Awesome message CeriseRose. Thank you!

Luke 2:8-13 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came on them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were very afraid. And the angel said to them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign to you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Thanks for asking that question Mai! It fits with what Scripture says:

I Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.

Mark 8:38 If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when He comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."


Psalm 34:9 Oh fear the LORD, you His saints, for those fear Him do not lack.


John 3:7 You should not be surprised at My saying, ��You must be born again.��

Christians, who are followers of Christ make the good confession and bear good fruit. I think kindness and gratefulness are two good fruits of a God fearing Christian.

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God.

Proverbs 14:22 What is desired in a man is kindness...
I Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind...

Luke 6:35 But love your enemies and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

I have prayed for you. May the LORD bless & keep you...make His face shine upon you...and give you His peace!

I am praying for you bikanta. Rest in the Lord. Psalm 25:14; 34:8-10

Psalm 145:19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him. He also will hear their cry and will save them.

Wake up all you Washingtonians & unite! :-) Olympia area here.
Wooooooooooo Hooooooooooo. Have a Happy Emmanuel Day!

Thank you, Roniluv, for your question, 'Is there such a thing as a soul mate?'

I think the mate part goes back to the ancient revelation of God found in the book of Genesis (Genesis 2:18-25).

The soul part is also important. God wisely gave us His revelation, the Scriptures, and the indwelling Revelator, the Holy Spirit, Who will lead us & guide us into all the truth.

The soul part is finding someone who has in common what we have & desire & is in agreement with what we believe & is consistent in walking in that belief & revelation that God has given.

And indeed God does give us clear revelation--boundaries, guidelines & commandments--given to warn, protect & bring fulfillment. He is the One Who designed marriage for a man & woman & desires this earthly marriage to be a living picture of the marriage of Jesus Christ with His bride, the one Church, the one Flock, the one Congregation, the one Body He has chosen & called out from the world.

Much can be said here & many books have been written on this but I will keep it simple with 6 passages. Meditate on each one, writing down the insights God gives you for being, seeking & finding the soul mate that God desires to lead you to & know. Hope this is helpful in answering your question, allowing the Lord to bring you revelation by His Spirit.

I Corinthians 7:1-5 Now with regard to the issues you wrote about: "It is GOOD for a man NOT to be [sexually] touching a woman (literally attached to, i.e., have sexual relations with). But because of immoralities (fornication), each man should have relations with his own wife & each woman with her own husband. A husband should give to his wife her sexual rights & likewise a wife to her husband. It is not the wife who has the rights to her own body, but the husband. In the same way, it is not the husband who has the rights to his own body, but the wife. Do not deprive each other, except by mutual agreement for a specified time, so that you may devote yourselves to PRAYER. Then resume your relationship, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

I Peter 3:1-12 In the same way, wives, be subject to your own husbands. Then, even if some are disobedient to the Word, they will be won over without a word by the way you live, when they see your pure & reverent conduct. Let your adornment (for beauty) not be merely outward-—the braiding of hair & wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes-—but the inner person of the heart, the lasting beauty of a gentle & tranquil spirit, which is precious in God's sight. For in the same way the holy women who hoped in God long ago adorned themselves by being subject to their husbands; like Sarah who obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You become her children when you do what is good & have no fear in doing so. Husbands, in the SAME way, continue residing together, treating your wives with understanding (consideration) as the more delicate vessel & continually showing them honor (literally in dignity esteeming them of the highest value, precious) as fellow heirs of the grace of life. In this way NOTHING will hinder your prayers. Finally, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, affectionate, compassionate & humble. Do not return evil for evil or insult for insult, but instead bless others because you were called to inherit a blessing. For the one who wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil & his lips from uttering DECEIT. And one must turn away from evil & do good; one must seek peace & pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous & His ears are open to their prayer. But the Lord's face is against those who do evil.

Genesis 2:18-25 The LORD God said, "It is NOT good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him. (helper meet for him)" The LORD God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field & every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them & whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air & the living creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him WAS FOUND. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep & while he was asleep, He took part of the man's side (flesh & rib) & closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man & he brought her to the man. Then the man said, "This one at last (finally) is bone of my bones & flesh of my flesh; this one will be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." That is WHY (the reason)a man leaves his father & mother & unites with (glued to) his wife & they become one flesh. The man & his wife were both naked yet they were not ASHAMED.

Amos 3:7,3,8 Certainly the Sovereign LORD does nothing without first revealing His plan to His servants the prophets...Can two walk TOGETHER, except they be IN AGREEMENT? The Sovereign LORD has spoken! [Amos is a prophet of God]

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 Do not become MIS-MATED (partners) WITH those who do not believe, for what PARTNERSHIP is there between righteousness & lawlessness, or what FELLOWSHIP does light have with darkness? And what AGREEMENT does Christ have with Belial (idol god)?Or what does a believer have in agreement (share in common) with an unbeliever? And what MUTUAL AGREEMENT does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, "I will DWELL IN them & will WALK among them & I will be their God & they will be MY people. Therefore, come OUT from their midst, & be SEPARATE," says the LORD & touch no UNCLEAN thing & I will welcome you & I will be a Father to you & you will be My sons & daughters," says the Sovereign LORD.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one; because they have a good REWARD for THEIR LABOR. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to HELP him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat; but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; a THREEFOLD cord is not quickly broken.

