The third well:  ACCUSATION (Genesis chapter 26 verse 21  KJV) "And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah." 

 Isaac had to dig another well, and again, it was contested.  He named it Sitnah, which means “Satan,” or “accuser" or "hostility".  This is the third level of relationship problems.  At this point, the problem has gone from jealousy to arguing to accusation.  The person involved in the test has now begun to actually spread things against your character and is slandering you to others for no reason.  Issac was well aware of where strife can go and how far it can lead.  He had been here before both relationally and geographically.
Gerar - meaning "lodging-place" – was a Philistine town and district in what is today south central Israel, mentioned in the Book of Genesis. Biblically, the town contains two of the three Wife-sister narratives. These record that Abraham and Isaac each stayed at Gerar, near what became Beersheba, and that each passed his wife off as his sister, leading to complications involving Gerar's Philistine king, Abimelech.  This tells me that the city had a strong hold over it in which there was strife, so there was every evil thing, which included lying.  

Did you ever notice how sin always demands an increase?  It is interesting to me that Gerar means lodging place.  If you ever want to get stuck and quit moving forward then accuse someone else.  Let God be the just judge. Do not retaliate when others come against you because then you lower yourself to their level. Oh, and PS don't let the enemy push you to lie.  Just do as Issac did and walk away and dig again.  God will honor your efforts! We will see this tomorrow in our next well.

"Malice scorned, puts out itself; but argued, give a kind of credit to a false accusation." - Philip Massinger

Yesterday I began a series on the 5 Wells of Issac and how they relate to our relationships with others. The scripture reference I am using is from Genesis chapter 26.  Yesterday we learned about Well #1 Jealousy. Today we look at well #2 Arguments.

ARGUMENTS (verse 20 of Genesis 26) “Strife”
Jealousy can be subtle, gently removing you from the scene (withdrawal). We do not want to be around those who are jealous of us.  However, as in this section of Genesis 26, jealousy can turn into opposition and even into open arguments.  Esek, the word used in the original text, can even mean a “lawsuit.” Envy brings strife, and strife brings contention.  A person you never quarreled with before will suddenly begin to act like your enemy, openly challenging you for no apparent reason.  I believe this spirit is on the rise in America.

Many times others do not have an issue with us until we decide we want something.  It may not even be something they use.  However the fact we want to use it makes them think they are going to loose it.  "Oh your not using that, well can I have it?"  Now all the sudden they are not sure that it is of no use to them. Why? Because they now want to reconsider because if you want it then it may be worth something after all.  So then it is not that they want it or that it is valuable to them, they just don't want you to have it.

This is a childish state of being.  God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and He can get you more of where that came from; whatever "that" may be.  A hoarding spirit is a spirit of greed.  This spirit indicates we do not have sufficient faith in the fact that God will meet our needs.  If we have a fear of giving then we also lack faith in the word that tells us freely we have received so we are to freely give and that whatsoever we sow we will reap.

It is interesting to me that Issac however did not start arguing back.  He did not react he responded and moved on.  This indicates to me that his faith was sufficient to believe that the word given to his father was going to come to pass and that God would provide for him.

What about you?  Is your faith at the level that you can let go and let God?  If so great. If not faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.  So get in the word and let the word get in you!

Until tomorrow work on relationships so your relationships work!

I am starting a new series today and will go through all week on the Wells of Isaac dug by his father Abraham's servants.  There will be five wells discussed, one well each day.  Each well will have a correlation with relationships in our life.  The Bible passage I will be using each day is from Genesis 26:12-33.

​Genesis 26:12-33
And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
17 So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek,2 because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.3 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth,4 saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, o“I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.” 30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. 32 That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it Shibah;5 therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

God will test us through relationships with others.
Isaac had been blessed by God.  His prosperity got the attention of his neighbors and turned them into enemies. Even good relationships can turn sour.  God doesn’t cause it, but He uses those relational problems to get our attention and to test our attitudes.   

