Drive-by blogging, today, with a post I made on Facebook:
30 December 2015
The Prophetic: Taking Note
20 December 2015
He Teaches Gently
Today, before church at Hidden Valley, I chatted with a friend. He mentioned that his lower back was bothering him, and almost immediately I felt the increasingly familiar urging from the Holy Spirit rising within my heart to put my hand on his shoulder and tell him to be healed. And I didn't do it. The flow of conversation was such that his acceptance of his pain offered me a convenient out . . . and I'm not proud to say that I took it.
I thought about that all through the service, along with a word of knowledge I was given that another friend's back would be totally healed, to the point that the rod placed along her spine would be removed supernaturally. That God would speak, and it would disappear. I didn't tell her that when I first heard it (a few minutes before I felt nudged to heal), and I meditated on that through the length of the service as well. As I kept those things in mind, I felt distinctly that my opportunity to heal that lower back had passed, but that I would get a chance to share that word of knowledge.
At the end of the service the pastor did an altar call, calling up anyone who had a bulging disc. My friend with the lower back pain raised his hand with a grin, and went up front. He had hands laid upon him, and his back was healed.
As I think over those events, and the distinct messages I received about healing today, I can see that with my friend's lower back, I was hearing in the spirit the same thing that the pastor heard at the end of the service: that God was going to heal him. Even though I didn't rise to the occasion and do it, he was still healed. And I had a tremendous learning experience about the validity of God's word, and the fact that my own weaknesses will not frustrate His work within the body of Christ . . . but that I will have plenty of chances to learn in the spirit, to practice, without major calamity.
After the service, I found the second friend, and delivered the word about her back that God had given me. And I can't wait to see it fulfilled . . .
I thought about that all through the service, along with a word of knowledge I was given that another friend's back would be totally healed, to the point that the rod placed along her spine would be removed supernaturally. That God would speak, and it would disappear. I didn't tell her that when I first heard it (a few minutes before I felt nudged to heal), and I meditated on that through the length of the service as well. As I kept those things in mind, I felt distinctly that my opportunity to heal that lower back had passed, but that I would get a chance to share that word of knowledge.
At the end of the service the pastor did an altar call, calling up anyone who had a bulging disc. My friend with the lower back pain raised his hand with a grin, and went up front. He had hands laid upon him, and his back was healed.
As I think over those events, and the distinct messages I received about healing today, I can see that with my friend's lower back, I was hearing in the spirit the same thing that the pastor heard at the end of the service: that God was going to heal him. Even though I didn't rise to the occasion and do it, he was still healed. And I had a tremendous learning experience about the validity of God's word, and the fact that my own weaknesses will not frustrate His work within the body of Christ . . . but that I will have plenty of chances to learn in the spirit, to practice, without major calamity.
After the service, I found the second friend, and delivered the word about her back that God had given me. And I can't wait to see it fulfilled . . .
17 December 2015
God With Us
Today I'm thinking about the meaning of the name Emanuel. Our God is called Emanuel. God with us. It's not just that He came and lived here as mortal and died for us. That's not the whole purpose behind this name.
The entirety of the name/title Emmanuel is that our God is WITH us.
Now.
This very moment.
Everything He did was for the purpose of claiming the right to be with us wherever we are. To walk with us through our lives. Even if we ignore Him, even if we discount everything He said.
He is with us! Every one of us. All. the. time.
His victory gives Him the right to come to us in our sinful and fallen state and BE with us. The Great I AM. With us, always. What more beautiful thing can you imagine? God came and chose to be with us, so imperfect and so flawed, and yet so beloved. No wonder it is His love that perfects us, that redeems us. His perfect love motivated everything He did, and I will forever stand in awe of the miracle that is Jesus Christ.
07 December 2015
Come Unto Jesus
I want to plead with every one of you for a minute. Yesterday, I had a beautiful and power encounter in the spirit during worship at church where I received a commission from Jesus Christ to walk in greater humility and submission to Him, and an anointing of the Holy Spirit to carry that out.
I can't put into words the importance of entering into worship, of the vocal and demonstrative prayer that is singing before your God, and the incredible blessing, breakthrough, visions and empowerment I've received through worship. It's deeply personal, precious time with my Jesus--in which I have fully accepted Him as MINE, and have learned freedom and deep trust in Him. He has taught me, shown me things, comforted and blessed me in ways I want to give to everyone, friend or stranger. I want you all to know Jesus Christ . . . know Him in the full vulnerability of love that reveals Him to your heart, that makes Him a real and present part of your every moment, that provides power and strength in faith like nothing else.
