from. Right? So she had to stop clinging to what is temporary because what she was that well she was going to was blocking her from receiving that gift that God had for her. Right? God was inviting her into the new. But she had to let go of the old. That jar represented her old identity. It was what defined her. It was what defined her. That jar represented her past. Her past burdens, her past sins, mistakes. She had to leave all of that behind to go and consume that water that would quench and satisfy her thirst.

So, holding on to something that God is asking us to let go us uh to let go of can hinder us from experiencing that abundant life that Jesus promised. Um, she uh she walked away from that. Well, she walked away from that jar. She didn't take it with her. It was no longer part of her. And so, you and I as Christians, we have to discern. So important to walk into what God is asking us to walk into, but it's also so important to walk away from what God is asking us to walk away from. If that requires you leaving that jar, if that requires you walking away from what what you know doesn't satisfy you, but you keep thinking it does, but it doesn't. Jesus is inviting her was inviting her, hey, I I'm telling you, this is not satisfying you. This well, this water isn't doing it. It's it's not you're not ex you are missing out on the eternal life. The abundant life that I have for you for fixing your eyes on what is temporary.

So she she let go of that jar. She said, "I'm done with the way I've lived. I'm done with the things I've I've been um doing. I'm just letting go to open up the space to be filled with that water which will never make me thirsty again." So God will sometimes he wants to invite he invites us always to enter deeper into I'm going to call it levels deeper levels deeper dimensions let me use those terms in of him deeper a deeper knowledge a deeper awareness he wants to lead us into those deep encounters those deep revelations but I can't entered those deep revelations. If I don't let go of what is a distraction in my life, of what is holding me back, of what is hindering you know that there are actually good things that maybe they're good things, but they are pulling you back from doing the will of God. They are hindering you. Um, there are things that that um simply are not bad. They're not sin. They're not evil, but they're simply not leading you closer to God. They're simply not pushing you toward him. And we have to identify those things. What is God asking me to walk away from? What is what doors is God asking me to close? What uh seasons is God asking me to walk away from?

Because here's the thing. You know that when the Lord asked Abram to leave his nation, his relative, his land, Abram was comfortable and he was living a secured lifestyle like he was already settled, right? And then God is like, I want you to walk away. And and you might think, well, there's nothing wrong where Abraham was at. Exactly. There was nothing wrong. He was comfortable. He was okay. But God has something better. And so that's the thing. When you're holding on to what's comfortable and what's secure, you and I could be missing the better that God has. You and I could be missing the next move, the next thing that God wants to do. And so I have to be open and say, "Okay, God, what what do you want me to walk away from? What do you want me to stop? Uh, what do you want me to leave behind? What jar am I supposed to be leaving behind?"

Um, this woman at the well, right? Jesus wanted her to understand, you've been coming to this well to be satisfied, but he's like, you you you're just going to the wrong wells. Like, it doesn't matter if you go to this well or that well, you're still going to be thirsty. And he wanted her to know that what she needed was not another well, but an eternal well, the fountain of living water. God reveals himself as the fountain of living water. He actually spoke through Jeremiah to the people of Judah and said, "You've my people have done two evils. Number one, they have forsaken the fountain of living water. They have forsaken the source of life. They have forsaken the one who gives them life, the one who gives them nourishment, the one who gives them the strength, the one who who gives them life, right? He said number two, they have dug for themselves sistns that can hold no water." So Jesus revealed himself to her as the fountain of of living water and she in order for her to take hold of that water. She had to let it go. She had to let that jar go, she had to walk away from that lifestyle, that way of living.

So, I want you to know that when we're holding on to what's comfortable and secure, we could be missing. We we become unaware, blinded to that abundant life that Christ has for us. And we're tempted to think that that well um like the Samaritan woman, we're tempted to think that that well continue will satisfy us and it doesn't it doesn't cuz there's no thing no person under the sun, no achievement, no promise. We've been talking about this all week. There's absolutely nothing that can fill you. Nothing. We talked about this on on was it Wednesday that not even God's promises can fill you. Not even the things you can achieve, not even your greatest desires fulfilled, that can't fill, that's all temporary. It's interesting because even the tangible blessings that God gives us, we can't take those to heaven anyway. So, they're coming from God, every good gift and perfect gift comes from above. And so, they're a blessing to us, but they can't f they can't replace the presence of God. They can't replace the source of life. And so if I keep thinking that that even God's promises, if I keep thinking that what God can give me is going to satisfy me, I am mistaken. I'm wrong. I'm wrong because only one person and that is Christ. Only he can satisfy and only he can fill what nothing and no one else can fill.

