THE WOMAN AT THE WELL

You may know her. She may even be your friend or sister, possibly your daughter or even yourself. She could even be someone that you dislike because of the personal choices that she has made. Some look at her and judge her mistakes as though they have none of their own. It’s easy to do when you are comparing your good to someone else’s wrongs. But you see when we look at our own sin in the same mirror that the woman at the well looked through to see hers, all of a sudden we no longer see our sin in comparison to someone else’s, but we see them in comparison to the One who was without sin all together and then we are shamed by our self-righteous, indignant, pompous flesh, which the scripture refers to as filthy rags.

I will never forget the time my pastor made the comment, “If you have been married 7 times, then maybe it’s you!” How true that is. The woman at the well was like that. You see she had made so many wrong choices when it came to her personal life that she was shocked that Jesus would even speak to her let alone love, forgive and accept her. Maybe you have felt that way before. Maybe you have felt like you have failed so many times in your life that there remains no hope and you have given up in even trying. When you look at the woman at the well through the eyes of the Lord, you will see her in a very different light. Because you will understand the reasons that she made the choices that she made and not simply that she was full of wrongdoing. You see she did have a problem, and her problem was that she was seeking happiness in the wrong place. She had a soul’s desire but was trying to fill it with the wrong things. Who of us has not been guilty of that? Where we may be seeking our happiness in temporal things such as jobs, big cars and homes, fine clothes, friendships with people who are drawing us away from God….is there a difference? I think not, especially when we see them through the pages of the scripture and in light of what god has to say about them.

As I was reading through John chapter 4 this morning, I realized for the first time that the woman at the well had not lost hope. As a matter of fact, she was even expecting hope. In His encounter with her, Jesus broke three very important Jewish customs (notice they were customs). First, He spoke to a woman, second, she was a Samaritan woman, a group the Jews traditionally despised and third, He asked her to get him a drink of water, which would have made Him ceremonially unclean from using her cup or jar according to Jewish law and by doing so, He shocked the woman right off the bat. Then Jesus told the woman that He could give her "living water" so that she would never thirst again. Jesus used the words living water to refer to eternal life, the gift that would satisfy her soul's desire only available through him. At first, the Samaritan woman did not fully understand Jesus' meaning.

Although they had never met before, Jesus revealed that He knew she had had five husbands and was now living with a man who was not her husband. At that point Jesus had her attention! As they talked with each other the woman voiced her faith that the Messiah was coming. Jesus answered her by saying that He was Him who she spoke of. As the woman began to grasp the reality of her encounter with Jesus, the disciples returned. They were equally shocked to find him speaking to a woman. Leaving behind her water jar, the woman returned to town, inviting the people to come, see the man who told her all that she had ever done. Excited by what the woman told them, the Samaritans came from Sychar and begged Jesus to stay with them. So Jesus stayed two days, teaching the Samaritan people about the Kingdom of God. When He left, the people told the woman, that they had heard for themselves and they knew that Jesus was indeed the Savior of the world. While others may not have wanted to give her the time of day in passing, she shared with them the most precious gift that she had ever received and was not ashamed to had done so.

You see the woman at the well came to draw water at the hottest part of the day, instead of the usual morning or evening times, because she was shunned and rejected by the other women of the area for her immorality. While she may have not been befriended by the world, Jesus knew her history but still accepted her and ministered to her becoming her friend. In turn she took Jesus to those very women who shunned her, because she knew even greater than they, that they too needed Jesus. Ironically, those that we judge the most may very well shake the dust of our self-righteousness off and beat us to the doorway of heaven. For while the High Priest, Sanhedrin and religious Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah, the outcast Samaritans recognized Him and accepted Him for who He truly was - the Savior of the world.

 

Loving on you today sweet friend,

Bren

WHAT GIFTS DO YOU HAVE TO OFFER?

