Anchor My Faith

Is the Heart Ready?

Scripture: John 4:15-18

In this lesson we want to consider why it is important to learn about a persons need or relationship to a sin problem that can be used as a connection to a spiritual solution. Evangelism is not getting people to come forward or raise their hand or say a prayer, but it is to lead a person who is spiritually dead to Jesus who has the gift of living water that springs up into eternal life. To be effective, evangelism is to connect a person to Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit in an area of their need. Salvation is an issue of the heart not the mind. Jesus wants to bring this woman’s need out of the darkness she is hiding it in and expose it to the light so she can be helped.

Think back to John 3:20 (ESV): “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” This is where the woman was when she was confronted by Jesus. She is spiritually dead and blind to spiritual things and because of her sin of years of improper relationships her heart was hard. She felt safe alone where she could better hide her sin and thus her need. Loving relationships must be built with such people to provide safe areas where needs can be exposed and the gospel applied.

The area of sin for this woman was in her relationship with men. She either chose men who would mistreat her or they found something about her that caused them to leave her or maybe both. Her unstable sinful life with men set her apart from other women, for she was seen as a vile undesirable woman to not be with. Being ridiculed by other women and abused in marriage this woman harbored some very deep hurts in her life. Jesus sees this woman with a very deep emptiness and sinfulness that hurts so much she has sealed it up in darkness. Jesus knows that her heart is locked up in this darkness and he knows he must probe that darkness to find the source of the hurt. Jesus does not want to deal with the problem at this time. He simply wants to expose to her the thirst that she didn’t know she had and share with her that the living water he had if drunk by faith would satisfy her thirst and would spring up into eternal life with joy and satisfaction.

What I am trying to emphasize in this lesson is that leading a person to salvation is usually not accomplished by an altar call or a discussion with a person. It is essential to determine if God has prepared the person spiritually to understand spiritual things. Jesus used the concept of being born again with Nicodemus and he used living water with this woman to determine their spiritual readiness. In both cases he determined they had not been spiritually prepared. I generally use spiritual birth as a test. If the person fails my test like Nicodemus did then I know I need to lay more foundation and allow God more time to prepare the person, if he is going to. There are many he doesn’t prepare. My grandfather and my dad were examples. They were never able to understand spiritual things even though they were in church nearly every Sunday of their life.

Prayer

Father, I know that anyone who comes to Jesus Christ for salvation will not be denied, but I have also learned that unless you prepare the heart they will not come. This was made so clear to me through Paul’s conversion. Father, thank you for showing me through your word that salvation and the time of spiritual birth is determined by you and not by cleaver words on my part.