Several months ago I began to be drawn to the “armor of God” passage in Ephesians 6:10-20.  However there was one particular verse that I just kept thinking about. That was verse 12:

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.”

After quite a while God showed me in my own life what He wanted me to know and just seems to confirm it in many other situations.  He wanted me to understand who the true enemy really is.  We need to battle against the right enemy. In fact we spend a lot of time battling against the weapons the enemy uses.  Is there a difference?  I think so.

Often in our culture we think the enemy is the music we listen to, the movies we watch, the places we go, how we spend our time, etc.  But these things are not the enemy!  Now please understand that these are weapons that the enemy often uses, but they are NOT the enemy.  The enemy is really more of a person.  In fact he has a host of helpers.  They are the rulers of the darkness that are in this world.  They are wicked beings.  We are battling against forces from spiritual places.  Those other things are simply weapons that they use.

It’s important because victory is not just in overcoming a weapon, it is in defeating the enemy.  If you just overcome a weapon, an enemy will just use another one.  In fact, even if I overcome all of the weapons of the enemy he can use what may be the most violent, aggressive, destructive and powerful tool of all.  He may resort to hand to hand combat.  Intense and real personal attack.

To over come the weapons of movies, music, places we go etc. all I need is desire, commitment, will power, determination and perseverance.  However according to Ephesians 6:14-18 what we need is truth, righteousness, faith, the gospel, salvation, the Word of God and prayer.  These are the weapons that defeat the enemy.  The real enemy.

So, fight the good fight, by fighting the right fight with the right weapons!

I hope that you have read Ruth over this past week and I hope that you have enjoyed it.  I want to conclude my thoughts on this book by thinking of Ruth herself.  She has obviously been through much difficulty and also been greatly blessed by God.  Boaz has lover her.  He loved her so much that he redeemed her so that she could live in a love relationship with him and experience everything he had for her.  She would be the great grandmother of King David.  She would also be in the lineage of Christ.

The reason I think this is worth noting is because Ruth not an Israelite. Remember she was a Moabite.  So what?  Let’s consider the status of the Moabites for just a minute.  Remember their origin?  According to Genesis 19, Moab who was the father of the Moabites, was born as the result of an incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughter.  Their origins were evil from the beginning.  According to Deuteronomy 23:3 a Moabite or an Ammonite (the other incestuous child of lot and another daughter) were not allowed into the congregation of the Lord to the tenth generation!  That’s some serious uncleanness.  In Psalm 60:8 and Psalm 108:9 God calls Moab His washpot. Let’s just say that Moabites were not on the top rung of the ladder.

Yet, Boaz loved her.  He loved her enough to redeem her.  God also loved her.  He loved her enough to bless her and to put her directly in the lineage of Christ!  Despite her Moabite status.  That is grace my friends. I really cannot over emphasize this enough.  She was dirty, unclean and totally separated from God yet He would bring her into His family.

So I simply close with this.  What is your Moabite Status?  What is the secret evil part of you? What is it that makes you too unclean for God and for His grace.  You are His enemy? You are completely unclean inside?  Unworthy? Even from the beginning you have been evil an against God?  Trust me on this.  If God has offered grace, forgiveness and relationship to Ruth with her Moabite status then He is definitely offering it to you.  You are invited, you welcome to come, you can be part of the family too.

But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name,   John 1:12

This next passage has always been a little difficult for me to explain.  I think I understand it, but it’s the explaining it that I struggle with.  Let me just begin by saying that I am not a Biblical Scholar.  Yes, I’ve been to seminary, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m really just simple guy.  So I am going to try to explain this passage in the simplest way I can according to my understanding.

This passage contains elements of the Hebrew Law that biblical people call the “kinsman redeemer”.  Now here is my understanding of the what the kinsman redeemer was all about.  It was a law designed to protect the inheritance of a family should a certain generation not have any male heirs. (actually “male heirs” would be redundant in that ancient culture because only males could be heirs.)  So, if a man died having no male children then his nearest of kin could redeem everything in order to keep it in the family.  He could redeem (buy back) any property that the man had owned.  He also could take the widow of the dead man to make heirs for him even after he was dead.  The closest relative had the first shot at being this redeemer.  If he should decline then the next closest and so forth and so forth.  Boy, I said I was going to make it simple.  I think I’m confused!  I hope you’re not.

If you noticed, at the very beginning of chapter 2, right before we are introduced to Boaz, the writer makes sure to point out that Boaz is kinfolk. Your translation my call him a relative, close relative or something like that.  I just call them kin, or kinfolk.  In chapter three Naomi realizes that Boaz is kin.  She knows he can redeem them.  She suggests that Ruth should get cleaned up, put on some make up and put on her best dress and to go the threshing floor where Boaz is working and let him know that she is available.  Now, don’t try to read anything immoral into chapter three.  I feel certain what was done was some sort of custom.  Ruth was simply letting Boaz know that if he wanted her, then the feeling was certainly mutual.

