"And in that day it shall be
That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them toward the eastern sea
And half of them toward the western sea;
in both summer and winter it shall occur.
And the LORD shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be-
'The LORD is one,'
And His name is one."
-Zechariah 14:8-9
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Good day! Let's begin our time with prayer....
"Father, thank You for the day to some where all will see You as You are. I come here today to praise You for beign King over all the earth. You alone are our savior and God.
I ask forgiveness of my sins. I know that I have not worshiped You properly at times this week. I know I put myself and other worldly things before You and I pray that You will forgive me of these sins against You.
I pray for each lady here reading this study. I pray that You will show her how to worship You in spirit and truth. I pray that You will listen to the concerns of her heart as she whispers her prayers to You. I pray that You will show her how to depend on You for all her cares.
In Jesus' name...........amen."
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One thing I learned when entering into the prison to do Bible study, was how much the women there truly wanted to learn how to study God's word and pray to Him. We teachers would bring a prayer request book for the inmates to write down their prayer requests so that we could keep a record of when the Lord answered those prayers.
It was wonderful to see how faithful the Lord was to these ladies as they lifted their cares up to Him. We teachers prayed so hard for these women. Sometimes, usually, when they left the prison we would never hear from them again. It was painful to us because we thought they were serious when they came to our Bible studies, serious about the Lord. But once they left, I guess they wanted no memories of the prison....and that included us. It would break our hearts.
I can only imagine how hard it must have been for the Lord to see them walk away from Him as well after He had done so much to help them get through the tough times behind bars.
It is humbling because I know I have poured my heart out to Him as well only to leave Him behind once I made it through the tough times.
That is why I am so glad we serve a faithful God.
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John 4:23
"But the hour is coming, and now is, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."
In our last lesson, we read about how Jesus was able to correct and rebuke the Samaritan woman about how she worships the God whom she does not know and how salvation comes through the Jews. We looked at what it is that we Christians worship: the gospel of God.
Here we will look at how Jesus is hinting to this Gentile woman that the time for the Jews and Gentiles to be divided is at an end because of what He will do: destroy the earthly temple so that God can dwell within us....and how He will leave so the Holy Spirit can come to believers and make us living temples of God.
Please read:
John 4: 24
1 John 3:24
1 John 5:6-8
True worship entails the believer entering the presence of the Father by faith to praise and worship Him from anywhere. Because of Jesus, we no longer have to enter into a physical place on earth.
Because of the giving of the Holy Spirit, we can draw near to God. Jesus tells the woman at the well that soon all will be able to worship the One True God in spirit and truth.
John 14: 17
John 15:26
John 16:13
1 Cor 3:16-17
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"For the Father is seeking such to worship Him...."
We have read here before that our Lord is the Good Shepherd. I would love to do a study here on "Jehovah-Raah- the Lord Our Shepherd" soon. That would be a good study.
Anyway, we have seen in scripture how man does not seek after God. On the contrary, it is He who seeks after those who worship in spirit and truth.
Please read:
John 10:3
John 20:16
John 10:4
John 10:11-15
The Lord was rebuking both the Jewish people and the Samaritans when He spoke to the woman at the well because He knew that the Jews weren't worshiping the Lord as they should and the Samaritans had made up their own religion.
Jesus was once again hinting to this woman that the time of Samaritan and Jewish worship was at an end....for He would usher in the new way of worshiping God once and for all. Jesus hints that perhaps she is one of those who the Lord seeks out to worship Him in spirit and truth.
Afterall, He sought her out.
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Life Application
"...worship in spirit and truth..."
Please read:
Ps 25:5
Ps 31:3-5
God of Truth. This is whom we worship. Praise God that we Christians know TRUTH.
It can be hard to worship our Lord. My son often asks if there is a loving God in the heavens, then why is there evil in the world?
Many people, even believers, have trouble with the concept of evil when we know there is a God.
The truth can be hard to take. We all know of people who have lost loved ones....by either accident, murder, war, or disease. How do you comfort a mother who lost her 2 yr. old daughter to brain cancer? Or a mother who lost her 20 yr. old daughter in a drive-by shooting? Or parents who recently lost 2 sons...yes TWO sons...to war.
Words cannot comfort at times like these, but if we truly believe God is who He says He is, then there is some comfort in knowing that He is sovereign and causes all things to happen for His good to those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose.
So, I tell my son, as I tell you here, there is a purpose to evil in this world: it either pushes us away from God or it brings us closer to Him.
As with Cain.....the evil he did set him apart from the Lord forever.
But with King David, who also committed murder to cover his sin....the evil he did brought him closer to the Lord because He was called according to God's purpose.
John 8:32
John 14:6
John 16:13
2 Tim 2:24-25
1 John 5:6
This is the truth. Apply this truth to your life. The One whom we serve has a divine purpose in all that He does.
Even when He stops at a well to ask for a drink of water...........
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Until next time.........
"'Why did this happen?' and 'Who is responsible?' causes us to look from our adversity backward into our lives and past events. Asking, 'How should I respond to adversity?' turns our focus forward. It is the most productive, helpful, and positive response we can make in a time of trouble.
The disciples of Jesus no doubt stood at Calvary wondering why such a horrible thing as the crucifixion of their Master had taken place. Humanly speaking, the crucifixion of Jesus made no sense at all to them. Their dreams were shattered. They had seen their beloved leader suffer and die before their very eyes.
The disciples might well have asked, 'Who was responsible for this?' Roman or Jewish leaders? The clamouring crowd that had been so easily assembled and whipped into a frenzy? Sin? Satan? God? The answer is yes to all!
Yet Christ's response to the heavenly Father was to allow God to use a terrible form of adversity to fulfill God's plan of salvation and to achieve an eternal and marvelous good.
And that's the response you are to have today."
-Charles Stanley (Advancing Through Adversity, 1996, p. 18)
Blessings,
Ruth
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