Life these days

It is 2:54 in the afternoon on Friday the second of September.

There is a lull in my work, I work from home these days and for the most part, I really enjoy it. Things can occasionally become stressful, but not today.

As I look out the windows, I see the skis starting to darken, seems to be the season here in the south for a fair amount of rain. So be it. I like it.

Now to what I have been thinking about a lot lately…Are any of you familiar with the story about “The Woman at the Well?”

It’s a heartwarming and also gut-wrenching story that is found in the Bible. It can be found in John 4:1-25. You might want to read it, especially if you, like me have had several relationships over the many, many years. And yet you are a born-again believer. So what do we do with this information? I have read the Bible cover to cover twice. What do I do?

So what I want to do, is examine the story in light of today. Simply because we live in the modern world, have things really changed that much? There are still many places in our world where women are still considered property. Even here in the United States of America.

The Story of the woman at the well is about a time when Jesus is traveling, and the disciples go on ahead. And Jesus goes up to a well where a Samaritan woman is drawing water. Jesus asks her for a drink of water. And this Samaritan woman said, “Why would a Jewish man asks a Samaritan woman for a drink of water?” (Taken from TPT Bible) Jesus replied, do you know who I am, and do you know the gift God has for you? Then Jesus said to her if you drink from this well you will thirst again. But I can give you life-giving water that if you drink from you will never thirst again. At this point the Samaritan woman is trying to calculate how is this man going to draw any water, he doesn’t even have a bucket, or rope and this particular well was very deep. The life-giving water that Jesus is speaking of is the water of the Holy Spirit of God. The Samaritan woman realizes she wants this and asks Jesus for this water. Jesus then asks her to get her husband and bring him back here, the Samaritan woman says I am not married, and Jesus says you are speaking the truth, and then he goes on to tell how many times she has been married. Obviously for any of us, if someone said these kinds of things to us, how would we react? (I have paraphrased a lot please read the whole story at John 4:1-25)

I am a woman at the well, are you? On May 2, 1989, I gave my heart to Christ. So I am a born-again believer who has since that time been divorced twice and I live with my soul mate.

What’s your story and how do you deal with this? Please comment.

Blessings all!

The 40 “I ams”

Go ahead and read over these, and over the course of the next few weeks I will be discussing them one or two or three at a time.  Should be interesting.

Just remember…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… Romans 8:23

 

  1. I am a child of God

Romans 8:16   The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

 

  1. I am redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

Psalms 107:2   Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story-those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

 

  1. I am forgiven.

Colossians 1: 13-14   For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

 

  1. I am saved by grace through faith.

Ephesians 2: 8   For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-

 

  1. I am justified

Romans 5:1   Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

  1. I am sanctified.

1 Corinthians 1:2   To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ-their Lord and ours:

 

  1. I am a new creature.

2 Corinthians 5: 17   Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

 

  1. I am a partaker of His divine nature.

2 Peter 1:4   Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

 

  1. I am redeemed from the curse of the law.

Galatians 3:13   Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

 

  1. I am delivered from the powers of darkness.

Colossians 1:13    For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

 

  1. I am led by the spirit of God.

Romans 8:14   For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

 

  1. I am a son (or daughter) of God.

Romans 8:14   For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

 

  1. I am kept in safety wherever I go.

Psalms 91:11   For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;

 

  1. I am getting ALL my needs met by Jesus.

Philippians 4:19   And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

 

  1. I am casting all my cares on Jesus.

1 Peter 5:7   Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

 

  1. I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Ephesians 6: 10   Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

 

 

  1. I am doing all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13   I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

 

 

 

  1. I am an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus.

Romans 8:17   Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

 

  1. I am an heir to the blessings of Abraham.

Galatians 3: 13-14   Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

 

  1. I am observing and doing the Lord’s commandments.

Deuteronomy 28: 12   The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.

 

  1. I am blessed coming in and I am blessed going out.

Deuteronomy 28: 6   You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

 

  1. I am an heir to eternal life.

1 John 5: 11-12   And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

 

  1. I am blessed with all spiritual blessings.

Ephesians 1: 3   Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

 

  1. I am healed by His stripes.

1 Peter 2:24   Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

 

  1. I am exercising my authority over the enemy.

Luke 10: 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 

 

  1. I am above and not beneath.

Deuteronomy 28: 13   The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.

