Battle For Expression by Apostle Johnson Suleman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Well and Marriage

In Palestine, drought made water scarce, so men would wait by the well to observe which domesticated daughters came to draw water. It was there that marriage virtues were discerned. In Genesis 24:13, Abraham's servant stationed himself at the well and said that whoever came out and gave water to him and to his camels would be the one. A camel stores up to 50 gallons of water — so imagine the dedication one girl showed serving eleven camels.

Every unmarried person must understand this: every day of your life is an audition. Someone is watching. He may not marry you, but he will recommend you. Character is read long before a proposal is made. Many people don't read the Bible — they read you.

• Audition — before marriage, everywhere you go, you are being observed for marriage virtues.
• Marital bliss — within marriage, the goal is not merely to be married but to enjoy marriage.
• Legacy — after children and grandchildren, the only legacy worth leaving is your connectivity with God.

When Satan begins to manipulate your emotions to contend with a home that has brought you honour, there is an attack on your will. No matter your spirituality, submission is a virtue. When your head begins to give you reasons as a woman why you should not submit, get ready for a repercussion you cannot handle. Intimacy with the Holy Spirit actually produces submission, because the Holy Ghost will tell you to keep quiet.

God does not just want you to get married — God wants you to enjoy marriage.

The Relevance of the Well: Spirituality

The third relevance of the well is that it speaks of your spirituality. In John 4:6, John 4:14, and John 4:23-24, Jesus met a Samaritan woman at the well. Though the Jews and Samaritans had nothing in common, this woman had an understanding of the Urim and Thummim and engaged Jesus in scriptural conversation. She had made emotional mistakes — she had been through six men — yet she engaged at the level of scripture.

When Jesus told her to go call her husband and she said she had none, Jesus replied that she had said well, for the one she was with was not her husband. Her response was: "You are a prophet. I have lived a life of cover-up, acting married but living single." Then in verse 25, she said she had heard that the Messiah was coming. This was one of the first times when a person spoke about the Messiah and Jesus said to her plainly, "I am he."

Spirituality is a personal revelation of God to you. It is not the motions of worship, not an expression of emotion, not the chanting of church clichés. Spirituality is God revealing Himself to you.

Moses said, "I want to see your face," and God said no man sees Him and lives. The day you see God, the flesh must give way. Moses asked to see God's glory, and God said He would show him His hinder parts — meaning: what He did when there was no mortal, where He was coming from, what He did before mortality was in view. Moses wrote Genesis — "God said, Let us make man." Was Moses there? He was not. Yet the revelation of God made him a carrier of things he never witnessed.

Spirituality is having a right concept — having a revelation. Paul said, "That I may know him." In 1998, this preacher prayed from 10pm to 5am every single night from January 1st to December 31st, desperate to see angels, desperate for a vision. He never saw a visible face. But he noticed something: everywhere he went, there was a stirring. People would fall around him. The revelation of God is not an imaginary face — the revelation of God is power. You cannot see Him and not be loaded with power.

We are arguing about doctrines of faith and redemption while the blind are still blind, the deaf still deaf, the paralysed still paralysed, and those without wombs are still barren. We are called into power. Power is the emblem of our faith.

Restoring Spiritual Vitality

There are some who could once wake at night to pray — it was a natural spiritual operation. Now they sleep through the morning. Something left. They could once see clearly into the realms of the spirit. Now something left. They are spiritually drained.

Some people entered the church because they were too fearful to enter a cult. They thought the church was the easy way — just come, pray, and fast. But they do not know that the discipline of this faith, the continuous constant intimacy — man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds — demands everything.

It takes intimacy to remain current with God. What God said may not be what God is saying. God once told this preacher to do a crusade in a certain place, and he sent money ahead. The very next day in worship, God said, "What did you send money for?" He said, "The crusade." God said, "Did I tell you it was time?" God speaks things 20 years ahead as though they are tomorrow. Without intimacy, you act on yesterday's word and miss today's move.

When he was planning to travel to Pakistan, he had prepared everything, people were traveling from different parts of that country — then in worship God said, "You are not going." He cancelled. He later discovered there had been a satanic orchestration waiting for him at the airport to plant something in his bag. You cannot be disadvantaged when you maintain intimacy.

The Power of Proximity and Declaration

It takes proximity and connectivity. There are people right now watching who have been spiritually drained. A restoration is decreed over you.