What gifts do you have to offer this Christmas and the coming new year?  Everything that we have already belongs to the One who gave it! But what will you offer back to Him? How can those gifts be used that He provides through His Holy Spirit to those that belong to Him? Take some time and read through the scriptures below as well as refer to the Spiritual Gifts page provided on my blog to find out what each gift is and how to use it properly. Not only did God provide the greatest Gift the world would ever have the opportunity to know through the birth of His Only Son, but He also provides other gifts that are only avialable to His children. Understanding why you are the way you are and making the most of it is one of the best pay-offs, in the way of persoanl fullfillment that there is. So make sure that you are making the most of what God has given you!

Romans 12:6-8	1 Corinthians 12:8-10	1 Corinthians 12:28	Ephesians 4:11	1 Peter 4:11
Prophecy Serving Teaching Exhortation Giving Leadership Mercy	Word of wisdom Word of knowledge Faith Gifts of healings Miracles Prophecy Distinguishing between spirits Tongues Interpretation of tongues	Apostle Prophet Teacher Miracles Kinds of healings Helps Administration Tongues	Apostle Prophet Evangelist Pastor-teacher	Whoever speaks Whoever renders service

Merry Christmas and Lord Bless your upcoming Holiday Season! Loving on you today my friend!
Bren

WHY SHOULD WE CELEBRATE THANKSGIVING?

As Americans, we continue to celebrate that first Thanksgiving for our continued freedom and the bounty that we continue to strive for and enjoy. But long before the Pilgrims came to the Americas, there had been another Thanksgiving celebrated on another shore and country. That Thanksgiving holiday was celebrated by the Israelites as they moved into their promised land. A land that promised freedom from bondage and a land that would provide for them a refuge and safe haven to worship their God in the way that He was requiring them to. A land that was abundant in its rich resources. Unlike the manna that they had been eating for forty years as they wondered in a complete circle waiting for what God was promising them.

Manna was a substance that God gave them miraculously to keep them alive and while it was abundant, God restricted their use of it by not allowing them to store it. They were only allowed to eat what they needed to survive. At first they did not even know what it was! The very word manna means “What is it?” the Manna sustained them and they received nourishment from it, but it was not a permanent substance.

God’s manna was never intended to satisfy the Children of Israel, but was intended to keep them alive until they reached the place where the good stuff was! While the manna was sweet and wonderful at first…they eventually murmured and complained about it, saying, “our soul loathes this light bread”. You see while it kept them alive, it never satisfied them. They found no lasting joy in it. God used the Land of Canaan or the Promise Land as a place where His promises of spiritual blessings and joy could be experienced and enjoyed, when the time was right.

God had told them in Deuteronomy 26 as they stepped over into the promised land that it would flow with milk and honey, and to show their gratitude, they were to take the first fruits of the ground, place them in a basket and take it to the priest to give honor to God as a thanksgiving offering for their bounty and blessings.

Like the Israelites before them, the Pilgrims also wanted to show their gratitude for the bounty that they had received and from their deliverance from hunger that they would have continued to experience had God not intervened on their behalf and taught them how to survive in the new land. For the Israelites, their thanksgiving was understood and seen as an act of God as He delivered them from their bondage in Egypt as He brought them into their new land that flowed with milk and honey symbolizing the good things that God was offering His people if they would follow Him (for many died in the dessert and were not allowed to enter the promise land because of their complaining).

The Pilgrims gave thanks for a similar deliverance which came to them during those first years on the North American shore. They too were delivered from religious bondage that kept them from worshipping in the way that they felt God was leading them to and from hunger by a good summer’s crop, from war through peacefully living with the Indians, and protection from the cold by building strong sturdy homes. Those deliverance's brought thanksgiving into all their hearts.