I recognize that many of you who might read this have a relationship with Him already. That you know Him, that He blesses and loves and communicates with you. If you don't have experience in worshipping, I long to be able to share about this type of communion with Him, this way of meeting with Jesus that is absolutely outside of Mormon experience, and yet is so deeply founded in God's history with His people.
And if you don't yet know Jesus for yourself, or if you believe and yet He seems silent, I invite you to ask Him to reveal Himself to you, that the Living God would make Himself manifest in your heart and your life so you can taste His unbounded love and come to know Him for who He is.
So, please. I'm pleading with every one of you in the name of Jesus . . . press into prayer and ask God to help you understand worship better, to have chances to worship Him, and to become familiar with your own Holy of Holies where you can meet with Him and commune with Him.
Our God is so, so GOOD. He loves us so much. He gave up everything He had in heaven--existence in an overflow of love and power and glory--to constrain Himself within fallen flesh. He walked out His life in this world in total submission to His Father, becoming the Way for us to tread. He descended below all things, and because He did He was raised up to be seated at the right hand of His Father. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and wholly righteous . . . and yet He offers His righteousness as a covering for our mortal weakness, His strength to empower us, His Truth to teach us, so we can be freed from death and hell and once again walk with Him as Adam and Eve did in the garden--as if mankind never left. And His only desire--the whole motivation for all He did--is to share the closest, most intimate of fellowship with us so we can exist in that same overflow of love and peace and glory that He now does.
Come unto Him. Oh, please. In Jesus' name.
25 November 2015
God, Here I Am
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:
Who should I send?
Who will go for Us?
I said:
Here I am. Send me."
O: This phrase, translated from the Hebrew "hinneh", is used in response to God's voice by Abraham (Gen 22), Jacob (Gen 31 & 46), Moses (Exod 3) Samuel (1 Sam 3), Isaiah (Isa 6) and the prophet Ananias (Acts 9).
A: This is an admittedly backward Life Journal, as this answer to God came to me during worship a few weeks ago, and has come back to my mind many times since. It was Isaiah's words that I remembered first, and his situation that I identify most closely. It's a phrase that has become a key for me, as it's a way to present myself to God, to lay myself before Him exactly as I am, and offer myself for service however He might wish to use me. This phrase has the ability to strip away the fear that still so easily besets me, and literally casts my cares upon my God so I can get out of my own way and do what He asks.
P: Father God, thank You. Thank You for everything. For Your Son, for the unending patience and blessing that is mine because of Jesus, and for the miracle that it is that you can use me, in some way, to help any of Your children. I love you, God, so much, and I just want to live Your way, because that provides for the most happiness for both of us. :o) You know me; You love and bless me; and I thank You so much for this key to getting out of my own way. In Jesus' name, amen.
A: This is an admittedly backward Life Journal, as this answer to God came to me during worship a few weeks ago, and has come back to my mind many times since. It was Isaiah's words that I remembered first, and his situation that I identify most closely. It's a phrase that has become a key for me, as it's a way to present myself to God, to lay myself before Him exactly as I am, and offer myself for service however He might wish to use me. This phrase has the ability to strip away the fear that still so easily besets me, and literally casts my cares upon my God so I can get out of my own way and do what He asks.
P: Father God, thank You. Thank You for everything. For Your Son, for the unending patience and blessing that is mine because of Jesus, and for the miracle that it is that you can use me, in some way, to help any of Your children. I love you, God, so much, and I just want to live Your way, because that provides for the most happiness for both of us. :o) You know me; You love and bless me; and I thank You so much for this key to getting out of my own way. In Jesus' name, amen.
13 November 2015
Come unto Him. Oh, please.
Oh, my friends. My heart is breaking right now.
I keep seeing people I love, so dearly, that I know Jesus loves so dearly, people with repentant hearts and souls longing for their God, talking about how they hope, one day, they can know they are acceptable to God. I just want to shout from the rooftops: "Jesus LOVES every one of us! All the way! Nothing held back! Right! Now!"
