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About the Book
"Keys for Marriage" by Myles Munroe is a comprehensive guide for couples seeking to build a successful and fulfilling marriage. Munroe offers valuable insights on communication, intimacy, conflict resolution, and the importance of mutual respect and understanding in a marriage. He emphasizes the importance of cultivating strong emotional and spiritual connections with your partner to create a lasting and meaningful relationship.
Gregory Thaumaturgus
Gregory the Wonderworkerâs Early life
Gregory was born in a Pontus, a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in the modern-day eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey, around 212-13. His was a wealthy home and his parents named him Theodore (Gift of God) despite their pagan beliefs. When he was 14 years old his father died and soon after, he and his brother, Athenodorus, were anxious to study law at Beirut, Lebanon, then one of the four of five famous schools in the Hellenic world.
Influence of Origen
However, on the way, they first had to escort their sister to rejoin her husband, who was a government official assigned to Caesarea in Palestine (modern Haifa, Israel). When they arrived they learned that the celebrated scholar Origen, head of the catechetical school of Alexandria, lived there.
Inquisitiveness led them to hear and speak with the Origen and his irresistible charm quickly won their hearts. They soon dropped their desires for a life in Roman law, became Christian believers and pupils of Origen, learning philosophy and theology, for somewhere between five and eight years. Origen also baptised Gregory.
Pastor (then Bishop) of Neoceasarea
Gregory returned to his native Pontus with the intention of practicing oratory, but also to write a book proving the truth of Christianity, revealing his evangelistic heart. But his plans were disrupted when locals noticed his passion for Christ and his spiritual maturity. There were just seventeen Christians in Neoceasarea when Gregory arrived and this small group persuaded him to lead them as their bishop. (âbishopâ simply meant a local overseer). At the time, Neocaesarea was a wicked, idolatrous province.
Signs of the Spirit
By his saintly life, his direct and lively preaching, helping the needy and settling quarrels and complaints, Gregory began to see many converts to Christ. But it was the signs and wonders that particularly attracted people to Christ.
En route to Neocaesarea from Amasea, Gregory expelled demons from a pagan temple, its priest converted to Christ immediately.
Once, when he was conversing with philosophers and teachers in the city square, a notorious harlot came up to him and demanded payment for the sin he had supposedly committed with her. At first Gregory gently remonstrated with her, saying that she perhaps mistook him for someone else.
But the loose woman would not be silenced. He then asked a friend to give her the money. Just as the woman took the unjust payment, she immediately fell to the ground in a demonic fit, and the fraud became evident. Gregory prayed over her, and the devil left her. This was the beginning of Gregoryâs miracles. It was at this time he became known as âGregory Thaumaturgus,â âGregory the Miracle Workerâ (or Wonderworker).
At one point Gregory wanted to flee from the worldly affairs into which influential townsmen persistently sought to push him. He went into the desert, where by fasting and prayer he developed an intimacy with God and received gifts of knowledge, wisdom and prophecy. He loved life in the wilderness and wanted to remain in solitude with God until the end of his days, but the Lord willed otherwise.
His theological contribution
Though he was primarily an evangelist and pastor, Gregory also had a deep theological understanding.
His principal work âThe Exposition of Faithâ, was a theological apology for Trinitarian belief. It incorporated his doctrinal instructions to new believers, expressed his arguments against heretical groups and was widely influential amongst leaders in the Patristic period: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and Gregory of Nyssa (The Cappadocian Fathers). It was the forerunner of the Nicene Creed that was to appear in the early 4th century.
In summary
He gave himself to the task of the complete conversion of the population of his diocese. The transformation in Neocaesarea was astonishing. Persuasive preaching, numerous healings and miraculous signs had a powerful effect. Such was his success that it was said that when Gregory became bishop (c 240) he found only seventeen Christians in his diocese; when he died only seventeen remained pagan (Latourette 1953:76).
Basil the Greatâs Testimony
Basil the Great (330-379, Bishop of Caesarea, in his work âOn the Spiritâ wrote the following account of Gregory the wonder-worker.
âBut where shall I rank the great Gregory, and the words uttered by him? Shall we not place among Apostles and Prophets a man who walked by the same Spirit as they; who never through all his days diverged from the footprints of the saints; who maintained, as long as he lived, the exact principles of evangelical citizenship?
I am sure that we shall do the truth a wrong if we refuse to number that soul with the people of God, shining as it did like a beacon in the Church of God: for by the fellow-working of the Spirit the power which he had over demons was tremendous, and so gifted was he with the grace of the word âfor obedience to the faith among. . .the nations.â that, although only seventeen Christians were handed over to him, he brought the whole people alike in town and country through knowledge to God.
He too by Christâs mighty name commanded even rivers to change their course, and caused a lake, which afforded a ground of quarrel to some covetous brethren, to dry up. Moreover, his predictions of things to come were such as in no wise to fall short of those of the great prophets. To recount all his wonderful works in detail would be too long a task. By the superabundance of gifts, wrought in him by the Spirit, in all power and in signs and in marvels, he was styled a second Moses by the very enemies of the Church.
Thus, in all that he through grace accomplished, alike by word and deed, a light seemed ever to be shining, token of the heavenly power from the unseen which followed him. To this day he is a great object of admiration to the people of his own neighborhood, and his memory, established in the churches ever fresh and green, is not dulled by length of time. (Schaff and Wace nd., Series 2. 8:46-47).
