Archive for the ‘Women at the Well’ Category
Intimacy with the Bridegroom
Women at the Well
“Intimacy with the Bridegroom”
With each passing year, as the Holy Spirit continues to draw me closer and deeper with my relationship with my Bridegroom, there continues to be a release of fragrance of His love for me as my love for Him continues to go deeper in Him. (Jesus Christ)
Before I begin sharing the vision of the Women at the Well came about on a very personal intimate level, I would like to share that many times as events were unfolding in my life, I questioned God A LOT. If that is you, may you be encouraged, that no matter where you have been in your life, The Hand of our Loving Heavenly Father is there protecting you and guiding you. You may not see Him, you may not feel Him, you may not discern His Presence, but He is there with you. (Psalm 139)
The Year is 1993, with a failed marriage, a separation from two beautiful daughters, failed relationships, trusting no one, I was living on my own, and though I desired to live, I had no desire to continue living as I had been living. ALONE. I began ingesting Phenobarbital which were to be taken for seizures, but found a comfort of the anesthetic comfort they brought. Amnesia, a time of not thinking of the failure that I so believed I was. The more I took of these pills the more I sunk. This landed me in ICU (intensive care unit) in the hospital. God’s intensive Hand was upon me in this unit, cocooned and protected in His love despite my efforts of putting aside every burden with medications. Three days in the Hospital having to this day very little recollection of anything going on AROUND me, but in my unconscious state, God was right there.
The Loving Hand of Abba Father was always there.
I began seeing a film of my life, from a very young age, still as a baby and up through adult hood. This film was gloomy, in appearance, and filled with darkness, but yet very enlighten as the Spirit of the Lord began breaking off the chains, and bondages, revealing to me in this unconscious state, His consciousness and Love for ME. He (Jesus) was becoming very personal even in my unconscious state. There was within me, a desire to LIVE in joy and happiness that I had sought within the things of the world most of my life, I no longer had to look any further. He had touched me, began His good work in me years prior, but this I saw, felt, tasted, as He blew HIS LIFE within me. When I became conscious, What the Dr.s told me, was no surprise to me, but something had been transformed within me from that day forward. With the amount of medication that I ingested, I was a miracle to be alive, not to mention at least, that there was absolutely no liver, kidney damage. This is what the Dr. told me, but he did not have to, I knew that I knew that God had saved me from myself. Jesus Christ!! All the prayers and tears years prior to this, never went unheard, never not once. Jesus revealed Himself to me through this unfortunate circumstance, but none the Less, to God be the Glory!! He made right the wrong, He bore my sins, every transgression for ME. It was personal.
I always sensed God was right there with me, but I had not known Him intimately. I had not known HIM personally. He knew me personally, every intimate part of me, more than I knew of myself.
This would be the start of a whole new Journey in my life. What I had sought, from things within the world, had “suddenly” changed within a twinkling of an eye.
I began flowing with unspeakable joy, of the Love of Jesus Christ, and just such a desire to share His love with others, passionate, on fire, without wavering. I would lose many friends because of my love for Him, but I did not care, He did for me, what I never could do of my own efforts. He saved me from myself. Each and every step, from that day forward, was with Jesus, no one could ever convince me He was not there with me, and I had favor in my life, every supply and need met, even when in the natural just did not seem possible to those around me, from the clothes on my back, to the food placed on my table, employment. FINALLY!! True Love being revealed, without condition. I began encountering Him personally in my dreams and He began giving me dreams, that at the time I did not understand, but He would speak to me in my dreams, and revealed himself through nature, through His majestic creation. Everything that I went through life, missing suddenly became ALIVE in everything. He was alive in everything to me. He still is. I was and still am High in Him and His love for me. The alcohol, the drugs, the “things” of this world suddenly became non-existent, I just wanted MORE of Him. To this day, that is my deepest desire and longing, as deep calls unto deep, more of You Lord!! My relationship with Him is personal and He loves me, and NO ONE or ANYTHING can ever take that away.
This journey has been absolutely incredible.
There was still work that needed to be done in me, and there was still is a work needed to be done in me but the security I felt and still feel and experience in HIM, no human being can suffice. I am not saying I don’t need people, I do, what I am saying, is that my security in Him, means I trust HIM.
The Lord was about to come face to face with me in a new way in the early 2000. He became alive in the world to me, but He was about to come alive within me in a deeper way. He will go deeper if we say Yes to Him, and will never do harm and I knew it.
I had been engaged to a man, that even though the Lord clearly revealed to me, the outcome of this relationship, I did not know and understand Him as He was about to reveal to me. In one year, I lost three very dear people to me, Two grandparents, and the man I was supposed to marry. The last death that year was my fiancé. I was absolutely devastated, as I poured my heart out to the Lord, again more losses in my life, I thought I had done something “WRONG” and I was being punished, as I was still coming in deeper with the Lord and His love for me, my mindset was still under the law, though I knew he was there with me, I had still not come into the fullness of understanding unconditional love. I still don’t have that fullness of his love, but what happened this day again changed my world.