He died for us while the world lay in sin . . . before most of us were even born. The price fully paid, He announced the work of redemption finished on the cross. All of heaven and earth rejoiced, as we read in Enoch's vision. Enoch went from refusing to be comforted to rejoicing with the seraphs, shouting, "Hallelujah, for the Lamb is slain!!!"
Every one of us is FULLY acceptable to God, right this minute. He has not a single reason to reject us. That's the whole point of everything Jesus did, and the meaning of the scripture that says God is storing up his wrath for the day of judgement. Jesus won so we could have this period of grace. Jesus was God . . . He left the place of perfect love and glory and joy to constrain Himself within mortal--Telestial--flesh, to endure all, to suffer the effects of sin and illness until He bled from every pore resisting sin, and then to die one of the most painful deaths devised.
I keep seeing people I love, so dearly, that I know Jesus loves so dearly, people with repentant hearts and souls longing for their God, talking about how they hope, one day, they can know they are acceptable to God. I just want to shout from the rooftops: "Jesus LOVES every one of us! All the way! Nothing held back! Right! Now!"
He died for us while the world lay in sin . . . before most of us were even born. The price fully paid, He announced the work of redemption finished on the cross. All of heaven and earth rejoiced, as we read in Enoch's vision. Enoch went from refusing to be comforted to rejoicing with the seraphs, shouting, "Hallelujah, for the Lamb is slain!!!"
Every one of us is FULLY acceptable to God, right this minute. He has not a single reason to reject us. That's the whole point of everything Jesus did, and the meaning of the scripture that says God is storing up his wrath for the day of judgement. Jesus won so we could have this period of grace. Jesus was God . . . He left the place of perfect love and glory and joy to constrain Himself within mortal--Telestial--flesh, to endure all, to suffer the effects of sin and illness until He bled from every pore resisting sin, and then to die one of the most painful deaths devised.
For you.
It's the price paid for something that declares the buyer's valuation, its worth in the buyer's eyes. And you, my friend, are worth the innocent, priceless blood of God.
By virtue of the cross, Jesus now has the right to come to each of us (right where we are!), and to walk with us through everything. Instead of having to do a bunch of stuff to make sure we're cleansed of sin and worthy of His presence so we won't be struck dead, His blood pays for all the junk we've got, and gives Him the right and power to remit our debt, forgive our sins, and BE with us, right now. Instead of being like the priests who went into the Holy of Holies wearing bells and with a rope tied to his ankle so if the bells stopped and he didn't yank back when the priests outside yanked on the rope, they could haul the body out without going in and being struck dead, too, our God can fill us with His Spirit, can appear to us, and we are not destroyed.
When Jesus died on the cross, not only did the earth shake, but the veil in the temple in Jerusalem was torn from top to bottom. Rent clean in twain. The priests in the holy place were given a view into the Holy of Holies, and they weren't struck dead. But, instead of realizing what had just happened, they quickly closed the veil up again, shutting off the view of heaven Jesus had just freely given them, going back to business as usual.
It's the price paid for something that declares the buyer's valuation, its worth in the buyer's eyes. And you, my friend, are worth the innocent, priceless blood of God.
By virtue of the cross, Jesus now has the right to come to each of us (right where we are!), and to walk with us through everything. Instead of having to do a bunch of stuff to make sure we're cleansed of sin and worthy of His presence so we won't be struck dead, His blood pays for all the junk we've got, and gives Him the right and power to remit our debt, forgive our sins, and BE with us, right now. Instead of being like the priests who went into the Holy of Holies wearing bells and with a rope tied to his ankle so if the bells stopped and he didn't yank back when the priests outside yanked on the rope, they could haul the body out without going in and being struck dead, too, our God can fill us with His Spirit, can appear to us, and we are not destroyed.
When Jesus died on the cross, not only did the earth shake, but the veil in the temple in Jerusalem was torn from top to bottom. Rent clean in twain. The priests in the holy place were given a view into the Holy of Holies, and they weren't struck dead. But, instead of realizing what had just happened, they quickly closed the veil up again, shutting off the view of heaven Jesus had just freely given them, going back to business as usual.
Brothers and Sisters, the veil is TORN! There is no longer separation between man and God. We don't have to be "good enough" or "qualify" for His love, or His presence. We only have to WANT Him, to invite Him.
Can we be exalted in our sins? No. But that doesn't mean that we are cut off from Jesus until we're worthy of exaltation. That's the whole reason Jesus did what He did! He redeemed us from the fall . . . that's right now. We don't have to live subject to sin and death, separated from God.
