God’s Word is “saying” to us. He isn't “demanding” from us

Believer, consider Christ’s way with the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob who had had five husbands and was living in adultery with a sixth man, likely with a string of children from each man. Jesus talked with her! In fact, He went to the well specifically for her sake, so don’t let anyone tell you that Jesus cannot even look at you because of your kind of shortcomings and issues or that He will demand 70 days fast from you before restoring and refreshing you with Himself— Living Water. He came, not to condemn us but to save you and I from sin and death.

But I digress. This is about how it is the Word that Christ is “saying” that is alive and active and powerful to save, and not us trying to fulfil what the Word says. Consider an excerpt from the conversation between the same Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob and our Saviour Jesus—

“7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give Me a drink,” Jesus SAID TO HER, 8 for His disciples had gone into town to buy food. 9 How is it that You, a Jew, ASK for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? ” she asked Him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is SAYING TO YOU , ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ASK Him, and He would give you living water.”” John‬ ‭4‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭‬‬

I put some words in caps for emphasis. The woman assumed that Christ was ASKING her for a drink, hence her question to Him—

“How is it that You, a Jew, ASK for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?”

But the Holy Spirit who inspired Mark to write these words was very careful to note that Jesus did not ASK the woman for a drink. Rather, He SAID to her “Give me a drink.”—

“Give Me a drink,” Jesus SAID TO HER,

When Jesus responded to her question about why a Jew was ASKING her for a drink, He gently corrected her mistake with His word—

“If you knew the gift of God, and who is SAYING TO YOU , ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ASK Him, and He would give you living water.””

Jesus was not ASKING her for a drink. He was SAYING to her— giving her the opportunity to ASK of Him for that drink, and telling her that if she asked, He would do exceedingly, abundantly and above all that she could ask or think— give her Living Water aka Himself.

Of herself, the Samaritan woman had absolutely nothing to give, and neither do we: God’s word shows us that whatever service or righteous work that is borne of human effort which the woman or any of us can produce and offer to God; whatever we imagine that God is asking of us and feel that God should take into consideration in keeping us blessed and protected, it amounts to an abomination in the sight of God as it is written in Isaiah 64:6--

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

Jesus was SAYING TO and not ASKING the Samaritan woman to give Him a drink from her own self-effort,

— just as He was not asking the unclean leper to “be cleansed” by his self-effort when he said to him— “be cleansed”

— just as He was not asking the adultery woman whom the Pharisees and religious people wanted to stone to death to “Go and sin no more” by her self-effort aka the arm of flesh.

The arm of flesh will fail. Jesus was not ASKING. He was SAYING to them. Why is this difference in ASK and SAY important? Well, believer, just like that Samaritan woman who thought that Jesus was asking her for a drink, many of us in the body of Christ still see every command of the Torah as a DEMAND for righteous acts, something to “do for God” or something which God is ASKING us to fulfil or produce by our self-discipline and willpower. We are not seeing those Scripture which seem like demands as what Christ is SAYING to us and wants us to ask of Him because He is the Supply for that demand.

Beloved, there is a huge deal about what Christ is SAYING to us. These are words that proceed from the mouth of our Lord, Saviour and Maker Jesus Christ. Remember that the Bible says in Him is the fullness of the Godhead bodily? He is God made flesh, and this is what God’s word says about every word that He SAYS aka every word that goes forth out of His mouth—

“So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭11‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

Here are just some examples of His word that shall not return to Him void but shall accomplish what He pleases—

- His word to the Samaritan woman “ — “Give me a drink,” He took no water from her, but when His disciples returned, He was refreshed: He finds His refreshment in being our Supply!

- His word to Peter on the usage of his boat to preach which many “pastors” use to slap their congregation into condemnation for not giving Jesus their “boat” to use for propagating the gospel

- His word to the leper “Be cleansed,”

Consider the conversation between Christ (The Word Himself) and the leper whom He healed in Mark 1–

“And a man with leprosy *came to Jesus, imploring Him and kneeling down, and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and *SAID TO HIM, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.” Mark‬ ‭1‬:‭40‬-‭42‬.

This incident was not recorded just to show us that Jesus cleansed the unclean— in the Bible, leprosy is a typology for sin. Lepers were banned from entering the camp of God’s people. Christ SAID TO to this particular leper in Mark 1—

“I am willing; be cleansed.”

And immediately these things happened! But how? What did the leper do in order to accomplish Christ’s word — “Be cleansed”? Did the leper attempt to cleanse himself or rid himself of the uncleanness that made him unacceptable to God by obeying the law or fasting for 80 days? No, beloved. The leper did not by himself leave the leprosy or do anything to cause his uncleanness to disappear; rather, AT THE SAYING OF CHRIST, the uncleanness called leprosy left him; likewise, because we believe Jesus, all of our ungodlinesses and shortcomings leave us at the SAYING of Christ, not by human striving at doing or becoming what Christ says we should do or become.