He knew the heartache I had with the losses, He knew the Love for my children, he knew every cry of my heart. I was still set on some things of the world. That day I was led to Isaiah 54. This was truly an alive moment of the LIVING word of God for me, again personally!!
Isaiah 54 (New King James Version)
Isaiah 54
A Perpetual Covenant of Peace
1 “Sing, O barren,
You who have not borne!
Break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
You who have not labored with child!
For more are the children of the desolate
Than the children of the married woman,” says the LORD.
2 “ Enlarge the place of your tent,
And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords,
And strengthen your stakes.
3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left,
And your descendants will inherit the nations,
And make the desolate cities inhabited.
4 “ Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame;
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
5 For your Maker is your husband,
The LORD of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called the God of the whole earth.
6 For the LORD has called you
Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Like a youthful wife when you were refused,”
Says your God.
7 “ For a mere moment I have forsaken you,
But with great mercies I will gather you.
8 With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the LORD, your Redeemer.
9 “ For this is like the waters of Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn
That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
10 For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
11 “ O you afflicted one,
Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems,
And lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
Your gates of crystal,
And all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your children shall be taught by the LORD,
And great shall be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness you shall be established;
You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me.
Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.
16 “ Behold, I have created the blacksmith
Who blows the coals in the fire,
Who brings forth an instrument for his work;
And I have created the spoiler to destroy.
17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the LORD.
I will never forget this day. For many reasons as I am about to share.
During this time, My friends that I had in my life, did not agree with my life with Jesus. I was at this time, (still am) consumed with the Love of the Lord. I began feeling the same rejections, and abandonment once again, that I so desperately did not want to experience. No matter how many times I read the word of God, nothing ever hit me the way this hit me on this day.
God was speaking to my HEART now, and burning within me within my heart a living word that spoke to my every fiber of my being. He revealed the intimate parts of me. The very secret places that I did not share with others, that only HE knew. That is His love for me. I did not understand at the time, that this was the working of the Holy Spirit, I just knew it was Jesus. My alabaster box was poured out that day in a way, that I don’t know how to put to put into words to this day. He knew about the hurt with my kids, He knew my feelings that I was being “punished”, He knew the desperation in my heart. There was nothing unturned. He began a deeper work in my heart that day, that began a friendship with the Lord, that I never experienced in my life. NEVER. He was gentle, He was merciful. I experienced His mercies that day. The revelation of Jesus not being mad at me, that though my children were not with me, though I had a failed marriage, though I made a lot of mistakes in my life, though there was death around me, though there was shame, though I had been condemned, tried and convicted by man, HE gathered me with His mercies. HE loved me, though my fiancé had passed away, He was my bridegroom, He LOVED ME. Though I felt I could not go on, Though everything around me appeared to lifeless, HE WAS still ALIVE in me. When I read, Vs 5 in Isaiah, I still not understand how He could be my husband, simply because I could not see Him in the natural, but I knew He was there. This would begin a new journey for me. I had questions for the Lord, and a lot of them. I asked. He answered. He is still answering questions. The Lord was about to become even more alive, and reveal Himself as my Husband!
The longing of each heart is to be loved. God created that within each of us. I was looking for love in the “written” word of God. God began speaking to me in ways through everything, but when I began reading the word of God, something began changing. Most of My life even in the most destitute times in my life, I would always read the written word of God. After all, this is what I was taught. So this is what I did. I was a seeker for the things of God, but until the Holy Spirit drew me in, I could only see the written word as just that, Written on tablets or stone. I was veiled. I had always had a passion for the relationships that I read in the word of God, to have THAT with God. I would read over and over again all the experiences I read about, and would say to God, I want that!! I want what these people had with you. What I did not understand at that time, was that I did not have to DO anything to have that. Under the law of the letter, comes performance, in obtaining the Love of God. The Love of God for me, was already purchased, by the blood of Jesus, but until that became alive within me, as the blood of JESUS is LIFE. I wanted the revelation of Jesus Christ, I wanted his love, I desired to have all of what He had/has for me. I would read and read about the tabernacle and how the priests would enter into the Holy Place, and each area of the courts. I began really digging into the word of God, and really seeking him on an intimate level. I would talk to him, tell him how much I loved him, I just knew there was more. I wanted to understand how is it I can be your bride, and you be my bridegroom. How is it, that we can be one with You? I was still seeing only in the natural through the understanding of the natural mind, but bit by bit, and continue to this day, Jesus began revealing to me.
I never really dug into the new Testament a lot, because I was still bound by a Spirit of Fear, though the door was opened to experience the Love of the Father, in Christ Jesus, because so much condemnation was rooted in me, there would be a journey as the Lord began uprooting this.
