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Gavster says you can be a warrior and are favoured by God.

I have a message of hope from reflecting on the story of Gideon and Mary the mother of Jesus. In Judges 6 God appears to an Israelite Gideon who is threshing wheat in secret so that the Israelites enemies the Midianites would not see him and confiscate the wheat. The Midianites had previously destroyed Israelite crops and livestock. God appeared to Gideon in the form of an angel and said to him that he was a mighty warrior and that God was with him. What a strange thing to say. Gideon was there threshing wheat hiding in fear from the Midianites. This was hardly the actions of a mighty warrior. However with Gods help and encouragement Gideon raised up an army and defeated the Midianites.

You maybe in a situation at the momment you find difficult to deal with I want to say to you that God is with you mighty warrior. There have been many times when I have felt overwhelmed and like Gideon affraid and daunted by what I am dealing with. But through Gods strength and direction I have been able to overcome things or at least cope with what is happening.

Another occassion where an angel appears to someone is in Luke 1. Again the angel appears to Mary and says God is with you. The angel also says that she was highly favoured. It says that Mary was troubled by the angels greeting and wondered what it meant. One can only speculate but my guess is that Mary did not feel particularly highly favoured at the time. She would have been loved by Joseph, friends and family but I dont think you could say that an ordinary nazarite woman would have been highly favoured by others. But since then Mary the mother of Jesus has become one of the most highly favoured women and indeed people throughout the whole of history. Many artists have paid homage to her through paintings and sculptures and is considerd with great regard by Roman Catholics. She was favoured by the disciples and Jesus himself who did not forget about his Mother. In John 19 as Jesus was strung up on the cross in agony he showed concern for his mother and asked John to take care of her. Like Gideon God spoke to her before she was yet to do what people would know her for. You may feel unimportant and even unfavoured. Just as Mary became favoured you to through the work of Gods spirit in your life may become favoured. But what is even more remarkable is that God says that Mary is favoured before she was well known and before she had brought Jesus into the world. Whatever you may feel about yourself right now and whatever you may think others feel about you, you are highly favoured by God just for being you, his precious creation.

Eternal life for all - the woman at the well

In John Chapter 4 in the New Testament we read about Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman who was drawing water from a well. It was unusual in New Testament times for a woman to go to a well unaccompanied which suggests that she was a social out cast. It was also unusual for a man to have conversations with women. It was also unusual for Jews, which Jesus was, to have conversations with Samaritans. This conversation was unusual. Jesus was talking to someone that society said he should not be talking to. Jesus was genuinely tired and thirsty so asked the woman for a drink while she was drawing water for herself. But Jesus did not stop there he engaged with the woman going against cultural norms. The Samaritan woman her self was taken aback by the fact that a Jew was asking her for something.

Jesus said to the woman that if she knew who Jesus was she would ask him for a drink of life giving water. The woman was obviously confused at this cryptic statement. She asked Jesus where he would get this water from. She asked him if he was greater than Jacob an important Hebrew historical figure who made the well she was using. Jesus explained that he was not talking about physical water but spiritual water that was like water flowing from a never ending spring. Water from the well might have quenched the woman’s thirst but the water Jesus had to offer if drunk would mean that the woman would not be spiritually thirsty again. Jesus was talking about the water of eternal life.

Jesus offers eternal life to the woman at the well someone who was completely different from himself, a woman, Samaritan and a social outcast. Jesus offers eternal life for all. Eternal life means that we live forever and are raised to new life after we die. It also means that we can enjoy an intimate, loving relationship with God. We can also experience Gods Holy Spirit at work in our lives helping us to be better people and make the most of life.

The Samaritan woman was a social outcast and this is something that Jesus would later become as he was crucified by the Roman authorities who were influenced by the promptings of Jewish officials. It was on the cross that Jesus was crucified as a punishment for the things that people do wrong. We can now be forgiven by God and not have to face punishment from him. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us we can freely receive eternal life from God. Death is the ultimate punishment for wrong doing both at the hands of man and from God by allowing it to happen. However through Jesus death need not be the end we can go on from death to have eternal life.

Jesus comes to us all, whoever we are, whatever job we have, and whatever status in society we have, and offers eternal life. The question is are we going to accept this and drink from Gods overflowing fountain of life?

God's Harvest For Us

At this time of year Christians think about harvest. They spend time in church services thanking God for the work people have done in producing food for us to eat. They also collect food to give to people in need.