The power to save is in the Word or SAYING of Christ which we are feeding on or hearing. The Word is alive and active, not to condemn but to save, even salvation from sin and death. How the word saves is akin to how the food we eat nourishes the physical body— once the food goes in, we don’t worry about how proteins become amino acids or how carbohydrates get digested, converted to glucose and get absorbed into the small intestines. We just eat and let the body do its work— and growth happens.

Try to interfere with your body’s functions around the food you eat with your human effort, e.g. stick your hand down your throat to help the food along your gullet and you will likely throw up. It is simply unecessary and harmful. Likewise with the Word of Christ aka Scripture. The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy‬ ‭3:16-17‬ ‭‬—

“Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose, and action), So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

On the matter of “God-breathed” above, a little Hebrew here to aid our understanding, this against the backdrop of how the Bible always interprets Bible—

“Holy Spirit” in Hebrew is “Ruach HaKodesh.” The Title is coined from two Hebrew words—

Ruach = Breath, Spirit

HaKodesh = The Holy One

Ruach HaKodesh or Holy Spirit is literally “The Breath of God.” Now, every Scripture is God-breathed: every Scripture carries The Breath of God. Every word that is written in the Bible carries the Breath of God. For we who put our trust in Christ, it is that Breath of God in Scripture aka “Holy Spirit “ who goes into action whenever we read or speak out ALL of the SAYINGS OF GOD, including the ones that seem like demands. Also consider Genesis 2:7--

"then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being."

God's breath of life (Jesus is the life) in Adam is what gave him life and he became a living being. The same happens when we read and speak the Scriptures, everyone of which is "God-breathed" -- in Christ Jesus, we are inhaling the very breath of God when we spend time in the Word, and so the life of Christ flows into us, and this we do by His grace alone. So ask.

Each time we are feeding on the the Word — trusting wholly in the Lord (the Word made flesh Jesus Christ) with all of our heart and not leaning on our own understanding of how man’s obedience or fasting for 70 days can break some non-existent curse — that which comes from the mouth of the Lord God (His Breath— the Holy Spirit) is supplied to us, floods our life and goes into action to save us from imperfection, sin, earthly ills and death. We see this truth reflected in Galatians 3–

“Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—”

With Christ as our Righteousness, Lord and Saviour, as we are reading, speaking out and hearing every Scripture which is God-breathed, we are being supplied with and inhaling the very breath of God: His Spirit who is transforming us to the image of His glory, from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18.)

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Another version of Galatians 3 says—

“Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it? I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.” Galatians‬ ‭3‬:‭2‬-‭5‬ ‭‬‬

Beloved, why are we trying to become perfect like God in our own strength? According to God’s word in Galatians 3 above, doing so is the definition of FOOLISHNESS. Beloved of God, concerning every command in the Bible for we who are under Grace, Jesus is not making demands of us to cleanse ourselves of whatever shortcomings we have. He is the bath! For every demand, Christ is the Supply.

Believer, for every Scripture which seems like a demand that the Word makes of us, Christ is the Supply. Understanding this truth will lift the burden of striving for godliness (be like God) off the shoulders of many who are daily being loaded with such demands to “Be cleansed” or “Be ye perfect…” by human striving at obedience and 70 days fast, especially when this is what Christ came to do as it is written of Him in Titus 2:14--

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Beloved, let us stop striving and start believing Jesus by God’s grace. The unclean man/leper only believed that Christ — THE WORD HIMSELF— could make him clean, and he received his healing by the hearing of the Word of faith because the power to be cleansed is in the Word and not what we can do to cleanse ourselves. His miraculous cleansing did not come by him doing works of the law such as trying to obey the Ten Commandments in order to get God to cleanse him. His miracle came by him hearing and trusting in the SAYING of Christ.

All of the sayings of Christ are not demands or things He is expecting “none good” man to accomplish by willpower and self-determination. They are His word that will not return to Him void. The power to save and to accomplish is in His word which is “God-breathed.” Christ is not ASKING us to do by human effort. He is SAYING to us His word that will not return to Him void— here are the verses again, starting with the woman’s words—

9 “How is it that You, a Jew, ASK for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? ” she asked Him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is SAYING TO YOU , ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ASK Him, and He would give you living water.””