The first well:  JEALOUSY (verse 14)
For no apparent reason, the Philistines began to act strangely toward Isaac.  Once they had been open and friendly, but now, all of a sudden, their attitudes changed.  They became jealous and felt threatened by the blessing of God upon Isaac’s life. Many relationship problems stem from jealousy.  When you are blessed, you seem to be growing while others are diminishing.  The Philistines decided to just “sling mud” into Isaac’s wells. David faced the problem of jealousy with Saul; Abel with Cain; Hagar with Sarah; and Joseph with his brothers.  When a person “throws dirt,” it is usually because he is jealous.

If you are facing the well of jealousy just let them have whatever it is they want but do not let it stop you from digging again. If God gave it to you once He can give it to you again.  Do not bow to sligging dirt back. Do not bow to their level of warfare. Instead shake the dust off your feet and begin to unstop another well. It is your inheritance and the Lord will be with you to bless you.  

Never sow what you do not wish to reap.  When jealousy progresses in one's life it leads to the Well of Arguments.  That's where I will continue Part 2 of Wells

So after my BIG DAY "Gotcha" celebrating the adoption of my foster grandson (The day I forgot to do my blog), I am back at part 2 of "There's Power in Your Serve".  Remember if you'd like the CD teaching just click here for the entire message:  http://mfcbookstore.bigcartel.com/product/saved-to-serve-by-pastor-rena-perozich-cd-single   

After seeing that Rebecca passed his test, why did Eliezer stand by and just watch Rebecca laboriously and singlehandedly provide water for all his camels?

Eliezer considered this part of the test. There are those who make generous offers but do an inadequate job, quit, or don’t follow through completely. There are others who may do their job, but though they make no demands, they expect some form of compensation or gratitude.

Eliezer continued watching carefully, to see her approach to carrying out a difficult task. These moments would be extremely telling as to whether her offer stemmed from a genuine desire to help someone, or if there was some other underlying motive to her kind behavior. It was only after her job was done, during which she had no expectations from him, that he was able to be absolutely convinced that she had passed. The “camel test” was a glimpse of Rebecca’s greatness, as she conducted herself in what she would have considered ordinary everyday activity.

It is later on in the story, after she is brought to Sarah’s tent, that we learn of her immense spiritual standing. The three miracles of Sarah’s tent that resumed with Rebecca’s arrival correspond to the three prominent commandments (mitzvot) given to the Jewish women of all future generations: lighting candles to welcome the Shabbat, separating a piece of the challah dough, and the laws relating to intimacy within marriage. The challenge and significance of these mitzvot cannot be underscored enough; they are the bedrock of Jewish continuity in the fullest sense. However, the preceding account of Rebecca and the “camel test” should be the examples that direct and inspire us in how to approach our responsibilities in terms of these three mitzvot.

What significant lesson can we learn today from how Rebecca responded to the test?

Rebecca teaches us to take this goal of boundless lovingkindness, and chesed.  Rebecca teaches us to challenge ourselves with real, selfless commitment and challenge ourselves with real, selfless commitment. Rebecca teaches us to be initiators, to look for times and places where we can be of service, to be proactive and useful, without calculating whether there are others around who could, or should, do the same.
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We are taught by the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the chassidic movement, that a soul can come into this world for seventy or eighty years with the sole purpose of doing a favor for another. That ability to help someone in need, that chesed, was what Eliezer sought, for he knew it was the essential trait that would determine the candidate to be a genuine matriarch of the Jewish nation.

You never know who is watching you or what test you are having the opportunity of passing.  Be deliberate. Think through your actions.  What will you do when your Camel Test arrives?

Yes, I totally forgot about blogging yesterday. After 992 days my lil grandson not only got to share my heart but he finally got to share my daughter and son-in-love's last name.  We got him! It seemed like a beautiful ending to a dream that started so long ago. Then to top it all off he got to spend the night with Nonna and Deda.  We were co-sleepers if only for a night :) come on parents admit it, you've done it too.  

