Be like Ruth - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) July 5, 2022

It is so important for us to stay committed to the Lord and the tasks He gives. Sure, it's not easy, but God never said it would be. He did, however, promise to grant sufficient grace to get through the tough moments (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Think of Ruth. She was a widow left to struggle with her mother-in-law, Naomi, and her sister-in-law, Orpah. All three were widows in an age when having no husband meant certain suffering. Naomi decided to return to her home country and at first, both daughters-in-law agreed to go with her. However, Orpah eventually chose to return to her parents. Ruth, on the other hand, opted to stay with Naomi telling her in Ruth 1:16 - ...Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.

What did Ruth get for this commitment to her late husband's mother? Naomi provided wisdom that set Ruth up to not only find her Boaz (and yes, he is the Boaz), but to go from working in the field one day to owning it the next. Even more importantly, by sticking with and applying Naomi's wisdom, Ruth became an ancestor to Jesus Christ and one of only five women listed in His genealogy. She became a really big deal!

And why is any of this important? Because we all need to maintain the position God placed us in that we open ourselves to reap the harvest. It is when we stay in service that we receive God's blessings. We can't abandon whatever responsibility the Lord has given us.

Ask yourself what responsibilities God gave you? Ruth lost her husband and could have left her mother-in-law to fend for herself, instead, she saw it as her duty to stay and care for the older woman. She saw Naomi as a responsibility, not a burden, and didn't abandon her. This also led to her being known as a woman of noble character by Naomi's people.

Each of us needs to look at the responsibilities the Lord gave us and we need to give them our very best effort. It could be the children you were blessed with or your spouse. It could also be some other assignment. Maybe he wants you to be a ray of His light at your job or in your friend-group. How about if He wants you to serve Him by just praying for the people around you?

Each of us has a responsibility to the Lord. What's yours? If you don't know, look at what you're trained to do. How can you use those skills to help someone in need for free? Find a way to serve the Lord by taking care of someone else with a joyful heart and the love of the Lord.

How can each of us be a Ruth - dedicated, loyal, and faithful? Someone who takes their responsibility to serve seriously? Even when to do so is painful? May the Lord grant us grace to be committed to Him and may we please Him in the process, IJMN, Amen.

See you at fellowship at Noon EST.

Drink Jesus - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) July 1, 2022

When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, He called her out for having five ex-husbands and living with her current lover. He then asked her for water to drink. She was stunned that a Jew would speak to a Samaritan because His people and hers weren't on good terms. Never one to be easily stumped for words, Jesus said, “If 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.” (John 4:10). He then added, “Everyone 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.” (John 4:13-14)

Like most normal people, the Samaritan woman responded, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” (John 4:15). And when He told her He was the Messiah, the Samaritan woman ran off to her village and called everyone. Her testimony brought many from not just her town but others to come listen to what He had to say. Over the next two days, many were saved.

One woman went to fetch water at a well, received an overflowing cup of living water, and it indeed became a spring of water in her. It overflowed from her to many others "[a]nd because of his words many more became believers." (John 4:41).

This encounter teaches us to "DRINK JESUS". He is the living water which brings the dead parts of us to life. With five failed marriages under her belt and a live-in-lover, the Samaritan woman was surely shunned in her community. Thank God she didn't think of herself as too inferior to receive from the Messiah. Thank God, none of her past failures stopped her from pouring out a cup of Jesus to others who also came to believe.

How many of us would drink of the living water? How many of us have allowed God's words to make us believe? Or, are we waiting to see in order to have faith in Him? The Bible doesn't record Jesus as having done miracles to convince the Samarians. No, it was His words that moved the people. His words quenched their thirst and changed them. His very message gave the healing, living water they needed not just for their time here on earth but also to get them to eternal life.

Will you let those very words change you? Will you open the Bible and read His messages? Will you take a look at the parables He shared, the prayers He spoke, the miracles He performed. Will you move in faith to receive His living water and be refreshed? All you need to do is ask Jesus to give you some of His living water and have faith! Don't close your heart to Jesus and the great things He has for you and yours.

Be sure to read the next post and come on back at Noon EST to fellowship. God bless you!

Watch out for the Line, Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) June 28, 2022

Guys, I'm literally begging you to take time out of your schedules to acknowledge God every day. If you've been a part of P&P for the last few years then you should have been reading the messages. Yes, most of them are long but, if we are to be frank, you take a lot of time to comb through threads and keep up to date with all the happenings online. You can and should make time to read the messages.

You should also take the time to learn from them. The messages should be changing you as we learned in Grace Changes You. Your life should be reflecting this. If not, there's a problem. In this group, we should be advancing spiritually, not regressing.

Are you actively praising and interceding for people? Please remember that you can't expect God to keep working miracles for you if you are refusing to choose Him on a consistent basis. By choosing Him, I mean living a life of righteousness - doing the things He's called you to do. You can't keep playing in the mud and expect God's grace to always wipe you clean.

Yes, the blood works but if you read the Bible, you need only look at some of the characters to realize God showed them a lot of grace but eventually, He stopped. Consider Pharaoh. Moses told him to free the Israelite slaves. He refused over and over. Yet, God was patient. When He saw the mighty hand of God, he eventually relented only to renege. He forgot that just because God is kind doesn't mean God is not God. If you are unaware, Pharaoh ended up being swept away in the very same Red Sea that had parted to free the Israelites. The irony and climax of this story should be a warning to us all.

God is very patient. But, for all of us, there is a threshold. A point beyond which His patience comes to an end. We are warned multiple times that the Lord will return like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 16:15). Will you be ready?

May we not ignore the Lord's beckoning, IJMN, Amen.

Isaiah 55:6 - Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

If you are offended by this message, I plead with you to take that spirit of offensiveness and give it to the Lord. Meaning, talk to God about it and see what He has to say before spending a lot of time being upset. Maybe, that emotion is a sign you need to change something in your life? I say that with all sincerity and no snark, as this message comes from a place of loving concern.

That said, I pray we shall all be quickened to turn from the things that are keeping us bound and stopping us from flowing in the Lord as He created us to. God bless you and see you at Noon EST.

To read a related older post, please see - Plumb Line - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) September 22, 2020