I am reminded today that whenever God delivers me from my land of bondage, He delivers me into another land that always flows with milk and honey. A land of deliverance and promise if I will dare to be set apart and be His people. “But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that flows with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which has separated you from other people.” Leviticus 20:24

Earlier this past week, I had made a list of the things that I am most grateful for. But today my thoughts are pondering on being thankful for those things I have been delivered from and even those things that I will not have to experience; because He has or will spare me from them. I too am a blessed Pilgrim, as I think about the land that I myself have traveled from and the new land that I have entered!

Praise Him for it all!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Everyone!
Love you so much,
Bren

THANKSGIVING IS GOOD, BUT BEING THANKFUL IS BETTER!

Most every day the small blind boy sat on and old wood crate in the city park. Beside his feet was an old bucket that had a sign taped to it that read, “I am blind, please help.” One day a kind man came walking by and noticed the boy. As he looked inside the boys bucket, he noticed only a few dimes and pennies. The man reached in his pockets and pulled out all the money that he had and placed it inside the boys bucket. He then took the sign, turned it around and wrote some other words on the back of the sign and placed it back on the bucket so that everyone who walked by would take more notice. Before long, the bucket was overflowing with money.  For the first time, more people had taken notice of the boy than ever before. That afternoon the man who had changed the words on the sign came to see how things had gone. The boy recognizing the footsteps from earlier that morning  asked, “Are you the one who changed my sign this morning and if so would you tell me what you wrote?” The man said, “Yes son, it was me and I did change your words, but I only said what you said, just in a different way.” I wrote, “Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it.”

You see friend, that man did for that little boy that which the little boy knew not to do for himself. While both signs told people that the little boy was blind, the boy’s sign simply said that he was blind. The man’s sign  reminded  people to be thankful that they were not blind.

 

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time for us all to pause and consider our blessings and be thankful for what we have and for a while, not to focus on the things that we do not have. Many times God is doing for us things that we cannot do for ourselves and yes, we yet we may even be unaware of them. While we may not see them as blessings at the moment, we can know that He is always working things out for our best and when life circumstances give us reasons to be sad, our response should be to focus on what we have and not what we don’t have.  While “Thanks Giving” is a great Holiday, it can only really be celebrated as it is embraced by a heart that is very thankful!

…All things work together for the good to those who love God…Romans 8:28

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bren

WHERE DO YOU PLACE YOUR TRUST?

 

There are a lot of disheartened folks today and not all of them were Christian voters. Had Obama lost last night, there still would have been a lot of disheartened folks today, because it was inevitable that there would be a looser in the race for the presidency. We vote for the candidate that we feel can do the best job and because we have the freedom to; and that is what makes this country so great. I was up early this morning pondering over the entire election and what could have been done and what was done to bring the voters to make the decisions that they made. Honestly, I was surprised and could not believe that there were so many folks willing to put someone back into office with a record like what I feel, the current president has. Yet, what I do know is that nothing surprises God. As I shared with a friend earlier this morning, I think that for our party and those of us that believe that God is about to do something in this country unlike anything He has allowed before, we can only accept it as the will of God and move on to do our best as US citizens. I noticed a post on Facebook this morning made by one of my young great nephews that really says best as to how we should all feel…he said, “ It don’t matter who’s the president, I’m still gonna work hard and put my hand over my heart when I pledge” his words described how he feels and I say Amen to them! In the last election I was down and out for a few days after Obama won!

But this time, I feel like King David did when he lost his child because of his personal sin. Upon hearing that his child was sick and going to die, He fasted, mourned, cried and he begged God to forgive his sins and to spare the life of his young child. Yet, God did not and when the child died, David got up wiped his face, ate and continued on. Many people did not understand how he could act the way he did and not be so destroyed over the death of his child, yet David had an innate understanding that God had spoken through his choice of what God had allowed and the only thing that he could do was accept it and move on. That is exactly how I feel about the outcome of the election today. I know that I had invested prayer and research in this election and done all that I could do to achieve what I felt was the only answer for our country given the choices that was there. I have a peace this morning that I can credit only to the fact that I am okay with God dealing with us as the body of Christ even though I know that the whipping is going to hurt. I know in the end, I will spiritually feel better for it regardless to the world's condition. It never was nor will it ever be about anything but getting the house of God in order, it's not about Obama, he is only a tool in the hand of God to work His good will and purpose in correcting the Church and her/our/my sin and how I am reflecting Him before others.

