Jesus Defies Culture: The Woman at the Well (excerpt 2 of 5)

You are joining in the middle of a series of posts with excerpts from my book, “Who Do You Think You Are?” focusing on Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the water well (John 4:1-30).

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"Now consider the Samaritan woman. Today she would be called a loser. She was seen as such by her community because she had been married five times and was considered immoral. To the Jews she was inferior because she was of mixed race, the wrong religion, a female, and to top it off, she was living an immoral life. She was “defective goods.” While she had been married many times, we do not know whether the immorality was her fault. Divorce law weighed heavily in favor of men, and some of her husbands may have just put her out of the house. Or maybe they were killed in battles. We do not know.
Regardless, the culture defined her as an outcast to be ignored and shunned. Consider her self-image. Who did she think she was? She must have felt pretty low. On a scale ranging from one to ten, she possibly felt a zero. She was used, abused, and alienated—just as so many women have been through the ages and still are around the world are today. Perhaps you identify closely with this woman.
The woman came to the well alone in the middle of the day, which was an unusual time to collect water. The well was a gathering place, a social hub. The women of the village would gather there in the mornings to retrieve their water for the day. But this Samaritan likely felt rejected by her peers and was trying to make do with life on the bottom rung of the social ladder by becoming invisible. So she went to the well when she was sure no one else would be there."

Stay tuned for the next post with more from “Who Do You Think You Are?”

Planes, Trains, Automobiles and Answered Prayers

What a great trip I had to Eastern Europe in May!

My purpose in going to the European Leadership Forum (a well respected leadership training conference that has been in existence for about nine years) was to connect with many of the five hundred-plus ministry leaders from all over Europe and share our vision for the Global Training Institute for Women (GTI). The Forum was held in Eger, Hungary, and was a rich time of learning and connecting (the weather was great, too!). I was praying that God would lead me to the people He wanted me to talk to … and He did! One such person was Evghenii Sologubenco, president of Moldova Biblical Seminary. He is very excited about what we are doing and even wants to help support women who he can recommend to attend.

I met with the senior pastor of a church in the Republic of Georgia, and a woman from Georgia who works with the Christian Union there. Both were so eager for what I was sharing about. They agreed: “You will have one hundred women wanting to come from our country alone!”

Then we travelled to Slovakia where we spent two days with Tomas and Ester Kriskova. He is a pastor, and she works with International Needs, an organization we have partnered with in the past in Romania. After sharing the GTI plan and vision with them, she said, “I have taught many of the topics on your curriculum grid. But I have never had a systematic way of presenting this material. You are adding the missing piece!” She also said that she was excited about the mentoring component and added, “We don’t have older Christian women as role models. None.” She, too, wants to be involved.

To top it off, a woman who heads up a publishing house in Norway sought me out to talk to me about the possibilities of translating my book, “Who Do You Think You Are” into Norwegian! Wow! I am certainly open to this new opportunity.

I am grateful to God for safety in travel, good health, and making all connections (though at one point I thought we were going to miss our train to Slovakia because our other train was late). God is at work. There is more, much more. Please just know that I appreciate your prayers, support and involvement with me and the rest of the GTI as we plow the ground and plant seeds for God’s Kingdom!

Jesus Defies Culture and Meets You at the Well (Series 1 of 5)

One of my favorite portions of Scripture from the life of Christ is John 4:1-30. This is the account of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the water well. On so many levels this passage strikes me. It teaches how radically God pointedly pursues me and you – all women of every race and region – in His great love for us.
This is the first of five blog entries where I share excerpts from my book, “Who Do You Think You Are?” If you like what you read and want more, as they say, “where that came from,” buy the book for yourself today(click here)! In addition to grounding you in your true identity as God’s image-bearer, it will also help you joyfully uncover and live out your unique purpose in life. You will not be disappointed!

Jesus Defies Culture: The Woman at the Well (excerpt 1 of 5)

"Jesus assigned women new freedom, status, and roles. He began reforming the Jewish patriarchal system as it had been established in the Old Testament. When you read John 4:1-30, you see an account of Jesus’ interaction with a Samaritan woman at the water well, and it reveals just how radically His actions flew in the face of society. He rejected several rabbinical teachings in this passage, and His behavior made no sense to those around him.

Starting with verse 3 we read, “When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.” Galilee is north of Judea with Samaria in between. The Jews wouldn’t step foot in Samaria if they could possibly help it. There was a long-standing hatred between Jews and Samaritans. The Samaritans were a mixed-race people, half Assyrian and half Jewish, and their religion was a mixture of Judaism and other beliefs. Any mixing of the Jewish race or their religion was detested by the Jews. This hatred was so common, a well-known rabbinical ordinance stated, “Let no Israelite eat one mouthful of anything that is a Samaritan’s, for if he eats but a mouthful, he is as if he ate swine’s flesh.”1 Swine was an unclean food, forbidden for Jews to eat. The Jews considered the Samaritans to be unclean, just like pork.

To avoid going through Samaria, Jews would walk an extra seventeen miles to cross the Jordan and go around—basically doubling the length of the journey. Still today, two thousand years later, there are Jews who refuse to go through certain portions of the land. But verse 4 tells us that Jesus “HAD to go through Samaria” (emphasis mine). When any good Jew would not step foot in Samaria but go the extra distance just to avoid doing so, this statement should prompt us to ask, WHY? Apparently, Jesus had a God-ordained appointment with a woman who needed to know Him."

Check back here for the next post with more from “Who Do You Think You Are?”