A Husband that loves His Bride does not condemn her. He is the ultimate Lover of you. Your best Friend, and knows the very intimate parts of you. He is the lifter of your head, and when harm attempts to come to you, He runs to your side, and He shields you from the darts of the opposing one. You are safe in His arms, and together you have a covenant that binds you together, till death do you part. The Vows that are exchanged between the Bride and Bridegroom, are promises to each other. When I did not know Love, I could not understand as my mind still had strongholds that was binding me, blocking the journey to my heart. (Based on past experiences)
My foundations were layed on sand, and did not stand, because it was not built on the Love of God. It was built on the foundation of “works”, earning salvation. Jesus paid that price, there is no work that I can achieve that would do what Jesus did. With that being said, the tabernacle built with hands, or wells, made by man, will never be the best that God has for you. The Best that God has for you, the greatest treasure, the greatest gift, is Jesus Christ, and HIS completed WORK on the cross. By believing we can do something to earn salvation, is disqualifying what Jesus did by believing we can sacrifice our works for His completed work.
It all began in John for me, as I believe the Lord was preparing a way for me through the book of John.
John 1 (New King James Version)
John 1
The Eternal Word
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend[a] it.
John’s Witness: The True Light
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.[b]
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own,[c] and His own[d] did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Word Becomes Flesh
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’”
16 And[e] of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son,[f] who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
The Lamb of God
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
The First Disciples
35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. 36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”
37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?”
They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?”
39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).
40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah.[i] You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).
Philip and Nathanael
43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter[j] you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
I would read these verses over and over and over again, and asked the Lord please reveal to me what this meant. I understood the life of Moses, but this was very new to me. I did not understand the law, and Life. So I kept digging, as the LIVING Word of God began to reveal HIMSELF. The Lord began to reveal to me, I was looking in the things of the old to obtain something new. Things of the flesh, sow a seed of condemnation, because He does not condemn us, Our own Hearts condemn us. What is written on a heart of stone is not alive, but hard, and concrete.
The Lord did not stop with John 1, I continued into John 4:
John 4 (New King James Version)
John 4
A Samaritan Woman Meets Her Messiah
1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
The Whitened Harvest
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
The Savior of the World
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word.
42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ,[a] the Savior of the world.”
Welcome at Galilee
43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.
A Nobleman’s Son Healed
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”
49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”
52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.
54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
What happened to my whole being rocked my world, forever changing ME and yet another level deeper in Jesus.
God is so awesome in His splendor!! He continued to just add on with every seed of LIFE HE was placing inside of ME. I was the Samaratin woman in Isaiah 54, The barren women, that was trying to quench my thirst with the things of the World.
I was committing ADULTRY with the things of the World.
Seeking the outside things of Him to fill and quench a thirst that ONLY My Bridegroom could do. The Wells of Jacob were made by hands, but His well I would never thirst again. I was HIS Bride, I am His Bride, and HE LOVES ME. HE LOVES YOU.
I had been married, been through so much, but no matter what I did of my own efforts, I AM, He is the IAM. He is the life everlasting well the springs forth, He is the one that will never condemn me, HE IS THE LIVING WORD written on the hearts of FLESH, no longer stone. He is the LIVING Tabernacle, I don’t any longer have to try to enter in His presence through sacrifices of the things of the world, because HE loved Me so much that HE CHOSE ME before the foundations of Time, He knew my name, He loved ME so much, that He alone chose to sacrifice HIMSELF dying to LIVE. He chose HIMSELF to LOVE ME. I brought everything to the cross, but I did not see He was ALIVE. This is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is NOT on the cross any longer, though my works of my flesh assisted through my sin in my life, He alone, spared ME because He loves Me as a Husband loves His Bride!! The church is the Bride of Christ, be it black, white, Hispanic, male, female, jew, greek, Islamic, YOU TOO are HIS Bride!! Jesus was the veil that was ripped from TOP TO BOTTOM. His Flesh, became the circumcision for ALL. That NONE should perish. Jesus is the WORD that BECAME Flesh and Dwelt among us. We are all the Samaratin Women coming to the well to draw LIVING Water, that is NOT made by hands, as this tabernacle was rebuilt in Three days!!
The Grace of Grace!! He is the Ark of the Covenant, I behold His Glory. I am His dwelling place, accessing boldly through His precious blood, the sacrificed Precious LAMB OF GOD.
Things of the world will satisfy the flesh for a moment, but Jesus is eternal. The Love of the Father does not see your sin, He sees the price that was paid, Jesus Christ, and no one can come to the Father but through Jesus Christ, because there is no greater price that CAN or ever will be paid. I am NOW and heir of the things of My heavenly Father through Christ. I can enter in through the blood of the Lamb in the presence of God at any time. His presence is IN ME. His is alive IN ME. He has set a seal upon my heart, and set me apart for HIM. There is no greater love than a friend who would lay down HIS life for me. Jesus did that, He died to Live, so I could die to live eternally with Him as His Bride, unity in Him.
I move and breathe In Him…….
