John 4 Today Long, but good & Important stuff :-) !!!

Note- IF this e-mail is at all encrypted and is unreadable, scroll down to the end of the passage and click on the underlined blue words "Lena's Discipleship Journalin' For Today ", this will take you straight to the website where you'll enjoy a readable copy
God Bless You Today, Lena B

John 4
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
1Jesus F21 learned that the Pharisees had heard, "Jesus is baptizing and making more disciples than John" 2(though Jesus himself didn't baptize them—his disciples did). 3So he left Judea to return to Galilee.
4He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Please give me a drink." 8He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, "You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?"
10Jesus replied, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water."
11"But sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket," she said, "and this is a very deep well. Where would you get this living water? 12And besides, are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his cattle enjoyed?"
13Jesus replied, "People soon become thirsty again after drinking this water. 14But the water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life."
15"Please, sir," the woman said, "give me some of that water! Then I'll never be thirsty again, and I won't have to come here to haul water."
16"Go and get your husband," Jesus told her.
17"I don't have a husband," the woman replied. Jesus said, "You're right! You don't have a husband—18for you have had five husbands, and you aren't even married to the man you're living with now."
19"Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet. 20So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, F22 where our ancestors worshiped?"
21Jesus replied, "Believe me, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father here or in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans know so little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way. 24For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."
25The woman said, "I know the Messiah will come—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
26Then Jesus told her, "I am the Messiah!" F23
27Just then his disciples arrived. They were astonished to find him talking to a woman, but none of them asked him why he was doing it or what they had been discussing. 28The woman left her water jar beside the well and went back to the village and told everyone, 29"Come and meet a man who told me everything I ever did! Can this be the Messiah?" 30So the people came streaming from the village to see him.
31Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus to eat. 32"No," he said, "I have food you don't know about."
33"Who brought it to him?" the disciples asked each other.
34Then Jesus explained: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. 35Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest. 36The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37You know the saying, 'One person plants and someone else harvests.' And it's true. 38I sent you to harvest where you didn't plant; others had already done the work, and you will gather the harvest."
Many Samaritans Believe
39Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, "He told me everything I ever did!" 40When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay at their village. So he stayed for two days, 41long enough for many of them to hear his message and believe. 42Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe because we have heard him ourselves, not just because of what you told us. He is indeed the Savior of the world."
Jesus Heals an Official's Son
43At the end of the two days' stay, Jesus went on into Galilee. 44He had previously said, "A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own country." 45The Galileans welcomed him, for they had been in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration and had seen all his miraculous signs.
46In the course of his journey through Galilee, he arrived at the town of Cana, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a government official in the city of Capernaum whose son was very sick. 47When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea and was traveling in Galilee, he went over to Cana. He found Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum with him to heal his son, who was about to die.
48Jesus asked, "Must I do miraculous signs and wonders before you people will believe in me?"
49The official pleaded, "Lord, please come now before my little boy dies."
50Then Jesus told him, "Go back home. Your son will live!" And the man believed Jesus' word and started home.
51While he was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. 52He asked them when the boy had begun to feel better, and they replied, "Yesterday afternoon at one o'clock his fever suddenly disappeared!" 53Then the father realized it was the same time that Jesus had told him, "Your son will live." And the officer and his entire household believed in Jesus. 54This was Jesus' second miraculous sign in Galilee after coming from Judea.
FOOTNOTES:
F21: Some manuscripts read The Lord.
F22: Greek on this mountain.
F23: Greek "I am, the one speaking to you."