Boaz has apparently looked into the matter already because he tells Ruth that there is a closer relative than him who would have first shot.  He sends Ruth home however with the assurance that he will take care of the matter.  Boaz approaches the nearest of kin to give him an opportunity to redeem Naomi and Ruth.  Of course the man wants any property that Elimelech had owned and was willing to redeem it.  However, when he found out that Ruth was also involved he did not want to be the redeemer.  He was afraid that any heirs through her would cut into his inheritance.  So he declined and passed it on to Boaz.  So of course, Boaz redeems Ruth, marries her, and they have a child.  As a result of Boaz’s redemption Ruth can live the rest of her life enjoying a wonderful love relationship with her redeemer.

This whole thing always reminds me of another favorite “Christmas” verse of mine. Galations 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born^[a] of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

You see I think a part of Jesus becoming a man was to be our near kin.  To be like us.  Tempted like us.  Under the law like us.  Then He could be our Redeemer.  He could redeem us.  He is our kinsman Redeemer. He did it at just the perfect time.

That what the baby in Bethlehem is about.  Our God, becoming our kin so that He could redeem us, so that we could live in a love relationship with Him!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Chapter 2 in the book of Ruth may be my most favorite.  We see grace and blessing flow from Boaz’s love.  Surely that is the same thing we see from God when we see His manger and the His only begotten son who is born there.

In chapter two of Ruth we see Ruth going out to gather grain for food for her and Naomi. God had a law that the poor and widows could go out during the grain harvest and follow behind those who worked in the fields harvesting the grain.  If the workers should drop any or leave some on the stalk, they were not allowed to go back to pick it up.  They were to leave it so the poor could come behind them and pick it up for their food.  So off goes Ruth to follow behind the workers to gather food.

Verse 3 says that Ruth, “…happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz…”  I point this out because while I am sure that in Ruth’s eyes it seemed like a coincidence, I am also just as sure that it was far from chance or happen stance that she came to Boaz’s field.  The reason I say that is because if she had never come to Boaz’s field, he would have never seen her, fallen in love with her, redeemed her, married her and they would have never had a child.  Oh, the child.  He wasn’t just any child.  He was Obed.  Who?  Obed the father of Jessie.  Jessie?  Yes, Jessie, the father of David!  That’s right, that David.  King David the greatest king to reign in Israel.  The one through whom the lineage would bring another Son.  Another great King.  A Child born in a manger to take away the sins of the world.

So you still think it was by chance?  No, God was working out His plan.  His plan to bring salvation to the World.  To you and to me.  That’s what the baby in the manger is about.  It is God working out His plan to bring us salvation.

This always helps me to have hope and trust during uncertain times, because I know that God in His providence can guide my life to exactly where He needs it.  I can trust that He is in control even when I am unsure. That to me makes for a Merry Christmas.

I love how when Boaz comes out to check on the workers he immediately sees Ruth.  She must have been beautiful to catch his eye like that.  He inquires and finds out who she is.  He then tells her to stay always on his fields and work behind his workers.  He has given orders to his workers to look out for her protection and to give her water when she is thirsty.

In verse 10 she is very grateful.  She even asks Boaz why he is being so kind to her.  Really, there is no reason.  He is falling for her, that’s all.  It is grace.  It is undeserved.  That’s Christmas.  That’s the baby in the manger. Born to die.  It’s grace. I don’t and never can deserve it.  But there He was, born to die, for you, for me.  Merry Christmas.

Later in the day Boaz invites Ruth to eat lunch with him and his workers.  She no doubt has a good meal.  When she leaves to go back to work he gives his workers further instructions on how he wants to bless Ruth.  He told them that she did not have to follow behind. In fact she could come and gather among the sheaves of wheat before they are picked up.  In verse sixteen he told the workers to intentionally drop some grain so she could pick it up.  I just smile when I read this.  Boaz just making sure that Ruth is blessed.

I think that God treats His children who follow after Him in the same way.  He just intentionally drops blessings right in front of us so we can have them.  I think it makes Him glad.

I am currently doing a study through the prophet Isaiah. In chapter 44 and verse 8 God tells Israel that they are going to be His witnesses of His blessings.  Now upon close study I found that God really wasn’t saying that they would go and tell of His blessing, but it was more of their existence and the things He would do in them and among them would be a witness to the world. God wants to bless His church as witness to the World.  He wants to show the world of His love and kindness.  See Ephesians 2:4-7.