He is my little Superman.  Superman was adopted too you know? Zack may not realize what happened on Tuesday but for this little guy everything changed.  He was a missing piece in our little family we didn't know we missed until we met him.  Today he could travel across the state lines with us.  We could post pictures of him on Facebook (I know right? You noticed.) So forgive me for forgetting to blog.  I was totally and completely swept away by my lil Superman.  

​Tomorrow I will return to normal and pick up where I left off but for this Nonna...the world stopped and applauded a little boy who got an entire family in one day who couldn't wait to say, "We gotcha!"

There is power in your serve.  This is a very powerful concept taken from the story of Rebecca in the Bible. (Genesis 24)

 Today I will begin a series on the message that is available on CD at http://mfcbookstore.bigcartel.com/product/saved-to-serve-by-pastor-rena-perozich-cd-single

​The story of Eliezer’s challenge is a familiar one. Abraham sent Eliezer off with a task, “Find a suitable wife for my son Isaac.” How, though, could Eliezer be secure in the knowledge that the woman he chose would indeed measure up to the standards of the saintly Isaac?

To ensure that he would find the young woman, Eliezer came up with a plan. Hence was born the famous “camel test”: After his long travels, Eliezer would ask a young maiden for a sip of water, and if she offered to provide water for his camels as well, she would be the one!

When Eliezer and his men arrived at the well, they had with them many camels, so they’d be able to escort the future bride and all her possessions and servants back to Isaac. Surrounded by a group of able-bodied men, Eliezer did not appear as a helpless, weary chap begging for a drink. And Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, the ruler of Aram Naharaim, was a young woman of nobility, not a poor servant girl accustomed to lugging water from wells. But this is precisely where Eliezer was able to get a glimpse of the righteous Rebecca. From the moment he requested to take a sip from her jug, her generosity and greatness radiated in the most discreet and unassuming manner.

First, that boundless chesed came forth. Rebecca immediately gave him a drink, then offered and drew water for all his camels. She saw an opportunity to do something kind, and swiftly went to work. She didn’t question or consider whether she was really needed; instead, she energetically continued filling multiple troughs with water, until the job of satisfying a whole herd of thirsty camels was completed . . . while Eliezer and his men watched her work unassisted. She had one motivation: to give to someone else with kindness. That intense desire to reach out to others and to jump at the prospect of being of service matched the profile of Abraham’s family.

Eliezer had watched her fill a jug of water and place it on her shoulder. He ran over and asked to sip from it. Rebecca told him to drink, but hurriedly removed the jug from her shoulder to her hand and let him drink. The commentaries note that this quick move of lowering her jug was to secure a sense of modesty. Instead of a man sipping from a jug resting on her shoulder close to her face, she created a distance, so he would be drinking at an arm’s length away from her.

When he finished drinking, the jug was not yet empty, and she offered to give the camels water as well. With haste, she emptied the remainder of the jug into a trough. With haste, she emptied the remainder of the jug into a trough, and rushed to draw more water. This motion demonstrated her sensitivity. Had she simply spilled out the remainder of the water, she might have offended him, as if indicating by her action that he had contaminated it. On the other hand, it would be unsanitary for her or her family to use water from which a stranger had drunk. She wisely avoided either pitfall by quickly emptying the water into the trough, thus fulfilling her initial offer of providing the camels water as well.

When examining the details of what transpired during this “camel test,” then, Rebecca’s natural devotion, modesty, sensitivity, responsibility and work ethic are readily apparent.
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However, at first glance, Eliezer’s conduct seems surprising. After seeing that Rebecca passed his test, why did he stand by and just watch Rebecca laboriously and singlehandedly provide water for all his camels?
Indeed, Eliezer considered this part of the test. There are those who make generous offers but do an inadequate job, quit, or don’t follow through completely. There are others who may do their job, but though they make no demands, they expect some form of compensation or gratitude. 