About a year ago, I spent a lot of energy wondering about why Jesus had to die. I had just been taught by the Holy Spirit and scripture that the test of this life is whether we'll desire good or evil. Each man is rewarded according to his works, according to the desires of his heart (D&C 137). And if so, if Alvin Smith could be found on the right hand of God, if those who had never heard of Jesus were saved so long as their hearts longed for righteousness and they did their best based on what they knew, then why did Jesus have to die? Why did He have to go through all of that incredible pain? Why? Why???
As I labored in that heart cry of "Why???", His answer came. So sweetly, so powerfully.
Can we be exalted in our sins? No. But that doesn't mean that we are cut off from Jesus until we're worthy of exaltation. That's the whole reason Jesus did what He did! He redeemed us from the fall . . . that's right now. We don't have to live subject to sin and death, separated from God.
About a year ago, I spent a lot of energy wondering about why Jesus had to die. I had just been taught by the Holy Spirit and scripture that the test of this life is whether we'll desire good or evil. Each man is rewarded according to his works, according to the desires of his heart (D&C 137). And if so, if Alvin Smith could be found on the right hand of God, if those who had never heard of Jesus were saved so long as their hearts longed for righteousness and they did their best based on what they knew, then why did Jesus have to die? Why did He have to go through all of that incredible pain? Why? Why???
As I labored in that heart cry of "Why???", His answer came. So sweetly, so powerfully.
"So I could be with you."
God misses us. So much. The Fall took us from His presence, where we were designed to dwell, and all God wants is for us to be with Him again. Jesus' victory means so many things . . . but most of all it means He can come to His people. His name, Emmanuel, means God With Us. And in a day of hardcore idolatry and fertility cults, where every other god was a distant deity, demanding all manner of iniquity as worship, silent and utterly unreachable, here was Jesus Christ. He walked with mankind, sacrificing Himself--even God--so He could succor His people, heal them, walk with them, be in fellowship with them.
Please, oh please. Don't think that there is anything--and I mean ANYTHING--keeping you from God other than your own unbelief. The enemy looooves it when we believe his lies, whether it's the one that says Jesus can't come to you right now as you are, or the one that says you're not good enough. (That second one is especially nasty, because it's true--none of us are "good enough"--but it utterly denies the power of Jesus by virtue of His victory.) Jesus is the God of relentless mercy, all-pervading love, and abounding grace. He LONGS to be with you, right here. Now. He LONGS to pour out His Spirit on you as soon as you open your heart to receive it. Rock Waterman's experience of receiving the baptism of fire is a perfect example. He was seeking it, praying for it. But, ultimately, it came down to this. He said, in a comment on this page: "I had the faith. In fact, I felt that it was about time I allowed myself to REALLY receive the Holy Ghost. So just like that, it happened." He was, simply and truly, open to receive. To "allow" himself to "really receive the Holy Ghost". No works. No earning. Just open.
So please . . . I'm begging you with everything that's in me . . . don't deny our Lord the chance to come to you right now. I'm SO flawed, so weak, so fallible. And yet, He is there whenever I turn to Him. Whenever I raise my voice to worship Him. Whenever I open my mind and heart to Him. Every time. Always. So often when I read the accounts of those who have seen Jesus Christ, it's obvious that they didn't earn that visit. They didn't pay for it. He just came, because they believed He could.
Jesus descended below all things. He can come to you where you are.
God misses us. So much. The Fall took us from His presence, where we were designed to dwell, and all God wants is for us to be with Him again. Jesus' victory means so many things . . . but most of all it means He can come to His people. His name, Emmanuel, means God With Us. And in a day of hardcore idolatry and fertility cults, where every other god was a distant deity, demanding all manner of iniquity as worship, silent and utterly unreachable, here was Jesus Christ. He walked with mankind, sacrificing Himself--even God--so He could succor His people, heal them, walk with them, be in fellowship with them.