 

  1. I am more than a conqueror.

Romans 8: 37   No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

 

  1. I am establishing God’s word her on earth.

Matthew 16: 19    I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

 

  1. I am an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony.

Revelation 12:11   They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
 

 

  1. I am daily overcoming the devil.

1 John 4: 4    You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

 

  1. I am not moved by what I see.

2 Corinthians 4: 18    So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

 

  1. I am walking by faith and not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5: 17   Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!

 

  1. I am casting down vain imaginations.

2 Corinthians 10: 4-5   The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

 

  1. I am bringing every thought into captivity.

2 Corinthians 10: 5   We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

 

  1. I am being transformed by renewing my mind.

Romans 12: 1-2   Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

  1. I am a laborer together with God.

1 Corinthians 3: 9   For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

 

  1. I am the righteousness of God in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5: 21    God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 

  1. I am an imitator of Jesus.

Ephesians 5: 1   Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children

 

  1. I am the light of the world.

Matthew 5: 14    “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.

 

  1. I am blessing the Lord at all times and continually praising Him with my mouth.

Psalms 34: 1   I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.

 

Days in Passing

I have a book titled, “Blessed to be a Blessing,” by Kenneth Copeland. This is truly a fine writing and one that I am intending to put into practice and then some.

I will be putting these referenced verse into my everyday use, some I already do and some I really need to work on.

In the second chapter of the book, titled, “The Fools Dozen,” Pastor Copeland goes thru a list of twelve points, from which we can really learn. He suggest that you allow the Holy Spirit to convict you of any of these points that you have not been paying sufficient heed to over the years of your being a Christian.

Since I don’t want to give away all, I would really encourage you to get in touch with the KCM and acquire this reading for yourselves, however, I will let you in on some of the things that Holy Spirit brought to my attention.

1. I need to get out of debt. I don’t have a lot of debt, and for that I am grateful, but I need to prepare better for the future and lay the ground for not being in debt, ie I have an older car, runs great and I pray the Lord will help me to keep it that way.

2. If I am doing something I don’t want the Lord to see, hear, taste, or think, simple-don’t do those things.

3. For me this goes right back to 2.

4. Don’t speak poorly of anyone, remember what your mother said, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all!”

5. 1 Corinthians 13:11 King James Version (KJV) When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

I think this speaks quite adequately to mischief. Something that some people just can’t give up.

6. Speak only those things that edify. This one kind of bit me…..I read this and thought of people I know who are constantly saying things to be cute…..instead of thinking I know people who do this, I need to pray for them, are they really doing something wrong? Let me ask you this, are they or you speaking truth?

7. Simple don’t trust yourself, trust in the word of the Lord.

8. Think before you speak…Don’t go to phone (or FB), go to the throne. Our words can be quite cruel, so think before you speak. Once they are out there, no matter how many times you say I am sorry, you can not undo the damage.

9. Walk in the light of God’s word and not in the darkness of the evil one.

10. If you have made a promise or a pledge, keep it.

11. Speak what you mean and mean what you speak. (Mark 11: 23)

12. If you believe in God, behave that way. And I know that there are some people out there that know of my recent move, that might say, I am not behaving appropriately, and to that I would say, I have gone to the throne and not to the phone.

13. (Bakers dozen) if you espouse to be a Christian, then believe and be a Christian…..Luke 24:25 Then he said unto them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken……” Don’t pick and choose!

There are some things for you to cogitate on for the day, be a blessing today.

This past Sunday, Easter!

Restoration Day.

Think about it, God devised a plan for each and every one of us. A plan to attain eternal life, with Him, in heaven.
Today is
What an amazing place to spend life eternal? Do you know the streets are paved with gold. Now there may be some of you who are reading this and thinking some different thoughts, but for those of us who love the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, what could be better?

But I digress…let’s get back to this day, this day of restoration. Thank you Father for this amazing day….this is the day that the Father in heaven prepared for us, to be able to come back to Him. So that we might have a eternal life filled with Glory rather than anguish.

As some of you may know I have moved to Florida, my earthly father is down here and I wanted to be closer to him. Now we may not be living in each others hip pocket, we are still closer in proximity than we were. He has a good life and a wonderful girl friend and I really don’t want to intrude on that, I just want to be a bit closer than an 18 hour drive.