So, the story of Boaz, Ruth and a baby in Bethlehem are a story that show us God’s providence, grace and blessing.  I think the Christmas story of Joseph, Mary and the Son born in the manger is also a story of God’s providence, grace, and blessing.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 Let’s spend the next few days reading the Book of Ruth.  Each day I will have a thought from this small book.  I always read Ruth around Christmas time.  Maybe you have heard of others who do the same. Maybe you have heard sermons from Ruth during this time.  Perhaps you wondered why?  I mean it’s not a Christmas story, is it?

I guess technically it is not a Christmas story; however, just think about it.  It is a love story that takes place in Bethlehem and culminates with the birth of a little baby. That sounds a lot like The Christmas Story to me.

I think the book of Ruth shouts Merry Christmas to us. That baby says I can trust surrendering my life to God.   The baby also says that God has come into this world to bring Hope and life.

Consider the story of Ruth and Naomi in Chapter 1.  In this opening chapter we are introduced to the family of a man, his wife Naomi and their two sons.  There is an extreme famine in Bethlehem so they travel to Moab in order to find food.  While there, the two sons each find a Moabite woman for a wife.  One of those wives is Ruth.

Soon the father and the two sons die leaving Naomi, Ruth and the other daughter in law as widows.  Naomi decides to return to Bethlehem as she has heard the famine is over.  She tells her daughter in laws to stay in Moab as she is too old to remarry and even if she did the women could not wait on her to raise sons to be their husbands.  Ruth however would not leave her.

In verses 16-17 Ruth vows to stay with Naomi wherever she goes.  I believe we also see in her words, “your God (will be) my God”,  a commitment to The Lord God.  A commitment to follow Him and to allow Him to have control of her life. During the story Ruth will find another man, Boaz,  who loves her.  As a result of Boaz’s love for her, he will redeem her for himself.  This relationship with produce a child that will represent a blessing to the entire world.  Merry Christmas.  I can trust God.  That’s what the birth of Jesus means. I can follow God into the unknown.  I can trust Him. Merry Christmas.

Think of Naomi.  She fled to a foreign land from a famine.  While there she lost her husband and two sons.  Life was dark for her.  In verse 20 she told her friends to no longer call her Naomi which means pleasant but to call her Mara which means bitter.  She felt God had given to her a bitter life to live.  She was full, but now she was empty. Then came the Baby in chapter 4.  Her grandson became a joy to her so she could be called Naomi again.  He was a blessing from God.  Baoz became for Naomi a “…restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age.”  Ruth was better than “seven sons”!  Naomi found fullness, joy and happiness again because of that little baby. Merry Christmas!

The Child in the manger says that there is hope for our darkness.  He says that we can find fullness of joy.  The Baby in the manger says that the Light has shined in the darkness.  He says that there is Hope!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I am currently reading the Gospel of John and The Revelation in the Bible.  Today I read John 6 and Revelation 7.  In John 6:35 Jesus says that He is the Bread of Life and that if anyone will come to Him and partake of Him then they will never be hungry again.  This of course reminded me of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well in John 4.  There He tells her that He has living water and if anyone will come and partake of that water they will never get thirsty again.  Coincidentally, as I read Revelation 7, John sees all those from all the world who are delivered from the Tribulation around the throne of God. One of blessings that God gives to them in verse 16 is that they will never be hungry or thirsty.

Now, I think I have a pretty good understanding of what Jesus was trying to say and not saying.  I feel like He was talking about our spiritual hunger and spiritual thirst.  I believe He was saying that when we come to Him and enter a relationship with Him that spiritually, or in our spirits, we find satisfaction.  We find a filling.  No more spiritual longing. We become filled, satisfied.

So here’s my problem.  I’m not satisfied.  I’m still hungry and thirsty.  I still have spiritual longings in my heart.  They drive me crazy.  I can never seem to find a satisfaction in my spirit.  I long to be used by God for His Kingdom’s work.  I long to take His Gospel to the nations.  I want Him to use me here, there and everywhere to be His hands, His voice, His heart.  I’m still thirsty, I’m still hungry.  He said I shouldn’t be.  I’m not satisfied and He said I should be.

Here’s my conclusion.  I want to so many things: to be used by Him, to go here or there.  I want to have Him work in me or through me.  The problem is I haven’t wanted only Him!  Just Him.  He needs to be the object of my desire, not my work for Him or even His work through me, But only Him!  He is enough.  He should be my all. He should be my goal.  I need to learn to be satisfied with Jesus.  You see, He is the living water and the Bread who came down from heaven. It’s not His work or His ministry. It’s Him.  I just need to be a branch connected to the vine. Then I can be satisfied.  Then I can be without hunger and without thirst.  He is eternal life.  He is my all in all. Only Him.

When I drink from the fresh flowing spring where flows eternal life I find that the things of the natural world are less needful for me.  I don’t have to find ways to feed my pride after I drink from Jesus.  I don’t have to drive myself to be a success.  I don’t have to do whatever it takes to be accepted.  I don’t always have to find ways to build up me.  I no longer need it.