Solomon was so clear about this. He said he concluded he he was the wisest man to ever live. The Bible says there will never be anyone as wise as Solomon. He had knowledge about every single thing under the sun. And he came to the conclusion and said all is vanity. Vanity of vanities is all is vanity. And he comes to the conclusion towards the end of the book and he says after living life after trying to find fulfillment and satisfaction in wisdom, in wealth, in power, in success, in fame, in possessions, he said, I've realized that the all of man, what does that mean? That the purpose of man, the the purpose of man's creation was to fear God and to keep his commandments. What does that mean? Fear God and abide in his word. He said, "For this is the all of man. This is what fills man. This is what satisfies man. This is what makes him feel whole and complete, lacking nothing." Why? Because that was the original purpose for his creation to know God and to have fellowship with him and to abide in him.

So I want you to be open and make the decision to walk away from what God is asking you to walk away from those things that you think maybe they give you temporary satisfaction. Um, but you'll end up realizing you end up feeling much more empty than you did at the beginning. Um, there's still that void, there's still that emptiness, there's still that lack of purpose, lack of lack of fulfillment. And when you and I make the decision to just leave that water jar behind and go to the source of life, which is Christ, you will be filled until you are overflowing. That's what Jesus said. Said if you keep drinking of this water that the world offers, he said you will be thirsty again. Like he's not saying may you might be. No, he's saying you will be thirsty. You will be thirsty. You will be wanting more. Think about someone who is thirsty. They want more and more and more. And no matter how much they consume, no matter how much they drink of that water, it doesn't satisfy. But Jesus said, "If you drink, whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again." Because the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. It will become inside of him. Rivers of living water will flow out.

So he said if you only knew the gift God has for you and if you only knew he said who you're speaking to. Like look at how Jesus was standing right in front of her and she couldn't recognize him, right? And um he said if if you knew who's speaking to you right now, like if you knew if you knew that I am the Messiah, the anointed one, the one who was promised, the one who would bring salvation, the one who can heal you, the one who can restore you, who can save you. He said, "If you knew, you would ask me and I would give it to you." You see, you would ask me. You would just come and tell me. You would just come and ask for that living water, for that gift, and I would give it. I would give it to you. It's free. You don't have to pay anything for it. You don't It's You don't buy it. It's completely free. You would just have to come to me.

And so this woman's life was transformed. She left that water jar. She's like, "Uhuh. I'm not going back to that. I've understood that the only one who can fill me is Christ. In Christ alone." And so as long as we if we don't believe that has to be revealed to us cuz anyone says, "Oh yeah, only God can satisfy." But are you really living that truth? Have you really have you truly experienced what it means to be satisfied by God and God alone? And I think that what's beautiful about this is that usually this becomes real to us when there are things we expected to have and we don't. And we that's where God teaches us that only he satisfies that. You don't need that to be full. You don't need that to feel whole. You don't need that to feel complete. All you need is my presence and period. That's all. And so God wants us to come to this place, to this revelation. Remember, something that something that has to be revealed, something that the Holy Spirit reveals to our hearts. He makes it real. And God wants you to really experience him as your ultimate satisfaction. Like imagine living a life so whole, so satisfied that it doesn't matter if you're in lack or in need or in abundance. That's what that's what Paul said. He said, "I've learned this secret of facing life." He said, "I've I've been through abundance and I've been through lack. I've been through seasons of prosperity and I've been through seasons where I've I've been hungry, seasons where I'm wellfed, seasons where I don't have anything." He said, "But I've learned the secret of facing life." And he said that Christ is my strength. That the one who gives me the strength to do all of this to go through life no matter the season, no matter what I have or don't have is Christ who strengthens me. He strengthens me to walk through all these seasons with victory. You're not walking defeated. You've been given victory through Christ. The enemy has already been defeated. You have to walk in that revelation. So Paul, he was like to the point where he was so full, so whole that he said, "I don't care if I have or don't have." Like that that means nothing. Why? Because that's not the source of my joy and my peace. That's that's not that's not what fills me. What fills me is the presence of God is knowing Christ. That's why he said my determined purpose is this, to know him and to be known by him. And that's it.

