”For the
Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow from the inmost being
of anyone who believes in me.” (John 7:38) TLB
Courage to Flow
Imagine a crude ancient well for a moment. It is lined with rough hewn rocks and is
centuries old. Townspeople and shepherds
needing water for their families and flocks have been going to this same well
for years. It has a heavy rock slab
covering it to protect it from garbage or other contaminants being thrown or
washed into it. It takes two women or
one very strong man to move this slab. Those who wish to drink must move it
with great effort and then drop a bucket into the well. The crude bucket is attached to a rope which
may or may not be attached to some kind of wheel or pulley. The bucket is
lowered many feet into the well until it strikes water. It is then pulled or
cranked to the top of the well. The
bucket is then poured into personal containers, other wooden buckets or large
clay jars, and then carried home usually upon one’s head or with a yoke of some
kind held on the shoulders with a bucket or vessel balanced at each end. This
way of drawing water, which many in third world countries still use today, is a
heavy burden and a heavy yoke that must be carried daily. Contrast this method of getting water with today’s
indoor plumbing.
Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
(Matt.11:30) Jesus told a spiritually heavily burdened woman at a well one day,
“Drink of me and you will never thirst. Come to me and drink and you will
become a spring welling up into eternal life.”
(John 4) Imagine what it would be
like for this woman to never have to draw water again but simply have water
flow up through her. Of course Jesus was
talking about the Holy Spirit, spiritual indoor plumbing. During their discussion
the woman revealed her understanding that there were only two places to worship
God, either high on a mountain or in the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus told the woman he was looking for
people who could worship anywhere, who would worship in Spirit and in truth.
The Lord wants to ask you three questions. The first question is, “Is the yoke, the burden of your responsibility in your teaching job,
light or heavy?” The second question
is, “Why is it light or heavy?” The third question is, “What is worship and where do you believe that it is appropriate to
worship?”
The Lord is saying, “As
the woman at the well had many previous husbands, many of you in public
education are trying to please many others before me. You are trying to please administrators,
students, co-workers, parents, and yourselves ahead of me. If you have more than one master you will
please none. If you serve me first, I will add all the professional things you
need. Your professional yoke can be easy and light.”
The Lord is saying, “Worship
is putting me first in your life and communicating with me. It is giving me
time, speaking to me, listening to me, and obeying me. I want this all the time and not just on
Sunday mornings. I want you to worship
me in the schools, in Spirit and truth. I want you to be a part of the river of
my Spirit flowing in the public schools.”
Carolyn Johnson never personally experienced a truly easy
burden and a light yoke in her teaching career until she began to flow beyond
the protective stone walls of the well of her own ideology. After ten years of
heavy personal burden bearing, often working on school work on weekends and
often until 8:00 or 10:00 at night on weekdays, she finally asked other
Christians at school to begin praying with her.
They began to meet to intercede for one another, to thank and praise the
Lord, and to share the heavy burdens they each were carrying alone. In time
their professional yokes became much lighter.
The Lord often gave Carolyn and others a change of heart and perspective
regarding the burdens they were bearing.
Jesus tells us to bear one another’s burdens. He
does not say, “Wait until Sunday to
unload your burdens and meet and pray only with people who have the exact same
doctrinal beliefs and who worship just like you.” I believe he is saying, “Join with other believers and flow
together right where you are. A stream
is of much more benefit than a well and a river is of greater benefit than a
stream. Not until my people have the
courage and hear the call to flow together within the public schools will this
institution ever be spiritually more than a desert dotted with individual wells
and a few oases. Come step into the river that is flowing out into the desert
from under the temple door.”
Prayer: Lord, help us
hear the call and give us the courage to spiritually flow together in public
schools.
Application: Attend a local Christian Educators Association
International conference or meeting.
Sharing: Share the
answers to the questions offered in paragraph three of this devotion.
CLASSROOM
LIGHTHOUSE SERIES: TEACHER! TAKE COURAGE!
(For inquiries contact ceaihouston@sbcglobal.net.) #15
K
PS. Don’t forget to spread the word about the 1:16PM Prayer Movement.
• Follow us on Twitter for the prayer prompts @one16pray
May God bless you with success His way this 2013-2014 school year.
Christian Educators Association International is the only professional association in the United States specifically for Christian educators in public schools. CEAI protects our members first in prayer, next with excellent professional liability insurance and other benefits while helping them live out their high calling as a Christian in the public school.
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