In Ephesians 1: 15-23 Paul writes about the harvest God has for us. Through Gods work we have been given a spiritual harvest. This harvest is the Holy Spirit, hope and power. We have these things because of Gods work in raising Jesus by his power from death.

Jesus died on the cross but he did not stay dead! Roman guards took his lifeless body from the cross and put it in a tomb then 3 days later he game back to life resurrected by Gods power. Because of this the wrong things we have done in the past need not have any power over us in the future. We can be forgiven by God because Jesus the blameless Son of God was punished in our place on the cross. Death is the ultimate punishment for things we have done wrong but Jesus has carried that out for us. So as God resurrected his Son from death and is now in heaven with God, God will when we die resurrect us and give us a new eternal life and we to will be in heaven with him. Furthermore because God can forgive us completely we can enter into a close relationship with him right now. God can then help us change and be better people. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul says that if Jesus had not been resurrected his faith would be worthless. Because Jesus was resurrected then there is hope that we to will be resurrected.

There are many different theories about what happened at the time of Jesus’ death. Some say that the Roman authorities moved Jesus’ body somewhere else, others say that the disciples stole Jesus’ body and then falsely claimed he had come back to life, others say that Jesus did not die on the cross but swooned then came round later. Historians and scholars who have looked into this say that the most reasonable explanation for what happened is that Jesus did die on the cross and was resurrected 3 days later. They say this because Jesus’ followers at great cost to themselves and in the face of persecution told people about Jesus and what it means to have a relationship with God. The first disciples had seen the resurrected Jesus it was this that inspired them to continue believing and tell others about Jesus.

Now because of God\'s work in resurrecting Jesus we can receive the Holy Spirit. When we ask for and receive God\'s forgivness for doing wrong God then sees us as being holy therefore his Holy Spirit can work in us. The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ Spirit who carries on doing what Jesus did on the earth through his believers by giving them abilities and inspiration. Jesus is still alive today and just as the first disciples were inspired by seeing the resurrected Jesus then believers today are inspired by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us get to know God better and through his wisdom and revelation gives us Gods perspective on what is going on in the world.

We also have a hope that we have been called to. We have all been called to be in a relationship with God. We have all been called to be in a relationship with other believers so that we can help and encourage each other. We have all been called to be with God in Heaven one day. We have all been invited to a party which starts now and goes on into eternity. The question is are we going to accept this invitation and once at this party when we enter into a relationship with God and other believers are we going to get involved and be engaged with what’s going on or just sit back in the corner watching what others are doing and complaining about the music.

God also gives us his power, the same power he used when he resurrected Jesus. It is a life giving power, a power to help us do things for God and other people, and a power to be free from the things that get us down.

Be Born Again And Experience New Life

It is generally believed that we have a mind, body and spirit. Put very simply the mind is what we think with. The body is what we use to move about with. In my case to go to the fridge and reach for the remote control with. The spirit part of us is what we use to communicate with God.

One day a man called Nicodemus came upto Jesus and ask him about his beliefs. Jesus said to him that he needed to be born again of the spirit. We are all physically born but we also need to be spritually born by being connected with God and allow his Spirit to influence and inspire us. When Christians worship in Church by sininging songs or pray they are connecting with God. Our spirits with God's Spirit. This can be a very powerful thing. Just think about it for a minute. When Christians are worshipping God they are making contact through their spirits to the God who created the whole universe. God who is all powerful and exists beyond time and space. We can have a relationship with this God. We can get to know him and he can get to know us as we pray and worship.

Worship and prayer are not just singing a few songs and talk to thin air. They are the means through which we can be born again spiritually and make contact with our Father in Heaven the God who made us and everything else in this world.

I find it amazing to think that I can have such an intimate personal connection with God. This makes life worth living. I am not simply a blob of skin and bones moving around the world wondering about how I can keep doing so. Wondering how I can fill this lump of lard to get me from one place to the next. I am a child of God with a purpose and reason to live. There is meaning to my life as I develop my spiritual relationship with God. As we are connected to God with our spirits we also have a connection with other people's spirits. When we become born again in spirit we are not only born into a relationship with God we become born into a family. A family supporting, loving, inspiring and at times challenging each other. What Jesus encouraged Nocodemus to do still applies today. We are in no less need of love and to feel connected to others. Take the chance be born again and allow God's Spirit to breath new life into your spirit and allow this new life to then flow out into or stressed minds and tired bodies.