We Do Not Walk Our Challenges Alone

Prayer-Soldier

We Do Not Walk Our Challenges Alone

Scripture:

So the people were thirsty there for want of water, and murmured against Moses, saying: Why did you make us go forth out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our beasts with thirst? And Moses cried to the Lord, saying: What shall I do to this people? Yet a little more and they will stone me. And the Lord said to Moses: Go before the people, and take with you of the ancients of Israel: and take in your hand the rod where with you did strike the river, and go. Behold I will stand there before you, upon the rock Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it that the people may drink. Moses did so before the ancients of Israel: And he called the name of that place Temptation, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and for that they tempted the Lord, saying: Is the Lord amongst us or not? (Exodus 17:3-7)

Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access through faith into this grace wherein we stand: and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God.

And hope confounds not: because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. For why did Christ, when as yet we were weak, according to the time, die for the ungodly? For scarce for a just man will one die: yet perhaps for a good man some one would dare to die. But God commends his charity towards us: because when as yet we were sinners according to the time. ( Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 )

He comes therefore to a city of Samaria, which is called Sichar, near the land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now well of Jacob was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. It was about the sixth hour. There comes a woman of Samaria, to draw water. Jesus said to her: Give me to drink. For his disciples were gone into the city to buy meats.

Then that Samaritan woman said to him: How do you, being a Jew; ask of me to drink, who am a Samaritan woman? For the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her: If you did know the gift of God and who he is that says to you: Give me to drink; you perhaps would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him: Sir, you have nothing wherein to draw, and the well is deep. From whence then have you living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank thereof, himself and his children and his cattle?

Jesus answered and said to her: Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: but he that shall drink of the water that I will give him shall not thirst for ever. But the water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting. The woman said to him: Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come hither to draw. Jesus said to her: Go, call your husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said: I have no husband. Jesus said to her: You have said well: I have no husband. For you have had five husbands: and he whom you now have is not your husband. This, you have said truly.

The woman said to him: Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers adored on this mountain: and you say that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore. Jesus said to her: Woman, believe me that the hour comes, when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, adore the Father. You adore that which you know not: we adore that which we know. For salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeks such to adore him. God is a spirit: and they that adore him must adore him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith to him: I know that the Messiah comes (who is called Christ): therefore, when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her: I am he, who am speaking with you.

And immediately his disciples came. And they wondered that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said: What do you seek? Or: Why do you talk with her? The woman therefore left her water pot and went her way into the city and said to the men there: Come, and see a man who has told me all things whatsoever I have done. Is not he the Christ? They went therefore out of the city and came unto him.

In the mean time, the disciples prayed him, saying: Rabbi, eat. But he said to them: I have meat to eat which you know not. The disciples therefore said one to another: Has any man brought him to eat? Jesus said to them: My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, that I may perfect his work. Do not you say: There are yet four months, and then the harvest comes? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the countries. For they are white already to harvest. And he that reaps receives wages and gathers fruit unto life everlasting: that both he that sows and he that reaps may rejoice together. For in this is the saying true: That it is one man that sows, and it is another that reaps. I have sent you to reap that in which you did not labor. Others have labored: and you have entered into their labors.

Now of that city many of the Samaritans believed in him, for the word of the woman giving testimony: He told me all things whatsoever I have done. So when the Samaritans were come to him, they desired that he would tarry there. And he abode there two days. And many more believed in him, because of his own word. And they said to the woman: We now believe, not for your saying: for we ourselves have heard him and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world. (John 4:5-42)

Reflection:

In the moments of tribulation, we are tempted to cry out. We are tempted to challenge, for what reason would God allow us to suffer? We often fail to see that in such times of trial He is with us. We many times fail to understand that if we experience difficulties, it is for us to learn about ourselves, the lessons of His Word and our ability to endure which comes as a result of our faith. Though we do not understand in the moment, or even for days or perhaps years to come; there is always a greater good He has waiting for us. If we stand with faith to face our challenge, He will be there to sustain us. Only through faith will we find that which will make us stronger. He will not test us beyond what we can endure. Through prayer, He will grant us strength and comfort.

Do we remember that He suffered and died for us? Do we remember that He took upon His shoulders the sin of the world? Do we remember that He prayed in the garden, knowing the tribulation to come, that the will of the Father be done? Do we remember that through His sacrifice, though we are not worthy, our souls were purchased from our sin so that we may join Him in everlasting life? Was it not through the suffering upon the cross that the faithful received the gift of His eternal love? He did not allow the sacrifice of His Son so that the world might die, but so that the children of His creation might live with Him forever in His kingdom. Through that challenge and sacrifice, we have all been blessed with a greater good.

As He came to the world, He came to share His wisdom with all who would listen and the generations who would hear of His Word. He came to give everlasting life and hope to all who believe in Him. Through Him, the thirst of the soul may be forever quenched for through Him the life giving water of His eternal love may be received. Many heard, but did not comprehend. Many comprehended, but did not believe. Blessed are those who understand and believe, for they receive within them the truth of the Holy Spirit, the light of the Son and the eternal love of the Father.

Through those who believe, others may also find the way, for it is through the sharing of the faithful that those blinded by the world may come to understand. Through prayer, we should ask that we are given the strength to share the gospel, not just by what we say, but also by what we do. As we walk our daily lives, He seeks to reveal Himself to us and through us. As we are blessed to see, so then, should we seek to share of our blessings and allow His light to shine from us.

As we receive the Holy Spirit within our hearts, we receive Him. He, therefore, is within us as the Father is within Him and He is within the Father. Through the study of scripture and our time in prayer, we are brought closer to Him so that He may bring us to the Father. No matter the tragedies of the world, if our faith remains in Him, we will receive His hand of comfort and His hand of love. In our moments of blessings, we should remember what He has given us. In our moments of tribulation, we should ask Him to grant us the wisdom to understand what it is He seeks for us to learn. In prayer, we should ask that we are guided through the challenge of the moment so that the day of greater good shall be hastened and we may all share in His blessings.

May the peace and blessings of the Lord be with you always,
Prayer Soldier