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This question would lead you to believe that only certain ones are drawn or predestined, however John 12:32 says, "But I, when I am lifted up from earth, will draw ALL men to myself." So Jesus draws ALL of us to Him, but we have a choice whether or not we respond to that drawing. God's desire is that NONE should perish. I believe the idea of predestination relates to God knowing who will respond. The Holy Spirit prepares people to put their faith in Christ by convicting the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16:8), by guiding us into all truth (John 16:13), and by taking what is Christ's and making it known to us (John 16:14).

I think all people are spiritually thirsty but they don't always know that. Jesus says "If you knew the gift of God...you would have asked and He would have given you living water." There is an emptiness in all of us that we attempt to fill with wordly things, and we often don't know what is missing or where to quench this thirst..The woman asks "Where can you get this living water?" Jesus knows how we attempt to quench this spiritual thirst with wordly things that will never satisfy, and yet He alone can quench that thirst. He says "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst again." I don't think the woman knew she was spiritually thirsty although she was, and she had been attempting to satisfy this thirst in wordly ways (for her it was with men.) I don't think her deep thirst just surfaced. I think Jesus drew it out. First He was accepting and non-judgmental. He knew what type of woman she was and He saw beyond her attempts to satisfy her spiritual thirst in worldly ways. He didn't come after her beating her to death with the Good News, but drew her in with love. We need to do the same with our witness. We need to see beyond the sin in others lives (we all have our own issues) and realize that much sin is our attempt to satisfy a spiritual thirst with a wordly pleasure. We need to bring others to a place where they recognize they have a spiritual thirst and then lead them to Jesus, who is the only Way to quench that thirst. We need to help create a hunger and thirst for the true Bread of Life and spring of living water. We need to build relationships and really love as Jesus did rather than beating and continuing to beat someone with the Good News.

The idea of becoming flesh is crucial to Christian faith. In the beginning God created man and women and gave them authority in all earth. In addition God daily fellowshipped with us. We however gave our authority over to Satan and at that time fellowship with our Creator was broken. We were separated from God. God could not go back on His Word and take our authority back and restore fellowship with Him. It had to be done through a "human". Without God becoming flesh we would have forever been under Satan's dominion and eternally separated from God the Father. I experience His grace everyday that I get up and take another breath. I experience His grace when I fail Him, walk far from Him, ignore Him for days, weeks, months at a time and then He continues to love me, speak to me and never give up on me or leave me. I am a work in progress, and His truth continues to change me when I allow it to. My problem is allowing myself to be clay in the Potter's hands and letting the Truth have His way in me.

This is such a hard question because I don't believe that all of our struggles and hardships are God's discipline and training. It's difficult to know what is God's discipline and what is just part of living in this world. Asking God doesn't always reveal an answer, and this leaves me frustrated wondering if somehow I have brought on the struggles and hardships. After careful examination, I sometimes conclude it IS discipline but many other times I don't see God in the situation at all so I cannot see these difficulties as training. Can sickness ever be considered God's training? If I were to look at my struggles and difficulties as God's training, there would be many times that I would be left frustrated and angry with God because I'd wrongly question His parenting methods. I have been in that boat and that boat almost sank...trying to understand a situation as God's discipline. Unfortunately we live in a sinful world, and many of our situations are just the result of living in this world...life happens...but if we persevere, then we are trained by God and character develops.

Faith is living in the spiritual realm as opposed to the physical. It is an assurance of the unseen spiritual facts, an agreement of our spirit with what the Holy Spirit is speaking to us. It is a determined knowing rather than a hoping. What faith does...it is the foundation that keeps me grounded, continuing in the faith and able to take another step. It gives me a settled peace amidst the worldly chaos. When the humanness in me allows me to waver or start to get tossed in the waves, faith acts as an anchor and re-stabilizes me, revives my spirit and puts me back on solid ground.

I don't believe that this rest is simply talking about the finished rest we will experience when we get to heaven. It really has to be more than that. I believe it represents a place of settled peace and trust in God, particularly during times of testing or desert times in our Christian walk. It's easy or easier to have faith and trust in a good God when we have no struggles and all is going great. However, when we come into desert seasons-failing health, finances, relationships or other times of testing, what is our response? Do we grumble, complain, harden our hearts and even go astray in our hearts? Or do we enter into the rest He has already provided by trusting in and leaning on Him completely. If this rest was only meaning heaven, would the Spirit have said TODAY, if you hear His voice? Today we can experience His rest and peace in the midst of our struggles and storms. That rest, or settled peace, was a rest they could have experienced while on this earth by trusting in God. As it says in Isaiah: He will keep them in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him. They couldn't enter this rest because of unbelief. If it was only meaning the future rest in heaven, the writer of Hebrews would not have said NOW we who have believed ENTER that rest..." It does not say WILL enter which would indicate future. The word TODAY is mentioned 5 times in chapters 3 and 4. Today we can enter His rest in the midst of our earthly struggles, and in the future we can experience the completion of this rest as we abide with Him eternally. The fact that the writer urges us to make every effort to enter this rest shows me that he is not only talking about the final rest in heaven. That has been accomplished by Christ and we only must believe and remain faithful. However, it is an effort to go through this life and remain in His peace- to rest, to continue believing and trusting God despite the storms we go through.That place of settled peace takes effort on our part. Apostasy is the total desertion and turning away from God. It is a conscious choice to reject a faith you once had. Sin separates us from God temporarily, but when we repent, turn in a new direction, God is faithful to forgive and restore fellowship.

Besides the typical things Jesus would have learned, I think God the Father was preparing him for his future. As a carpenter, I believe a person needs the ability to see the potential...to see not just a block of wood, but to see what that block of wood could become. We see that influence in Jesus' work with his disciples, the people he came in contact with, and especially in our lives today. Simon, the vascillitating one was called Cephas or Peter-the rock-before he ever showed himself as that unmovable rock. The Samaritan woman was worth his time because he saw her potential despite her sinful life. While we were yet sinners He died for us...He saw our potential in the midst of our awful sin. He learned to see beyond the block of wood- beyond what he saw with his physical eyes. Thank God that He sees beyond the physical appearance, beyond what ordinary man sees. Thank God that Jesus had early training as a carpenter...we are more than blocks of wood in HIs eyes!

Mary doesn't say "How CAN this be" but "How WILL this be". She is taking God at His word but asking for details. Zachariah asks, "How CAN I be sure of this?" Zachariah is questioning the TRUTH of what God was telling him. When we question the truth of what someone is saying to us, we really are questioning their character, their integrity. God's word is either ALL truth, or He is a liar.