Please, oh please. Don't think that there is anything--and I mean ANYTHING--keeping you from God other than your own unbelief. The enemy looooves it when we believe his lies, whether it's the one that says Jesus can't come to you right now as you are, or the one that says you're not good enough. (That second one is especially nasty, because it's true--none of us are "good enough"--but it utterly denies the power of Jesus by virtue of His victory.) Jesus is the God of relentless mercy, all-pervading love, and abounding grace. He LONGS to be with you, right here. Now. He LONGS to pour out His Spirit on you as soon as you open your heart to receive it. Rock Waterman's experience of receiving the baptism of fire is a perfect example. He was seeking it, praying for it. But, ultimately, it came down to this. He said, in a comment on this page: "I had the faith. In fact, I felt that it was about time I allowed myself to REALLY receive the Holy Ghost. So just like that, it happened." He was, simply and truly, open to receive. To "allow" himself to "really receive the Holy Ghost". No works. No earning. Just open.
So please . . . I'm begging you with everything that's in me . . . don't deny our Lord the chance to come to you right now. I'm SO flawed, so weak, so fallible. And yet, He is there whenever I turn to Him. Whenever I raise my voice to worship Him. Whenever I open my mind and heart to Him. Every time. Always. So often when I read the accounts of those who have seen Jesus Christ, it's obvious that they didn't earn that visit. They didn't pay for it. He just came, because they believed He could.
Jesus descended below all things. He can come to you where you are.
06 November 2015
Paid in Full Study: Day One Journaling
(I'm starting to study Paid in Full, and thought I'd journal here. So, without further ado, here is Day One's entry: my testimony. Or rather, one facet of it. The more times I'm asked to share my testimony, the more ways I discover to tell the story, and the more I see and understand in my own history. It's fascinating and beautiful.)
About five years ago I began to look at my life and wonder where the joy was. Why, when God promised joy and peace to His followers, I had none. Zero. Zip. Nada. I remember AmberDawn sitting in my kitchen in #33, sharing about a friend struggling through motherhood with depression, and she said: "It's so sad: all of the work and none of the joy". That sentence lodged in my heart, and I began to push against the boundaries of my usual existence, looking for joy. I had never realized joy was an everyday occurrence for mothers, or that my own experience was so different from anyone else's. I knew Jesus' whole purpose was to open the way for us to live in His love, joy, and peace. We were created that we might have joy. Our very nature as children of God is such that joy should be a natural, regular part of our existence. I rejected the idea that I was supposed to grind out my existence, bearing the heavy weight that is a lack of joy, the whole purpose of my life being to endure it well.
So, where was it? Where was my joy???
That quest, which began with a strong desire--no, an insistence--that God make good on His promises, led to a journey of discovery about the nature and character of God and God's love for me that culminated in receiving the baptism of fire. That experience--the complete immersion in the fiery, overwhelming love of God--transformed how I saw everything, recreated my heart, and began a journey of ever-increasing relationship with Jesus that has healed so many broken places in me, began healing broken relationships, and has transformed my daily walk into one filled with hope, joy, and peace as I dive into His word, learn His character and nature through study and prayer and experience with those I love, and as a result I trust God more and more each day.
I want to exhort anyone reading this to seek after the things our God has promised each and every one of us. He gave us commandments so we could exist surrounded by His love (John 15:10-11). When God speaks, the word of God IS. If you insist that God make good on that word, pressing against the boundaries of where you've always existed, God will show you where you need to let Him in, He will teach you, increase your understanding, and open the way for you to walk in the fulfillment of His promises. He is such a good Father, and a patient and forgiving teacher. It wasn't His fault that I was living without joy . . . but instead of turning that back on me and telling me to figure it out, He welcomed my demands and questions, worked with me to begin to show me how to receive what I longed for, and has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams.
And I know He's only getting warmed up. :o)
About five years ago I began to look at my life and wonder where the joy was. Why, when God promised joy and peace to His followers, I had none. Zero. Zip. Nada. I remember AmberDawn sitting in my kitchen in #33, sharing about a friend struggling through motherhood with depression, and she said: "It's so sad: all of the work and none of the joy". That sentence lodged in my heart, and I began to push against the boundaries of my usual existence, looking for joy. I had never realized joy was an everyday occurrence for mothers, or that my own experience was so different from anyone else's. I knew Jesus' whole purpose was to open the way for us to live in His love, joy, and peace. We were created that we might have joy. Our very nature as children of God is such that joy should be a natural, regular part of our existence. I rejected the idea that I was supposed to grind out my existence, bearing the heavy weight that is a lack of joy, the whole purpose of my life being to endure it well.
So, where was it? Where was my joy???
