{"id":21457,"date":"2017-09-15T00:10:44","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T07:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=11637"},"modified":"2017-09-15T00:10:44","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T07:10:44","slug":"september-15-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/09\/15\/september-15-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"September 15, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dear Readers,<\/span><\/h4>\n

On Thursdays and Fridays (Her Ministry Bible Study meeting days), we will be posting a devotional that is specially formatted to share either Jesus\u2019 words or His actions, and how they apply to our lives as we are \u201cLiving By His Example.\u201d We hope you enjoy these special devotionals!<\/span><\/h4>\n

HIS WORDS<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cJesus answered and said to her, \u2018If you knew the gift of God, and Who it is Who says to you, \u201cGive Me a drink,\u201d you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.\u2019\u201d<\/em> John 4:10<\/span><\/p>\n

The Better Thing<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

HIS EXAMPLE TO US<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Recognize Who we\u2019re talking to when we pray, because the gifts of God are far beyond earthly possibilities. Jesus always gives something better than what we ask for. He gives good gifts to satisfy what we really need and what we truly desire, even if we don\u2019t know it ourselves and thus don\u2019t ask for it. \u201cTherefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation\u201d<\/em> (Isaiah 12:3).<\/span><\/p>\n

MY STORY<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I was taught in childhood to not ask for things. My parents were very strict about this because they tell me that when I was a toddler, I begged for anything and everything when we went shopping. They saw a character flaw developing and wisely did not indulge me.<\/span><\/p>\n

This, coupled with my childhood images of God as being an elderly, gray-bearded, uninvolved, disinterested Being Who had done all He would ever do in the pages of the Bible, caused me to not ask Him to do anything in me, for me, or through me. Other than, \u201cNow I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take,\u201d I knew of nothing more that He could or would do.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I began to read the Bible for myself, and as I grew in the things of the Lord, I became aware of the \u201cmore\u201d of Jesus. I saw in His Word many instances of His miraculous dealings with people. I marveled at the way He answered prayers. I saw the great power He exhibited. I began to look at His spiritual riches in a different way than earthly riches.<\/span><\/p>\n

MY RESPONSE<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I see now that these stories related in the Bible are for my learning. I see that I can ask Him for living water (Himself) and I will receive that, and more. \u201cHe who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water\u201d<\/em> (John 7:38). He has satisfied my soul. He has taken me from being spiritually parched to bringing forth in me a fountain of joy and abundance. He removed my fear of death and replaced it with a joyful anticipation of being in His presence forever. I can\u2019t possibly relate all the works He has done in me just in coming to know Him as He reveals Himself in His Word\u2014but I can say assuredly, He has done more than I would have thought to ask.<\/span><\/p>\n

MY PRAYER<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cJesus, You are generous beyond compare. We ask You afresh for Living Water\u2014Your own self, living in us. In Your Name we pray.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Readers, On Thursdays and Fridays (Her Ministry Bible Study meeting days), we will be posting a devotional that is […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5A5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}