And I feel like, my goodness, the Lord keeps bringing this to mind. We spoke about this on Wednesday, and I'll bring it up again. Moses said, "I don't want Canaan if your presence is not going with me. I don't want any single promise if your presence is not with me." So, you see how Moses was never after God for the promises. He was never seeking God for what God could give him. He was not seeking God for Canaan and and to enter that land flowing with milk and honey. No. Moses' relationship with God was so pure. It was so pure. There there was no strings attached. There was no It was not a transactional relationship. It wasn't God, I'll seek you if you do this for me. I'll seek you if you use me. I'll seek you if you give me this land. If you give me Canaan. No. Moses said, "I don't want any of that. If you're not with me, I don't care about Canaan." My goodness, if your presence is not going with me. Moses came to the to the point where he said, "Show me your face. Show me your glory." Like, "I've seen your hand. I've seen what you can do for us. I've seen your protection. I've seen your provision. I've seen you in the desert. I've seen the way you've made a way where there's no way. I've seen the way you open the Red Sea. I've seen it all. But I want to know the person behind all of that." The people of Israel were satisfied, were moved by the hand of God. And Moses was like, "No, no, no, no, no, no. I I don't just want to know your hand. I want to know your face." The Bible actually says that the Lord would speak to Moses as a friend face to face.

Jesus in this moment to the Samaritan woman, he um he wasn't offering her something tangible or I should say something material. He wasn't saying if if you come to me, I'll give you all the wealth in the world and and I'll I'll do all of this for you. No, no, no. He said if you come to me, I'll give you what you need. I'll give you what will satisfy you. I'll give you what is eternal and you'll stop chasing the temporary things and you will be so fixed on me because you know that I am the source of life.

We talked about this on Wednesday and I'll just mention it mention it a little bit here. A lot of times we many of us come to God uh because of what he can give us. If we're honest, a lot of us, many started that way, right? Many people started that way. They they came to God because of what God could give them. But along the way, God transformed their heart, right? And they began to fall in love with the person, not not what he can give. Now there's other people who started their relationship with God with a genuine encounter, a love of pure love, but it moved into this transactional type of relationship. And so God has there's so many blessings and benefits and things that we receive by having a relationship with God. But uh when we come to the Lord, our intention must be pure. Our intention, our motive must be pure. God doesn't want to give us something that will take our eyes off of him. God isn't going to offer us something that will make you make that something your priority and the idol of your life. No, God wants to offer himself. That's why he told Abram, "Fear not. I'm your shield and I'm your reward." Like you have me. That's we my good. We've been talking about this all week. Asaf as well came to the revelation and said, "Even though my my flesh and my heart may fail, you are the strength of my heart, my portion forever." What does that mean? My reward. I was envying the portion the reward of the wicked, but I just realized that you are my reward. Your presence is my reward. Knowing you is my reward. And if I know you, I have it all. Like that is my portion.

So this woman walked away, a Samaritan woman walked away from what was from what was trying to take the place of God in her life, from what was trying from what was distracting her, pulling her into sin, pulling her away from the Lord. But Jesus with so much love, mercy, and grace did not condemn her, did not judge her, did not humiliate her. He simp she was unaware of this gift and he said I want you to know it's free. You can come to me. It's it's free. I'm not going to force you to drink this water. I'm not going to force you to leave your jar behind. I'm just going to share with you the gift, the free gift that I have for you. And it's like she experienced the love of Jesus in that moment. That grace, that mercy. She's like, "How can how can it be? This man knows my past, knows everything I've done, everything, every mistake, every sin, every struggle. He knows it all. And he still offered me this gift. He still wants me."