 So, I accept and am satisfied with the conclusion only because I know that God may not have willed it, but He has allowed it and I cannot do anything but make the best out of it and like my great nephew says, continue to work hard at the job that God has given me, and love and support my country placing my hand over my heart to honor her as I pledge my allegiance to the country that still is, the greatest country on earth and recall two verses from the Word of God that reminds me that, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14… and Isaiah 31:1… "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD! I am choosing not to trust in what has happened but what God can do as we look and turn back to Him!

Where is your trust today sweet friend?

Hold Fast -Bren

IS YOUR PAIN WORTH THE LESSON?

One summer day when I was a young girl, I had been playing in a nearby neighbor’s yard as I heard my mother call out for me to come home. With it being summertime I was of course barefooted. As I walked back home, I stepped on a board that had been piled up on a small mound of debris. As I stepped over one of the boards and as my foot came down onto another one, I felt something like a thorn going into the arch of my foot. As I looked down I saw not a thorn but a 2 inch nail. As my mind registered what had happened the pain began to rise from my foot and quickly went up my leg. I grabbed the top of my leg to try and stop the searing pain from moving farther and began to cry out for help. As the pain became intolerable throughout my entire body, I knew that I had to pull the nail that was attached to a board out of my foot in order to at least wobble and get myself home, because it had appeared that no one was coming to my rescue. As I looked down and saw that the nail was old, bent and kind of orange in color, I could only assume that the nail was rusty and that I was going to die an excruciating death. Once I got home and my mother treated me with medicine and compassion, within 24 hours I no longer had any pain or side effects. But I did however learn a very powerful lesson. Like most parents I had been told by my mother to never play on old piles of wood or debris, because of the possibility of rusty nails. Yet that morning in a hurry, I disregarded what I knew to be right. I ignored what she had repeatedly taught me. I had been both lazy and preoccupied and I paid a horrific price for it that day.

 

Disregarding what we know to be right, whether through laziness, preoccupation with other things or simply rebellion, always brings undesirable and spiritual damage and consequences. That pile of debris was a stumbling block to me, yet I was unwise to see it as such, because deep inside me was an irritation to do what I wanted to do and not what I had been warned not to do. No, the rusty nail did not end my young life, but it did threaten it and in the end brought a huge amount of discomfort caused from the extreme pain and distress to both me and my mother. Anytime we choose another path from the one we know to be right, as taught by our parents or the Word of God, it is like stepping onto a dirty old pile of nails and debris, barefooted. You never know what you may step on because often times you will not be able to see what is underneath your next step. When we act or seek to justify our lazy or rebellious choices for whatever reason we choose to make them, we will always end up hurting ourselves and effecting other as well. When we lie to ourselves by thinking that we are not really doing anything wrong, that it doesn’t really matter or perhaps even try and  console ourselves with the thought that everyone else is doing it, or something even worse, we believe the lie that we will not be negatively affected by it. We somehow convince ourselves that we are the exception to the rule and therefore immune to the consequences of breaking it. Obedience must become our priority! Those who walk in obedience finds peace and rest. Those that rebel and walk in the flesh after having been warned, have only an eventual world wind to look forward to. But when obedience becomes our goal, it is no longer an irritation. Instead of a stumbling block, it becomes a building block that leads to true freedom. The more we obey revealed truth, the more we become liberated. So come, no run to the One who offers you a peace that the world knows not, and there you will find what you are looking for! Sometimes the truth can hurt. But if we learn from it, the pain is worth the lesson!

Do not be wise in your own eyes: Fear the Lord and turn from evil. Proverbs 3:7

 

Loving on you today,

Bren