Giving the water of life

Hello Everyone,

This past week during an Alpha course my wife and are attending, the speaker Nicky Gumble was talking about Christ giving living water and the significance of the living water. In the middle east during those times water was very scarce and wells were spread out. When you went to the well to get water your got your days supply of water. In researching online I found you can go from between 3-5 days without water. So Jesus using water as a way of speaking of the Holy Spirit is very significant. Without liquid water we do not have our human life, without Christ in our life we are not able to live our lives to the full the way God intended for us to live. Below I have listed some examples of how Christ used water as a reference to the Holy Spirit.

This week every time you go to the water cooler or fill your glass at the sink take the time to think about what WATER means to you.

Have a blessed week!
Billy

In John 4:7-14 Jesus speaks of water and its significance.
7There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said unto her, "Give Me to drink."
9Then said the woman of Samaria unto Him, "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest a drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria?" For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10Jesus answered and said unto her, "If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, `Give Me to drink,' thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water."
11The woman said unto Him, "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water?
12Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank thereof himself, and his children and his cattle?"
13Jesus answered and said unto her, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again,
14but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

Jesus was not talking of a days supply of water he was talking about the living water the very essence of life itself. He was speaking of pouring out the Holy Spirit into the hearts of all believers.

In Revelation 22:17 Christ tells us" 17And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let him that heareth say, "Come." And let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take the Water of Life freely.

John 6:35
And Jesus said unto them, "I am the Bread of Life. He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst.

John 7:37
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.

Isaiah 41:17
"When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst, I, the LORD, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

How Christ sees us

Hello Everyone,

This week while listening to a song on the local Christian radio station I heard a song called This Man by Jeremy Camp, I had a thought. I have always thought that Christ went to the cross for someone he didn't know, even though he knew what was going to happen to him. In reality he did know us, just not the person that is before him now. In Jeremiah he lets the prophet know this by stating, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."

It is funny how the more we read God's word the more things come to us. I had not thought about Christ still seeing us as an innocent child until I was driving that day. But that is what he sees that is why it wasn't even a thought for him to give his life for us. Even though we have grown into adults and have committed sins he does not see us that way. Much the same way a mother does not see her adult child as an adult that has done bad things. If you were to ask a mother of a person convicted of a crime you will get the same answer. "I know he has done wrong but he is still my son and I love him." This is exactly the way Christ sees us, he knows we have wronged him but he still loves us enough to forgive us if we ask.

As you go through the week think of ways that God speaks to you. Remember it is not always a thundering voice coming down from above, he may speak to you through your child, through his Word as you read scripture, or through a song on the radio. Slow down open your heart and listen to what he has to say. And if you haven't asked him to forgive you of your sins, ask him to forgive you and to come into your heart.

Have a blessed week!

Isaiah 49:15
15"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

Matthew 10:19
19But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaketh in you.

Problem solving through Christ: Anger

Hello Everyone,

We are continuing in our series of problem solving through Christ. This week we are going to address something that every person at one time or another has experienced. I doubt there is any one that has lived before or since Christ that has not had some sort of anger. It can consume us and cause us to make decisions we would not make under normal circumstances.
How many times has one person made you angry but you have lashed out at the innocent? Do you bring anger and frustrations home from the world just to have them come out around the ones you love. God has given us many examples in the Bible how our anger can lead us to ruin, in our emotional, spiritual, and financial lives.

This week when you feel anger creeping into your heart think of how patient God is with us. In the old Testament he was portrayed as an angry God. But through Christ he turned from the anger of judging an unjust world to the one true command that we should live by, to love each other as Christ loved us.



Have a blessed week!

Billy


Ecclesiastes 7:9
9Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

Proverbs 15:1-2
1A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.
2The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright, but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.

Psalms 37 :7-9
7Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
8Cease from anger and forsake wrath; fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
9For evildoers shall be cut off; but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.


Proverbs 16:32
32He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

Problem solving through Christ: Greed

Hello Everyone,

We are continuing in the problem-solving through Christ series. I should have worded it differently though, it should be Christ solving problems through us as once we give our lives to Him. He is in us in all that we do.

This week we are going to cover something that is hard to define but so easy to get caught up in: the problem of greed. The reason it is hard to define is everyone thinks of greed differently. One person may see only money when they think of greed. Another may see land or material possessions. Webster's definition is : a selfish and excessive desire to have more of something than is needed.

If you look at it according to the dictionary definition it is not just money that can cause a person to be greedy. Anything that you have an excessive desire or obsess on can be seen as greed. Say you want the best seat at the football game, you think that you need to have a personalized parking space at work, or you have a collection of something and you just have to have that one item to complete your collection. These can all be seen as excessive and if we let them can control our lives. If they control us it can be hard for us to have an open relationship with God.

Matthew 6:24

No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

In Mark Jesus speaks about such things and warns us to beware of such people. If he warns us to beware of such people we could also take that as a warning not to become one of these people.

How many things in your life do you want more of than is needed?

Have a blessed week!

Billy


Mark 12:38-44


38And He said unto them in His doctrine, "Beware of the scribes, who love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,
39and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts,
40who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation."
41And Jesus sat opposite the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury. And many who were rich cast in much.
42And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
43And He called unto Him His disciples and said unto them, "Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they that have cast into the treasury;
44for they all cast in of their abundance, but she of her want cast in all that she had, even all her living."