Likewise, for us today, for every imperative or whatever seems like a demand for righteousness or every command that we see in the Scriptures, in Christ, God is not demanding from us. He is SAYING to us so that we can ask and He will Supply exceedingly and abundantly to us. Whatever He SAYS TO us, it is so that we can ASK of Him. For instance, consider His Word that He Is SAYING to us in Luke 6:27-28–

“But I SAY TO YOU who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”

We interpret the above verse based on Christ’s conversation with and response to the response the Samaritan woman who thought He was making a demand of her when He said to her “Give me a drink.” The command to “Love your enemies….” we interpret thus—

If you knew the gift of God, and who is SAYING TO YOU, ‘“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you,” you would ASK Him, and He would do all those things in you.

Believer, Christ is not demanding from us. The one whose word will not return to Him void is SAYING TO US, so that we can continually ASK OF HIM and see Him as our eternal Supply. He knows that of ourselves, we cannot fulfil any of those demands — just as He knew that the Samaritan woman to whom He said “Give me a drink” had nothing good to offer of herself; just as He knew that the leper to whom He said “I am willing; be cleansed” could not cleanse himself. The power is in what He says aka His word which will not return to Him void. His word is our confidence. That which He says to us, His word accomplishes in us and for us. Also consider the verse —

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

This is the saying of Christ and for this demand , He is the Supply too. His response to our utter weakness to correct our imperfection follows the same pattern of what He SAID to the Samaritan woman—

If you knew the gift of God, and who is SAYING TO YOU, ‘“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” you would ASK Him, and He will make you perfect.

Jesus is not asking or making demands for us to squeeze any righteousnesses or good works out of ourselves via self-determination or willpower, just as He was not saying to the leper to cleanse himself with His “Be cleansed.” What willpower, even? See what God's word says about the non-existent good in man and that useless willpower which, as Satan did to Eve in Eden, some satanic preachers push churchgoers to depend on for obeying the law which kills and is the knowledge of good and evil like the tree of the same name, this in the quest to be godly (be like God) as was Peter's experience and Paul's too in Romans 7:18-

“For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

God's word says human effort (the arm of flesh) will fail, is powerless and cannot. No good thing in the flesh aka man of himself, apart from Christ being His everything. But through his pulpit-manning agents who claim to represent Christ, Satan appeals to Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort at obedience) that will fail and causes man to think:

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good in me. I can keep the law and resist temptation to commit sin by my willpower, after-all, I have been doing it. I can and I must do works to be godly or (as it was with Judas) do some kind of restitution to prove to God that I am truly sorry for my sins. Others should too. Those who don't are just plain lazy.”

Let us remember that Peter was not wallowing in sins when he made the boastful declaration that he would never deny Jesus. No sin is beneath anyone, so let he that is standing take heed lest he falls. Beloved, God knows that we have no good in us of ourselves. He gave Christ the Beloved to die to be our Good; to make us godly aka “be like God.” Do we agree with Him, for—

“Can two walk together unless they are agreed?” Amos 3:3

One simply cannot claim to be in Christ unless he acknowledges himself as being like a leper that is covered in leprosy from head to toe and so becomes eligible to be pronounced clean by a priest as we see in the typology that is in Leviticus 13– I wrote about this in part 1 of my this series of posts. Only when we acknowledge our utter “none good” state and look to Christ alone as our right-standing before God are we declared righteous in God’s sight.

In Christ, for every Scripture that seems like a demand, God is not ASKING us to perform or produce good by ourselves. His word to us is for us to receive and to ASK of Him that which His is SAYING to us, just as it was with the Samaritan woman to whom He said “Give me a drink.” He did not need her drink. He wanted to be her Supply, as He wants to be yours too. His word or what He has said will not return to Him void. It will accomplish that which He pleases, and prosper in the thing for which He sent it. Beloved, Jesus is the Word, and—

“God did not send His Son to the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:17.

And what exactly does Christ save from? See what in Matthew 1:21–

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Whatever attribute cannot be used to describe God— laziness, foolish mistakes, law-breaking, lateness, greed, being over/underweight, anxiety, depression— all are sin. And Saviour from sins is Christ’s job description!

For every demand, He is the Supply. Every worry is an opportunity to cast all of our cares on Him, for He cares for us. In Him, the thoughts of the Holy Spirit become our action so we find ourselves taking the right steps and making the right decisions in our family, career, relationships and every facet of life, yet not us but Christ in us. So this is not a matter of sitting by idly and waiting for an angel to drop the keys to a Bugatti in your lap— rest in Christ is not inactivity—

Rest in Christ is Holy Spirit-directed activity, we get to do so much more work and go so much further in His Strength, and it is so supernaturally natural that many think that our good success is the result of human sense aka arm of flesh. Beloved, never trust yourself. Trust Christ.

But what needless pain we bear because we want to go it on our own and fulfil what the Word is SAYING to us by useless willpower aka the arm of flesh. Not so, beloved. For every demand, Christ is the Supply.

When your believing is right, right living will follow