That quest, which began with a strong desire--no, an insistence--that God make good on His promises, led to a journey of discovery about the nature and character of God and God's love for me that culminated in receiving the baptism of fire. That experience--the complete immersion in the fiery, overwhelming love of God--transformed how I saw everything, recreated my heart, and began a journey of ever-increasing relationship with Jesus that has healed so many broken places in me, began healing broken relationships, and has transformed my daily walk into one filled with hope, joy, and peace as I dive into His word, learn His character and nature through study and prayer and experience with those I love, and as a result I trust God more and more each day.
I want to exhort anyone reading this to seek after the things our God has promised each and every one of us. He gave us commandments so we could exist surrounded by His love (John 15:10-11). When God speaks, the word of God IS. If you insist that God make good on that word, pressing against the boundaries of where you've always existed, God will show you where you need to let Him in, He will teach you, increase your understanding, and open the way for you to walk in the fulfillment of His promises. He is such a good Father, and a patient and forgiving teacher. It wasn't His fault that I was living without joy . . . but instead of turning that back on me and telling me to figure it out, He welcomed my demands and questions, worked with me to begin to show me how to receive what I longed for, and has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams.
And I know He's only getting warmed up. :o)
27 October 2015
What the Law Could Not Do, He Did
" 2 For the law of the Spirit of life [fn]in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is [fn]alive because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."
(So interesting, to have this be the first passage I read as I'm on the treadmill at my first gym trip in almost 18 months.)
I realized again as I read this passage that receiving the Holy Spirit is a choice, not something God doles out to those who have reached some special status in His eyes. It's not an all-or-nothing proposition. And we ALL have special status in His eyes. We are His beloved, for whom He gave His own, and only, son.
As we (speaking of those of us coming out of heavily legalistic, works-based traditions) learn more and more about who God is, His Spirit is able to move with more and more power within us. As our faith grows, His power, as expressed in us, grows brighter and brighter until we receive the Holy spirit in its fullness in the baptism of fire.
Father God, I'm so grateful for Your provision for Your children through Christ Jesus. I'm so humbled by Your generosity, and by the unstinting nature of Your mercy and grace. Thank You for continuing to teach me, that every time I look for answers, You have them. And so much more. Thank You for the burden of love and purpose You have given me to carry, for it is light and easy, yoked as I am with Your Son. Keep on pouring Your love out upon all flesh, Father, and let all peoples come to know You through Jesus, the One who constrained Himself in mortal flesh, lived without sin, and suffered so much, so much, so we wouldn't have to if we would only turn and look to Him always. Let my life be a testament to Your relentless love, Your abounding forgiveness, and the limitless empowerment of Your grace. In Jesus' name, amen.
26 October 2015
His Mercy is Powerful
4 "It shall be when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you shall do."
7 When Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came secretly, and uncovered his feet and lay down.
8 It happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward; and behold, a woman was lying at his feet.
11 "Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence.
14 So she lay at his feet until morning and rose before one could recognize another; and he said, "Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor." ~ Ruth 4, NASB
One of the things that has really stood out to me, in this chapter, is the strong possibility that Naomi didn't intend for Ruth to approach Boaz secretly, or stay through the night. But, for whatever reason, (maybe Ruth was nervous or worried), she waited until Boaz was asleep to approach him, instead of when he was yet awake. Naomi said to go lie down at his feet when he lay down for the night, but Ruth waited. Later verses seem to show that Ruth was saved, in Boaz's eyes, because of her widely-known virtue and her love of her mother-in-law. But, because she had approached Boaz secretly, she had to leave secretly, as well.
This is the mercy of God in action. Even when we do what He asks, imperfectly, He can make a way for His purposes to be fulfilled and His work to go forward.
Father, thank You for Your mercy, for Your grace, and for the way You keep working with Your children in patience and good humor. Thank You for this reassurance, as I feel so much is approaching in my life that You will ask me to do that I'll wish I had several years to prepare for. But I am Yours. Over and above all else, I am Yours. I will lean on Your strength at all times--especially where I am weak!--and follow You as You take this broken vessel and make it useful in Your kingdom. In Jesus' name, amen.
14 October 2015
Be of Good Cheer!
"It is not only wrong to worry, it is real infidelity because it means we do not believe God can look after the little practical details of our lives; it is never anything else that worries us."
--Oswald Chambers, in Studies in the Sermon on the Mount from The Quotable Oswald Chambers
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