Thanks for boggling my mind this morning with the reality of eternity and the coming age that has no end. I like the historical encounter of Jesus--the Promised Jewish Messiah, also named Immanuel (means, 'God with us')--with the Samaritan ('Shomronim') woman, drawing water from a well that Abraham's grandson, Jacob, had dug thousands of years before. And we think thousands of years is a long time historically! Yet Jesus & this woman were talking by this ancient well--dug by their common ancestor--in the MIDDLE of a hot day, not the normal time one usually draws water. Jesus gives her a chance to 'taste' of LIVING, eternal water, that will completely satisfy one's whole being, leaving one never to thirst again! Mind boggling once more!

I have tasted of this eternal living water, that has ever since then has been bubbling up in my life & will continue to do so...FOR ETERNITY. Awesome is this Divine life that Jesus offers as a gift--that lasts forever!

Let us listen in on this ancient historical conversation & perhaps some reading this may also desire to drink of this living water that Jesus offers to each person, that allows one to enter into a right relationship with the Creator--& to worship Him--in spirit & in truth. The Samaritan woman did & was so changed by Jesus Christ that she told her whole town & they were so captivated, that they left the town--to hear & see for themselves--this Man who offered, as a free gift, living, eternal water, the very life of God.

'The Ancient Conversation'

Jesus left Judea & set out once more for Galilee. But he had to pass through Samaria. He came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me some water to drink." (His disciples had gone off into town to buy supplies)

The Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you—-a Jew—-ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?" (For Jews had no dealings--used nothing in common--with Samaritans)

Jesus answered her, "If you had known the GIFT of God & WHO it is Who said to you, 'Give me some water to drink,' you would have asked Him & He would have given you LIVING water."

"Sir," the woman said to Him, "You have no bucket & the well is deep; where then do You get this living water? Surely you're not GREATER than our ancestor Jacob, are You? For he gave us this well & drank from it himself, along with his sons & livestock."

Jesus replied, "Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life."

The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come all the way here to draw water."

He then said to her, "Go, call your husband & return."

The woman replied, "I have no husband."

Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband', for you have had 5 husbands & the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!"

The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive now that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain & you Jews say the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."

Jesus said to her, "Believe Me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the FATHER neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. But a time is coming-—in fact it is now here—-when the TRUE worshipers will worship the Father in spirit & truth, for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers. God is spirit--& the people who worship Him MUST worship in spirit & truth."

The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (the one called Christ); whenever He comes, then He will tell us everything."

Jesus said to her, "I, the One speaking to you, am He." [the Messiah]

Now at that very moment His disciples came back. They were shocked because he was speaking with this woman. However, no one said, "What do you want? Why are you speaking with her?"

Then the woman LEFT her water jar, went off into town & said to the people, "Come, see a Man who told me everything I ever did. Surely He can't be the Messiah,70 can He?"

So they left the town & were coming to Him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him,"Rabbi (Teacher), eat something."

But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." So the disciples were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did they?"

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him [the Father]Who sent Me & to complete His work. Don't you say, 'There are 4 more months & then comes the harvest?' I tell you, look up & see that the fields are already white for harvest! The one who reaps receives pay & gathers fruit for ETERNAL LIFE, so that sower & reaper can rejoice together. For in this instance the saying is true, 'One sows & another reaps.' I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have labored & you have entered into their labor."

Now many Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of the report of the woman who testified, "He told me everything I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to Him, they were asking Him to stay with them. He stayed there two days & because of His Word many more believed. They said to the woman, "No longer do we believe just because of your words, for we have heard Him OURSELVES & we now know that He really is the Messiah, the Savior of the world."

Thanks David for the great idea and topic. I would like to join the other brothers and sisters in seeking to build each other up in our faith and encourage one another as we seek to be witnesses of our Lord each day in word, deed and acts of charity.

I don't know but I think the 50+ people around Olympia should all get together and take some dance lessons on various types of dancing and have a fun time learning together and then have a wonderful time going dancing. What do ya all think?

Gotta fire this one up again. I have lived in both Washington and Oregon and enjoyed the similarities for both states. Wooooooooo Hoooooooo for the PNW! :-)

Where are all the Washingtonians? Stand up and be counted. Rise up and be noticed. Jump up and be recognized.

sigh...a hello would be great also. :-) Thought I would fire this up once again.

When an act of lovingkindness is done when the person does not expect it and seeing that initial expression of surprised joy and gratitude. That warms the heart to radiate a smile. Woooooooo Hooooo.

I have faced death many times in my life and I am still here. I have always said that until the Lord decides its time, I am not going to check out. I have been amazed at the 'peace that surpasses all understanding' that has come over me during these many brushes with death, when my initial fear is replaced by the peace of Christ. I can't explain it, it just happens at that time.

Philippians 4:6-9 Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer & petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts & minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers & sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things. And what you learned & received & heard & saw in me, do these things. And the God of peace will be with you.

We can only live ONE DAY AT A TIME, not any faster than that. That helps me to focus. I can plan for the future but I can only live life one day at a time. I can be in no better place than in the center of God's will.

'For me--to live is Christ and to die--is gain. That is the hope of every Christian. I would wish that for everyone!

I am not going from the land of the living to the land of the dying, I am going from the land of the dying to the land of the living!

I have eternal life...so for me physical death is but a momentary passage into eternity experiencing the life of Jesus.

It's Friday! Woooooooooo Hooooooooo!