âGregory was a great and conspicuous lamp, illuminating the church of God.â âBasil the Great.
5 Important Heart Lessons from the Woman at the Well
At times, we may need to have a heart-to-heart with someone we love. Those conversations can be difficult. We may be afraid to say whatâs needed because we donât know how the other person might react when we get the courage to speak up. Maybe we donât want to hurt their feelings, but we canât continue without change in some way. The longest one-on-one conversation Jesus had with someone in the Bible was with a woman. She went to the well to draw water and Jesus was waiting there. Like many of us, she didnât know him very well. Sheâd heard of the Messiah but didnât realize He was right there with her. Her daily duties were keeping her occupied and he appeared in her life out of left field. She wasnât expecting him to show up and she sure didnât expect him to change her life. But He was expecting her. He had plans she knew nothing about. He used her powerfully even though her life was far from picturesque. Itâs an encouraging story and beautiful. Encouraging to us because God allows us to participate in His work here on earth. It doesnât matter where weâve been or what weâve done in the past. He can use us and will for His purposes. Itâs beautiful because when we have a personal relationship with Him, He gives us what we deeply need â the satisfying, living water to quench our spiritual thirst. Here are 5 heart lessons we can learn from the woman at the well in the Bible: 1. We might find Jesus waiting for us. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacobâs well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, âWill you give me a drink?â John 4:7 The woman at the well was doing a routine chore â drawing water from the well. Nothing was out of the ordinary, except for who was sitting at the well, resting â waiting for her. I love how the Scripture mentions that Jesus is tired. Iâm sure Heâs been exhausted with my own spiritual immaturity, rebellion, and stubbornness at times. But He patiently waits for us. He wants us to be honest with him about our life. He waits until the perfect time to work things for good or to change us in some way for the better. 2. When we know Him â weâll love Him. The Samaritan woman said to him, âYou are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?â (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, âIf you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.â John 4:9-10 Jesus doesnât even acknowledge her comment about their differences but goes straight to the heart of the matter. She doesnât know him. Itâs one thing to know who Jesus is but itâs the real deal when we know Him in our hearts. Then itâs love. Iâll never forget figuring out I was âin loveâ with Jesus. (I didnât even realize we could fall in love with Him. Iâd never heard anything about that in the church I grew up in.) I couldnât stop thinking about Him. For years. Everything reminded me of Him, and I saw God in creation everywhere I looked. Why do I think about God 24/7? We think of someone constantly for years and canât get them out of our thoughts because weâre in love. When we truly know Jesus, we will love Him. 3. Sometimes, we donât believe. âSir,â the woman said, âyou have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?â Jesus answered, âEveryone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.â The woman said to him, âSir, give me this water so that I wonât get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.â John 4:11-15 She must be wondering how something as natural as water can become something that seems impossible. Living water? It doesnât make sense. Jesus is about to transform her natural way of thinking into spiritual drinking. Theyâre alone when this intimate relationship begins. We may discover our own relationship with Him requires alone time, too. He works best in us when weâre not distracted by the world. Maybe weâre in a hospital bed or down on our backs with nothing else but Him to keep us company. Itâs in these moments, he gets our attention and speaks to our spirit, making his presence known and drawing us close. 4. Jesus opens our eyes to see the truth clearly. He told her, âGo, call your husband and come back.â âI have no husband,â she replied. Jesus said to her, âYou are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.â âSir,â the woman said, âI can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.â âWoman,â Jesus replied, âbelieve me, 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 do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.â The woman said, âI know that Messiahâ (called Christ) âis coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.â Then Jesus declared, âI, the one speaking to you â I am he.â John 16-26 It didnât take her long to realize Jesus was telling the truth. Her eyes were opened, and his words helped her know Him better. The same is true for us. It can take a long time to truly get to know someone. He shows us who He is as we go through the troubles of life. We get to know Him better as we go along putting our trust in Him through lifeâs difficulties. Jesus will replace natural thought with spiritual insight. He takes lies we believe and gives us truth through His word. Helping us worship Him in spirit and in truth. 5. Donât linger in a place you should leave. Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, âWhat do you want?â or âWhy are you talking with her?â Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, âCome, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?â They came out of the town and made their way toward him. Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the womanâs testimony, âHe told me everything I ever did.â So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, âWe no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.â John 4:27-30, 39-42 She didnât linger when it was time to leave. Her water jar was left behind as evidence of what she forgot about when she met Jesus at the well. Literally leading others to Jesus with her powerful testimony. They went to him and asked Jesus to come stay with them. And (my favorite part) because of his words many more became believers. It can be hard to distinguish Godâs direction when weâre not in a close relationship with Him. But when we spend time with him in prayer, reading the Bible, and surrendered in obedience, we will act out of our personal relationship. Weâll want to share what Heâs done for us with others. We want everyone to know Jesus the way we do. As Jesus rested by the well, waiting for the woman, Heâs patiently waiting for us, too. He knows us quite well even if we donât really know Him. He wants to have a heart-to-heart conversation with us, as well. Open your eyes and see Him. Know Him. Your heart will never be the same. Melinda Eye Cooper Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
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