Lena Journals _
The religious people were looking for something to snag Jesus on, to stop the words of Life from spreading throughout the earth.
That sounds like an assignment of the evil one to stop the truth from going forth. It sounds to me like religious people, who live to dot every “i” and make sure everyone else crosses every “t”, can actually be used by God’s enemy!
That is something we, as those who dwell in the house of God, need to realize we are not so far from being tempted to become, even an enemy of God’s work. If we become religious, this can be a danger.
It is very easy to fall into religious dutiful activity and lose faith. Faith is what keeps us from being religious. Faith must be nourished, grown, and managed, to be kept alive.
It is only faith which pleases God, not mere religious goodness. If one does good deeds that are not in faith, one must know, those deeds are empty where pleasing God is concerned. Yet one can do those same deeds in faith, and be full of life! The difference is a life in relationship with God, a life lived by faith, a faith that continues, not activity that replaces relationship. Now, Be aware, this is such an easy trap to miss as a Christian believer who loves God, or at least starts out by loving God.
Jesus went elsewhere, His time to be taken out by enemy force was not yet! He did not give the enemy any place. He was wise to the enemy’s tactics. If one is wise like this they can avoid many a trap, when they know their time is not yet up here.
Are we on the watch for those who need Jesus, and His life introduced to them?
Ya know the well was a gathering place, a place people gathered at everyday, a marketplace. Jesus went there sat down, and struck up a conversation with a woman who came there all of the time anyway. I bet the well goers know who came to the well and when. So she may have recognized a newbie there and was ready to find out who He was.
This is how kingdom life would be. Not religious life, but kingdom life. It is meant to be spread everyday. Someone notices our lives being lived in a normal place and they inquire of the life in us. We may be open to asking them a key question to open up a conversation, or we ask God to tell us a secret that will open a conversation for His glory and honor.
In the kingdom, this is a daily occurrence. Kingdom ambassadors speak and live for Him in everyplace, everyday, in what they are already about, business-wise. While they do business in the marketplaces, they shine, show forth His life from the inside out and are open to the leading of God’s Holy Spirit alive in them, because they are about their Father’s business, as Jesus was.
That is quite contrary to the thoughts we have of only leading people to the Lord at church. Church is a fine place to do so, especially when if a person is at church, they must be seeking God, right? Maybe, or maybe not. They may be their doing what they’ve thought is a religious duty and not seeking God at all. People out in our communities need Christ to, some may not even yet know how much they need His life revealed, and then again how much He needs them!
When I first came to Christ I saw people handing out tracks in the street in Hollywood, CA. I thought wow, that’s a real evangelist! What a nice and bold Christian! Many years later I got to thinking, how ineffective that is, to stick a little booklet in some stranger’s face. I heard the spirit of the Lord tell me, open up your home, let people see your day to day life and family, be vulnerable and forced to make more changes towards godliness where it really counts and then invite people to hang with you and look at how you interact with your kids, husband, etc.
God is a relational father, a family oriented kingdom “man”. He’s interested in a faith that stays, not one that prays a quick magical prayer after reading a few words printed on special paper, and goes on as they were!
There was a statistic I heard lately. Of millions of professing Christians in our own land, 85% of them only confessed Christ in a “saving” prayer. These who confessed Christ, did not go home from that prayer with any intent to be trained the rest of their lives on how to change their lifestyle and live as a Christian!
Where God looks upon us a children and sons, means if He is relational, familial, He sees out of those millions, 15% who’s heart is truly after what He is after! That shows how ineffective the ”give me a magical formula”, rather than ”watch me live” ministries are!
This woman at this well, who did not even know she was looking for Jesus, who was not apparently seeking Him, was just going about her normal day, asking spiritual questions of no man. Yet from that very place where she was asking nothing of the Lord, she went and saved her whole city, in a day! Don’t let people’s countenances fool you, there may be a man or woman of God inside of the grouch you have for a boss!
Is there living water in you for them to drink of?
Are you connected relationally to the Father by the spirit of Christ in you that you are willing to be a channel of God to tell someone all they are, or maybe who they’ve been , or maybe even, who they’ve been with until now? Sharing this with one person, can cause a domino effect far beyond what you purposed the day you acted in faith and in boldness as the person you were created to be for Him.
Those who step out in faith like this, always looking up, in case there is an opportunity for the harvest, will see the glory of God revealed.
We train ourselves to think and live this way. It’s up to us, how hungry and thirsty are we for His righteous to be made known for people of the earth through us? It is those who hunger and thirst for righteousness who will be filled full of more , and will end up giving more? That is the principle of His kingdom, to get, is to give, to give, is to get. The more we give, the more will be given us. If you feel dry Or weary, sad or diseased, give water, strength, joy, peace…such is the kingdom of God. Righteousness, peace.and joy
Since I’ve realized how important kingdom business is. I love this scripture more than most. Reading it keeps me focused on what is royally important!
"My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! You know the saying, 'One person plants and someone else harvests.' And it's true. I sent you to harvest where you didn't plant; others had already done the work, and you will gather the harvest."
Why am I alive, why are people on earth, why only for a time, whether long or short?
This is it!
What is better to eat than any delicacy ever offered? What is worth living and even dying to and for, especially to self will and personal desire and lusts?
Life is far too short to just take our sweet time mustering up enough bravery or boldness to show and talk about the good news of eternal life, people die daily, people we know, work with, and see in the marketplaces all the time. One soul is a family of influence.
People’s family members die daily, people we know. If we shared with who we know, they’d in turn share with who they know, also.
My mom & I went into a business one day, it happened to be a place where a mom of a casual friend lives, the friend’s mom was not there. We met the lady in charge, asked our questions and visited w/ her for probably a half an hour. It seemed she was really struggling, with some sort of addiction, plus pain and really could barely make her way around. My guess she was 40, maybe even younger. I felt compelled to ask her if I could pray over her, she consented and I did. I wasn’t sure what to pray, and it seemed a bold thing to ask a stranger, anyway……within days of this “meeting” a change of events happened for us and we would not have needed the services of the place, in other words, would not have returned there again to show our faces to this particular lady, This would be our only meeting w/ her….come to find out, she was dead by that weekend.
DO NOT hesitate.
Do NOT let fear tell you what to do. You tell it where to Go!
People are waiting for Christ in us to appear, and to show up for them.
Without the miraculous saving power of Jesus Christ, who is the only way a man’s spirit can be saved and transformed, translated from eternal death to start eternal life on a journey now, men are doomed.
Have you ever watched Pirates of the Caribbean- Dead Man’s Chest? That movie has such a great picture of what is happening spiritually speaking as each human is either walking dead because of their unpaid for trespasses and sins, or walking alive by having believed, received, and walked in the revelation of the bloodshed to save them through Jesus Christ.
In the movie, in the moonlight one would see the men as they really were. They looked normal in darkness, but when light shined in darkness, it was clear to others who they really were.
Eternal Death is that ugly, that horrendous.
If you noticed many of the pirates were at different stages of being eaten away by death’s sting. This is such a good picture. If we had eyes to see in the spirit, we’d put our bold clothes on and save some people as soon as is possible. We’d get our sickle in our hands and go, we’d make a way no matter what, especially with people we love, people in our families.
There’s a Christian song that says, how can we sing (praises) or what we do not see? That is so true. How can man live fully without purpose, and what man who does not know it, is not driven to find it? If you now know you should find it. Go for it, but I’ll just tell you now, it is only found in Christ and His will for the earth.