So I moved a whole lot closer…we all know that when we move, we have to find a place to live, a new this and a new that, but for me what is of utmost importance is finding a new church.
Luckily I am blessed with a few friends down here who are already at a great church. So I went there for Easter services. Now let me tell you a little bit about this amazing church…..first of all this church is located at Trinity College here in Florida. With the church being at a college there is space used within the college. When some of the congregation arrive early for church, the classroom atmosphere is torn down and replaced by the church setting. This may not sound like a difficult undertaking, and it is not that difficult to do, but it is time consuming and there is some lifting involved, and incredible attention to even the smallest details. These amazing people change a college classroom into the children’s worship area and the toddlers room and the baby’s room, every Sunday, and they do it with gladness in there hearts.

Easter morning started for me at a 7:00 service outside, 59 degrees, and beautiful, the sun was up, the birds where singing and so were we. Pastor Kevin Stamper lead the service and his lovely wife lead worship, God has blessed this family, and we learned about the day when the stone had been rolled away.
An interesting fact about rolling away, Gil-gal, as spoken of in Joshua chapters 4 and 5, this name means rolled away. The similarities of this two historical events need to be studied. Pastor Kevin, pointed this out to his church, I will be studying this to see what else I can find out..

After this service we had breakfast together, which was wonderful, and then we had the regular service at 10:00. What wonderful preaching and teaching in a very warm and friendly atmosphere.

Easter services can be a bit sad, but we need to keep in mind that if Jesus had not done what he did, where would we be? How does the world work these days, there is such sadness, due to all types of circumstances, some can be restored, and some can not.
One thing we have to remember in the execution of Jesus, is that, “the Pharisees weren’t killing Jesus, they where executing God’s plan,” Pastor Kevin.
Where would we be if this this had not been accomplished? Pastor Kevin spoke to all these issues.

The verses we looked at where primarily Matthew 28: 1-8, and some in Mark 16: 1-8, if you continue in Luke 24: 1-12, and then in John 20: 1-10, you get to see the really big picture, and you can put all the facts side by side…..I need a big piece of paper.

After the teaching Pastor Kevin asked everyone about their walk with the Lord, how is your walk? I accepted Christ into my heart a long time ago, but I am still a work in progress, how about you?

After church, the classrooms where restored and all was put where it was supposed to be put. Yes this is quite an endeavor but as I said before, it is done with a glad heart.

After church, a bunch of us went to lunch, and later on in the day we had an amazing Easter dinner together and then spent the rest of the evening playing boardtype games and enjoying the company of each other.

What a delightful first Sunday in my new home, God bless you all.

What is Life All About These Days? Ramblings of Rebecca…

It used to be that my life was about rearing my children, going to work, coming home at the end of the day and making dinner, perhaps throwing in a load of laundry.  Maybe even doing a bit of weeding…

I still spend time with the Lord, perhaps a bit more.  Trying to be more realistic with my relationships.  Especially with the Lord.  I was talking to someone the other day, who is a fairly new Christian, and this person was telling me about saying prayers with their children.  Explaining to them that this is simply a conversation with God.  While we were talking I suggested that they also stress, lightly stress the fact that, not only do they need to spend time with the Lord in prayer, but to also spend time with the Lord listening for His responses.  Whether it be a statement or a question from Him, don’t forget to listen.

I have also rekindled my desire to spend more time with Christian women.  A dear friend of mine asked me recently as I was dealing with some “stuff,” (more on that at another time) how much time do I actually spend with other Christian women…Hmmmm…good question, I answered her that I really am only spending time with my daughter, pictured above.  That’s about it!  This women, being the great teacher that she is said flat out, I think you need to start back in with the women’s group.  So I did and I am.  She was of course right.

Ruth and children 6-10-18

However I still spend time with my daughter, a fair amount, actually, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.  I have been blessed with 18 grandchildren, three of whom are pictured above.  Such wonderful and sweet children.  I hope these three don’t forget me as they get older…I really feel like that is sad when our grandchildren grow away from us.  It doesn’t happen by itself either.  We as parents have to encourage our children to understand that our children will never know about that time in history if they don’t spend time with their grandparents.  In some way shape or form.  When this particular child of mine, had her first child, we spent a lot of time on Skype.  There are definitely ways to stay connected should you need to choose this path.

So if you are struggling with familial relationships, consider the options, there are so many! so think about what is available to you and do it.  Remember a relationship is a two way street.  If there is someone in your family, as there is in mine, figure it out.  As I will do.

Sadly I have one child and five grandchildren and one great grandson that I hardly know.  They live quite a distance away.  I know, no excuse, time goes by and things slip away.  We should really not allow this to happen.

But for right now I will help and enjoy these three munchkins, make sweaters and blankets for them and just love on them whenever I get the opportunity.