40 Days of Prayer

The Messiah is Here

  
"Jesus replied, "Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming -indeed it's here now - when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know the Messiah is coming - the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus told her, "I Am the Messiah!" John 4:21-26 NLT

Messiah is a rare word concept that had significant relevance to this woman. By definition, Messiah has its Hebrew roots in the action of being anointed. Meshah, to anoint, was done to priests to set them apart for service and to kings before they could ever rule. The OT believer was looking forward to the day of 'the anointed one,' the Messiah, who would be THE priest of priests and THE king of kings. The people of Israel had lost their vision of this hope, but, for this random woman of Samaria, she had a deep longing for a person to come who would be exactly that for her. "The Messiah is coming." In her many rejections as another's wife, she needed something for which she not only hoped, but for the one who would "explain everything." How awesome it must have been for her to hear the words from Jesus, "I am THE Messiah."

For what she had been searching, was found in Jesus. Her hope for her Messiah seemed far away, but He was standing right before her. Sometimes we look so far forward for hope, that we miss its answer right before our eyes. Bill Keane, author/cartoonist of the comic strip Family Circus, said, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today, however, is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present."

Prayer: Praise God for the present hope that we already have in Jesus Christ and ask Him to always remind us that Jesus is not just standing among us, but that He actually already lives within us.