No one prayed for me. At least no one has ever reported praying for me.
My parents were not religious in any way. But they choose to drop me off every Sunday night at a church youth group when I entered 7th grade.
For months, I didn’t want to go. But once I made friends there, I changed my tune. I wanted to be there.
But no one I knew was praying for me. Not that I have ever known.
Yet Jesus found me anyway and I’m grateful for God’s sovereignty to help me become a follower of Christ.
I volunteered the other day and I had lunch with another volunteer.
As we talked about my mother’s recent death, she startled me with the following question.
I’ve always wondered, how do religious people deal with death?
She wasn’t opposed to religion. She didn’t have a defined set of beliefs of her own.
That conversation turn took me by surprise.
I’ve learned to pay attention when a causal conversation gets personal and deep.
That’s often an evidence of the working of the Holy Spirit in drawing someone to Christ.
I talked about the certainty that I have when I die that I will be with Jesus, that as a follower of Christ, I have eternal life.
In my mother’s final days, she professed her faith in Christ once again and that made her passing much easier for me.
Then I turned the question around and asked her:
I’ve always wondered, how to irreligious people like yourself deal with death?
While I won’t give her answer here (it’s personal), the conversation quickly shifted to all the good works that she does to try and make sure she “gets to the other side.”
You know people like this.
Good, decent, moral, and giving liberally. This woman was honest – she wanted her good works to count for something.
A rich young man once asked Jesus a similar question:
A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” – Luke 18:18.
I can imagine the possibilities of motives:
My lunchtime discussion with this lady on the park bench on a sunny day paralleled this rich young ruler.
How good is good enough?
That’s the element of doubt.
Can one be good enough?
That doubt, that nagging question, is a sign of true spiritual thirst.
It is an anxiety that perhaps one is not good enough, no matter what they do that is good.
Lord, lead me to someone who has this as their spiritual thirst.
In fact, please draw someone to me who is really bothered by this question.
Grant me the eyes to see the conversational opportunity this week.
Learn the gospel script called the Good Person Test.
This will help you address this particular spiritual thirst.
If you have been praying for your prayer list of friends, see who the Lord might reveal has this thirst.
Jesus said to the Samaritan woman:
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10, NIV)
Jesus has a remarkable insight.
He knew the true spiritual thirst of this Samaritan woman.
As Jesus passed through Samaria, even the heat of the day got Him exhausted (John 4:6).
Historical scholars tell us that the hour this woman chooses to go to the well alone to draw water (about noon) is odd.
They speculate that she wants to avoid being seen by other people who normally go in the cool mornings or late afternoons to draw water, because of the shame of her reputation.
She wants to hide in broad daylight. She is a woman who’d had five husbands, and now has a lover at home.
In my ministry, I regularly encounter people with various levels of sexual brokenness and shame.
I know of one, currently on her 4th husband as well, trying to raise two daughters from husband number 1. Their brokenness affects generations.
In my ministry in Latin America, I talk with many victims of sexual abuse. I talk with victims of rape, of repeated rapes.
I talk with men and women who deal with the shame of sexual flings with members of the opposite sex or same sex.
They feel disgusting, dirty, shameful, broken, and unworthy.
From these conversations, I can only imagine the sense of brokenness the Samaritan woman carried, all wrapped around her sexual history.
While it may be true that she could have been perfectly fine with all the men she had been with, even boasting about it to her peers, her behavior suggests some true inner brokenness. Any bravado she may have had in front of her friends melted away when she was alone.
Perhaps she simply gave up defending herself, choosing to boldly live with another lover, moving in with him before marriage.
Divorced four times suggests that she carries the label “damaged goods, thrown out, rejected” by many.
Maybe those labels screamed at her own mind.
Her spiritual thirst may have had many layers, but the part of it that Jesus went after was her sexual brokenness.
Jesus let the conversation touche on different themes:
But he knew the woman’s true spiritual thirst, and spoke right to it. Sexual brokenness led to a discussion of who is truly worthy of worship.
While Jesus could have followed any of the theological rabbit trails in this evangelism conversation, he calmly listened and spoke to her, occasionally re-focusing the conversation.
He didn’t let it go. Instead, He revealed himself:
This revelation changed her life.
Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,
“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
– John 4:28-30
Lord, give me the eyes to see the true spiritual thirst in the people around me. (Read this tutorial for more info)
May I see those who seek to hide from their shame in broad daylight.
Give me the opportunity today to hear the spiritual thirst in a conversation, and grant me the grace to engage the person in conversation about it.
Grant me the patience to avoid the conversational detours.
Anywhere with Jesus, over land and sea,
Telling souls in darkness of salvation free;
Ready as He summons me to go or stay,
Anywhere with Jesus when He points the way.
— Jesse B. Pounds, Anywhere with Jesus
Continue praying through your list of friends.
As you do, consider who the Lord is inviting you to engage in conversation.
If you are so directed, setup a coffee time or some other visiting time where the Lord will open the conversational doors.
If you want to learn more about having effective conversations about your faith, consider this DVD set: Effective Conversations
In today’s devotional prayer, take your bible and read Ecclesiastes 2.
The teacher is a man who experienced tremendous spiritual thirst and chapter two gives us the various ways he tried to fill that emptiness in his heart.
Every person comes to Jesus for a different reason.
I started my search for Jesus because of
I had no clue that I was a sinner, or that I needed a Savior.
While it is true that our sin is what separates us from God, many people don’t automatically equate the two.
I think of a friend who has led a successful life and wants to do something meaningful in retirement.
I think of a relative who lives alone doing word puzzles all day.
I think of another friend who works hard, loves his family, and raising his kids well.
Each one of my friends does not show a personal worry over sin that separates them from God. Their life seems fine.
I’m sure you know people who don’t think about their sin all the time.
It’s their spiritual thirst that starts the search for Jesus. (Read this tutorial).
I’ve put together a list of encounters with Jesus in the gospels. It’s not exhaustive. As part of today’s prayer activity, pick a few of these stories and ask yourself the question:
What drew this person to seek out Jesus?
Lord, help me to see spiritual thirst in those around me. As I gaze into your word today, help me to see the spiritual thirst that propelled people to seek you.
Here is a list of Jesus encounters. Answer the main question above and then ask the Lord to if any of the friends you are praying for have a similar spiritual thirst.
Talk #2 in the Fear Free evangelism Study Course is all about spiritual thirst and the role it plays in drawing people to start following Jesus. It is available as a 5 CD set or as a digital download.
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