The problem is that often I am like the Israelites in Jeremiah 2:13.  I have neglected to drink from the fountain that flows with Living Water and I have chosen instead to drink from the wells of the world.  I must drink from Jesus everyday.  That is really one of the reasons for us to do the Rekindle The Fire prayer Emphasis.  To keep us drinking from the spring.  To keep us, the branches, connected to the vine.  Have you had a drink today?  It’s fresh. It’s always flowing. Drink up!

This past summer I took 7 college students to Xi’an China to lead in an ESL workshop there.  There was a lady from our church here at home who was praying for me and I assume the whole group.  However, I know for a fact that she prayed specifically and individually for me and not just me as part of the whole group.  This is how I know.  One day she emailed me and something along these lines.  These are not exact quotes, but pretty close to what she said as I remember it.  She said,

“When I prayed for you today it was weird.  I don’t know what to say or how to explain it, it was just that there was something weird going on in the Spirit.  Something was not exactly right.  I have no idea what it was or how to explain it.  It was just weird.”

Now, here’s how I know that she was really seeking God on my behalf.  Because there was definitely something weird going on in my spirit at that time.  I really can’t and won’t even try to explain it to you, but it was something way out of sorts inside of me.  There was an enemy attack on the inside that had to be dealt with.  I don’t even know how to tell you what it was exactly, it was just something weird.   In spite of her struggle in the prayer, God’s Holy Spirit had her praying exactly as she needed to for me on that day.  She couldn’t have done that if she was praying a general prayer for the entire group.

That is why in the Rekindle The Fire prayer emphasis I have us praying specifically for specific people.  We’re not just praying for all the Sunday School teachers, we are praying for each one individually. We’re not praying for the deacons as a group, but each one individually.  We’re not praying for all the nations where the church is persecuted, we’re calling out each one individually. You see, even though a group of people may be in the exact same situation, they are still individuals with individual/specific needs.  So pray for people specifically and not generally.  Let God’s Spirit reveal to you how they need to be prayed for.  Help them to be Rekindled.  You also be rekindled!

Isaiah 38:1-8. God sends Isaiah to tell Hezekiah he is going to die. Hezekiah cries out to God. God sends Isaiah back to Hezekiah to tell him that He has heard his prayer and will add 15 years to his life. As a sign, God will move time backwards. Hezekiah’s prayer resulted in the brief reversal of the earth’s rotation and orbit! Wow!

Exodus 32:1-14. While the people waited on Moses to come down from Mount Sinai they got impatient and made a calf of gold to worship. God’s anger burned against the people. God told Moses He was going to destroy them and make a new nation from Moses. Moses interceded for the people. The scripture says in Exodus 32:14 that, “…the Lord changed His mind…” (NASB). Really? God was going to do something and then at the interceding of one of His servants he relented? Wow!

Daniel 10:1-12. Daniel has this vision. He begins to seek God diligently and desperately to know the meaning of the vision. An Angel comes to Daniel to bring him the meaning. In verse 12 he tells Daniel that he has come in response to Daniel’s words! In response to Daniels’ prayer. A prayer cause the one of the hosts of heaven to act? Really? Wow!

James 5:17-18. This verse says that Elijah was a man with the same human nature as all of us. He prayed that It wouldn’t rain and it didn’t for 3 ½ years. Then he prayed again for it to rain and it poured! Elijah’s prayer caused God to change the weather? Really? Wow!

Luke 18:1-8. Jesus told the parable that Luke clearly tells us it’s purpose is to teach us to persevere in our prayers. The story is about a judge who really wasn’t concerned about justice, fairness or doing the right thing. A woman went to him again and again begging for justice. Finally the judge, because of her persistence gave her justice. Jesus then asks a rhetorical question. Won’t God give an answer to His children who cry out to Him and never give up? Really? Wow!

Luke 11:5-13. This is the story Jesus told about the guy who went to his neighbor’s house in the middle of the night asking for some bread because another traveling friend had come to his house. Jesus said that the neighbor won’t get up because he is his friend, but because of the man’s persistence. So he immediately follows that up with that we should keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep on knocking…. Really? If I keep on asking I receive? Wow!

Should I keep going? Like with John 15:7-8 where Jesus says that if I stay connected to Him, the vine, I can ask for whatever I desire and it will be done for me. Really? Wow!

I know that if you are from my tradition you have immediately begun to think of all the biblical reasons that keep God from answering our prayers. You are right they are there and they are truth. That’s another blog entry. For today let’s not downplay the fact that the truth is also that our prayers make a difference! That is why we pray! So just for today let’s ask in prayer believing Like Matthew 21:22 says and believe that we can receive it. Oh wait, I have a great personal story about that, but I’ll save it for tomorrow!

What is the Gospel?

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