So there are things that will only take place in our lives when we walk away from them. There are leaving that jar represented surrender. It represented a new life. Leaving the old life behind that old identity behind giving it all like I'm done. Like saying I'm done. I'm done and I'm pursuing Christ and Christ alone. So letting go, walking away is what starts that transformation in our lives. Is what takes us is is what aligns us to that perfect will of God. So you and I every day we have to discern what are things that God is asking us to walk away from. What are seasoned? What what door? What places? What locations? What thing? What habits? because it's not just always tangible things. What what what perspectives, what mindsets is is God asking us to let go of? What things that are what is hindering you in your life? What is actually not producing fruit? There's sometime sometimes we're not even aware of it. That's the thing. It's not like we're doing it intentional. We're just not aware as to how a person or a thing could be affecting us. Like I try pray about everything in your life and ask the Lord what what in what is it in my life that is not producing fruit in me? It's not producing good fruit. What's actually pulling me away from you and distracting me from you? What is not helping me fulfill the will of God for my life? What is breaking what is destroying me instead of edifying me in my life? And so we have to pray about those things and ask the Lord to for wisdom. Lord, do I let this go? Do I walk away from this? God, tell me what to do. And he will show you the way.

So I just pray right now in this moment. Going to end this stream um a little bit shorter, but I just pray right now, God, that you would just reveal yourself to us as the source of living water. Lord, we let go of every water jar that we've been holding on to, that we take up with our hands every single day, and we go to the same place. We go to the same person. We go to the same season trying to satisfy ourselves and and we realize that we end up uh more thirsty than we were before. God, I just pray that you would bring conviction in our hearts, God. That you would help us see that you alone are the fountain of living water. And that when we drink the water that you offer, the gift that you have, eternal life, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Lord, help us to really know and understand that out of us will flow rivers of living water that we will never thirst again. And God, I just pray that in this season, you will help us to walk away from what we need to walk away. God, I pray that you would help us to let go of every jar that is not satisfying us with your presence, that is not benefiting us, that is not edifying your people. And I just thank you, Lord, for your grace, your mercy, and your love, and your patience. And your patience. We thank you, God, for who you are. We thank you, Lord, for your love. And I just pray Lord for every single person connected in this stream, those watching the replay. God, I just pray you would just fill them in this moment with your presence. Lord, I pray that you would fill every emptiness, every void that you would fill their soul in this afternoon in Jesus name. Amen.

May the Lord bless you. May the Lord be with you. Um, like I said at the beginning of the stream, this is a spontaneous stream. I was not planning to stream. I was not like this was not scheduled. I just felt the Lord leading me to share this word with you. Um, I mentioned it at the beginning, but I'll mention it again. This is a comment for those who are new subscribers. If you maybe this is the first time you are on this stream. Maybe this is the first time you're watching the replay. Maybe this is the first time you came across this stream. It came up on your feed. It was recommended to you somehow. If you are here for the first time, I just want to tell you that this channel is dedicated to inspiring and equipping people through the word of God to walk every single day with purpose to become vessels of the Lord and for the Lord to walk in their God-given assignment, identity, calling, and gifts. We I believe with all of my heart that every single person has a purpose and God has a specific and a unique design, calling and gifts for every single person. And my heart is that through this ministry, you're able to grow in intimacy with the Lord. That you're able to discover him as the one the source of life, the one who satisfies. And that you're also able to discover God's purpose for your life. That you're able to walk in that God-given assignment and ultimately just be a vessel for the Lord. We are called, that's what we're called to be, vessels anywhere, everywhere. You don't need a title. You don't need a position. You just need a willing heart and a heart that is in love with God um to be a vessel to be filled with his love so that you can pour that love to others.

So, if you are here for the first time or you're watching this replay for the first time and you haven't subscribed, I encourage you to subscribe so that you can stay connected to these streams um or to our content. Um, and also if you haven't already done so, I encourage you to help us like this stream and also comment so that we can push this word out so that people can be blessed, so that other people can listen to this message. And I just want to thank all of you who have been connected this entire time. If you are a YouTube member, a partner, thank you once again. I thanked you yesterday, but I'm thanking you again for supporting this ministry, for helping us walk in God's will, and also for all of you who are supporting us in different ways by joining us here and interacting with the channel and your words of encouragement, your prayers are so appreciated and so necessary.

So, may the Lord bless you. May the Lord be with you. We will be streaming, God willing, Monday, 9:30 p.m. Central Standard Time, and we will um see you next week. So many, many, many blessings.

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