How about you? Would you pass the Camel Test?  Would you finish the task? Would you have be modest? These are questions we need to ask ourselves and then apply them to the generation in which we live and go a step further and model them for those who are watching us...

Tomorrow part 2 of there is Power in Your Serve.

Yesterday I took my mother to her 61st class reunion.  Many of her classmates have been going to school together since 1st or 8th grade.  It was so sweet to see them enjoy one another’s company.  It was as though there had been no passage of time they were together again and picked up right where they left off.  They hugged, they kissed, they cried at those who didn’t make it this year.  They greeted new spouses and welcome new family members.  When you were related to a graduate you were in.  That’s all that was need to be able to help yourself to the tables lined with food and the enjoyment of live music; just be related. 

Heaven will be like that, I thought to myself. Hugs, kisses, picking up where we left off—and all we have to be is related.  It didn’t seem to bother them that they were all now in their late 70’s it was as though they were all just high-schoolers again and instead of it being the hallway of University High it was the Senior Center Pavilion at the local park.  They sat around the tables eating and filling one another in on all that had happened since they’d been apart.  One had surgery, the other almost lost their husband but he was doing fine, another had their first great great grandchild.  “My how time flies”, “How did we get this old?” “Oh one day at a time, one day at a time.”  Then it was time to go.  They decided they would meet the same time and the same place next year. 

My thoughts drifted and I wondered who wouldn’t make it next year? Of their class of about 100 they had already lost 23 at their best count, 4 this year.  With my eye on them and my ear toward heaven I wondered what the Lord my say about all of this? He was silent.  Scripture came to mind. “It’s appointed to every man once to die and then the judgment.”

I don’t know how many that were there yesterday knew the Lord, I wish I did. One thing is for certain they are enjoying this life and the years they have had and look forward to continuing to have. I was glad my mother knows the Lord. Whether she will make her next reunion only the Lord knows for sure, but one thing is certain—she will have a reunion. There will be a table of food.  There will be those she knows and love there.  She will enjoy herself.

How about you? Do you know where your final reunion will take place? Do you know of those you will look forward to seeing again?  Death isn’t the final goodbye.  It is a portal to a new hello.

Mark 4:28 (NIV) "All by itself the soil produces grain--first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head."

All this week and part of last we have been looking at the scripture in Ezekiel 47:1-10.  Here is the passage again if you have just joined us:

1 Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.2 Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.
3 And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.
4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.
5 Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.
6 And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river.
7 Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.
8 Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.
9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.
10 And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.

There are so many things I want to share with you concerning the revelation the Holy Spirit has given me on this portion of scripture.  Please get the CD at our online store.  http://mfcbookstore.bigcartel.com/product/get-in-over-your-head-by-pastor-rena-perozich

In the passage above there are different levels of maturity. We can see these levels in comparing them to the three sets of gifts.  Here is a great resource explaining them. ​http://iblp.org/questions/what-are-three-categories-spiritual-gifts

Within these categories we have the vocal gifts-we say what God says.  We have the seeing gifts we see what God sees. Then we have the showing gifts where we do what God does.  God has shown me that when we are ankle deep we can talk like God talks. We can speak in tongues, interpret tongues and generally prophesy.  When we go to the knees and bow in worship we begin to see what God sees.  We can see into the past, the present and the future.  These are Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge and Discernment of Spirits.  Then as we get into waters over our heads we get into doing what God does. We begin to have signs, miracles and wonders in our life manifest through His power working through us.

When we are all in and into the deep things of God we are no longer seen.  We are no longer in and out. We are out into where huge dangers are around to destroy our life.  These are not minnows and small crabs and fish type demons I am talking sharks and whale size and types of demons.  It is the power of God that we depend on and keeps us safe.  

This will close our series on Getting in over your head. I pray you get the CD because there is so much more in this scripture.  I believe it is a prophetic word about the last days where we will live and move and have our being in Him and we will be instrumental in bringing the word of God and the power of God to a lost and thirsty world.​