Like Having a Map in a Foreign Country …

Who do you think you are?
If I could sit down with you right now over a cup of coffee, that’s what I’d ask you. (That’s right, I’m not much for small talk!) I’m not asking what you do for a living or who you’re married to or how you’re related to someone important. I’m wondering just who, exactly, you think you are!
The question is also the title of my latest book, one from which I share the excerpt below. May it get the wheels of your mind turning, and may it prompt you to ask hard, heartfelt questions of the Lord. He longs to meet you in your need … He longs to answer your deepest questions of identity.

When someone has embraced her true identity she can begin to live out the unique calling God has placed on her life. The first step to living your calling is to internalize a biblical perspective of your identity. My hope is that you will do
this in the same way you would take hold of a map in a foreign country.

Imagine never having set foot in a strange land. Everything is new. You don’t recognize the language people speak, let alone know how to read it. You can’t tell north from south. So how in the world would you get from point A to point B? A map or a GPS device would become your one source for even the slightest feeling of reassurance in this uncomfortable situation.

(My husband) Fred is not intimidated by such unfamiliarity. He loves the adventure of striking out into the unknown. His attitude is best summarized every time he exclaims with a smile on his face, “I can figure it out!” I, however, like to know where I am going. I relish the feeling of a map in my hands or the sight of a GPS device mounted on the dash of my vehicle.

Once when we were traveling together in Budapest, we needed to head out of town toward Romania. Without a GPS available, we circled the city for half an hour. When we drove past our hotel for the second time, once again at ground zero,
Fred finally admitted he needed a map. Ah … direction. True direction! The map we bought was new. It was up-to-date and reliable. We could trust it. And thanks to the map – viola! – we were on our way.

We clung to it because we were lost without it. And now, no matter what anyone told us, we knew the lay of the land. Should a stranger have offered directions contrary to our map, we would have smiled and said, “Thanks, but no thanks.” We could confidently drown out every voice contrary to the map because we knew it was right! We could rely on it and dismiss any confusing directions offered to us by well-meaning strangers.

This is what a biblical worldview of your identity does for you. It drowns out every lie and twisting of the truth that stands opposed to God’s truth. It stands secure, steady, and true while your fickle feelings, faulty assumptions, the media, poor role models and other such worldly influences mercilessly attack it. But nothing else matters when you hold the truth in your possession. You know who you are.

If you like what you read and want more, as they say, “where that came from,” buy the book today! Click here to purchase!

Why the Middle East? Why Now?

Protests. Rebels. Riots.

Unrest. Turmoil. Upheaval.

The Middle East is teeming with instability and change. The political landscape doesn’t necessarily reflect the spiritual landscape, but the two are intertwined on some level. If the political scene can accurately be described as unpredictable, so too can the spiritual climate be described as insecure.

Questions abound right now for women in the Middle East. The current environment creates new opportunities for the Gospel; it heightens people’s awareness of their need for answers. We at Greater Reach, through our friends, ministry partners, and our own missions trips, have witnessed firsthand this great spiritual hunger.

The door right now is wide open! We don’t know how long this will hold true … so we must walk through it!

1. Women are telling us they don’t know what it is to be valued as an Image-bearer. The truth that women are valuable and loved is simply not said, heard, or shown in the Middle East. More than 90 percent of the population is Muslim. What this means is that if a woman becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, it’s a tall order that she would also claim a Christian worldview right away … if at all. Because Muslim culture permeates everything, even the deepest parts of a woman’s soul, it may be next to impossible for a new Christian to see God as a loving, grace-filled Father. For a woman to see herself with dignity and value as God does … this is a complete worldview shift that directly opposes everything ingrained in her by the culture.

2. Women are telling us they want to be educated in the Bible. Such programs are simply not available. Well-intended efforts by foreign missionaries in the past have often failed because their approach was like that of a “drive-by Gospel shooting.” Christian groups come in with their own agenda, fail to truly get to know the women, and leave little impact.
We have seen the need. We have heard the cry. We are responding with the launch in 2012 of the Middle East Global Training Institute for Women. Our goal is to unleash women of influence to impact their world for Jesus Christ. As we get to know them on their own turf, we will also educate and mentor them in Biblical understanding, character development, and ministry skills … all the while building them up as God’s precious children.

It’s an exciting cause. The time is now. The place is the Middle East. Won’t you join us in impacting lives for all eternity?

Send us an email today for more information about the Global Training Institute for Women: info@greaterreach.com.

Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, and May In Between

May is a month of honor. Starting it off, on Sunday, May 8, we observed Mother’s Day. Wrapping it up, we have Memorial Day on Monday, May 30. And in between, a new group of women will be immersed in a class I am teaching based on my book, “Who Do You Think You Are.” The common theme in all of these? God’s abundant love for each one of us.

On Mother’s Day, I could see God’s bright smile on mothers everywhere. No mother is perfect, and no mother is expected to be. Instead, she is called to a life of love. Through our heavenly Father’s sweet presence and strong Word we are equipped for the task at hand. And by His grace He fills in the gaps.

Moms of young children and moms of adult children know so well the words of 1 John 3:18, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” A mother’s words impact us, of course, but it’s the consistent love she demonstrates in her actions day in and day out that shapes us. By her example we see a reflection of God’s posture toward us—arms wide open, eager to embrace His children.

Memorial Day is a national holiday in America allowing us to give tribute those who have given their lives in service to our country. As we consider the great, bold sacrifice our troops have made for us, we thank God for the privileges afforded us here in the land of the free. And we pause to thank Him for the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross, purchasing our freedom from sin and death.

In between May’s two “M” holidays, you have a month of days lying wide open in wait. You can let them slip by without nary a second thought. Or you can approach them intentionally, eager to embrace God’s love and be a conduit of His love in others’ lives. I hope the latter for you, and for all of the women in my “Who Do You Think You Are” class. May God’s great love fill us to overflowing, that we might spill over with it into others’ lives in a tangible, intentional way.

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

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