‭Ruth the moabite woman in the bible was so sold out to stay with her mother in-law because of their relationship. Her mother in-law Naomi was old at this time, and concerned about Ruth finding a husband. Because of the kindness of the mother in law, Ruth stated, I will go where you go, and my God will be your God. We can win people over to Christ simply by being kind and caring. Others will want to know what makes you tick. What is it about you that I’m so attached to. The kindness and caring heart can win people to the Lord without a word spoken about Jesus. People will see our kindness and our caring heart and want that for themselves. But we as Christians must get to the point of having these great God qualities operating in us daily. Developing the habit of kindness, because some days we are not that at all (those are the days you keep quiet). There are people who will not set foot in the church for whatever reasons. As we walk in our God given purpose and destiny, we have the opportunity to help grow God’s family. The witness of our lives, should be how we carry ourselves under pressure, and through trouble. This is the church gone mobile, which is the great commission to all God’s people. We are the church, the brick and mortar building is not. Ruth said, your people will be my people. Ruth was sold out on accepting her mother in-law’s religion, and the people who associate with it. Now that’s a strong witness for the Lord.

‭Since the Lord is faithful, He will strengthen you and set you on a firm foundation. How’s the foundation of your life, a little unsure? Well, it doesn’t have to be since there’s help available for everyone. Our principals, our environment, and upbringing have a lot to do with our foundation. What we’ve heard from childhood to young adults has a lot to do with what went into the ground work of you being you. We are humans, who can and will be influenced by what we see, hear, and have experienced in life, good and bad. But since the Lord is faithful, we don’t have to stay the way we were raised but can renew our minds with God’s word (The mind is the central headquarters of our foundation). Letting the washing of God’s word (Ephesians 5:26) wash away any and everything that was not supposed to be a part of life God’s way. Once we have installed this new foundation by the Lord, He will guard you from the evil one. The evil one is Satan and his cohorts and the people he uses to come against you. And you didn’t know that was going on in the background of your life, there is no ocular proof of it, only what God is telling us in His word. God says; “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). God is faithful to strengthen us, and protect us from evil, He is the Great shepherd that actually cares.

One thing I cannot or will not deal with, is people that are one way one day, and then another way the next time I see them. They may be nice to you one day, and then next time you meet they act like they don’t even know you. Granted they may have some issues that go way beyond verbal expression but, call me later and explain you weren’t your normal self that day. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He’s a friend that sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). Wishy washy people, I call them, don’t have the stability to make promises, they’ll get distracted in some way from normal life issues without resolve. Character and integrity is far from this person. You can’t seem to get things done when that person is in the equation of an assignment, or job that must be finished. Stability and surety in this world are not easy to come by. We don’t need indecisiveness, or inability to block our purpose in life. Being able to count on someone no matter what the circumstances are is priceless. There can be so many obstacles in life keeping us from the abundant life the Lord has promised us. We can negate that blessing by not being consistent in believing God and being mentally sound in our faith. Jesus will never change from what He has established in His word, the Bible. We can trust that word by putting our faith into action believing for our own soundness of mind, and stability in believing God in general.

‭The punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. Today’s scripture tells us that Jesus was wounded for our transgressions. He received the stripes on His back necessary for the healing of every known and unknown sickness and diseases. He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities, He took care of all temptations of us feeling or being guilty. All guilt was washed away by His blood. And what it took for us to have peace, the peace that passes all understanding, was stirred in the pot of the punishment He took for us. This scripture has so many promises of God all in one place. These are major necessities to function properly in finishing our course, our current assignment from God, and our overall God given purpose. The main promise most take away from this verse is the health and healing component. By His wounds, the whipping He received as they tore into his flesh with a whip that had glass on the tips of each strand, pulling is flesh right off the bone. All that, Jesus went through for us. Now today, we are free from our past transgressions, (our sins). He was crushed for our iniquities, which are our weaknesses. When we are weak then are we strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (2 Corinthians 12:10). We can only experience these promises by being a participatory faith believing Christian. Healing in our bodies shall come based on today’s verse. If you hold on to it like a bulldog on a bone, and won’t accept any reason for giving up on it, you will be healed.

‭There are times when we want to throw in the towel and give up, but it is not this day. Today we work God’s promises in our life. We find the scriptures in the bible that go along with our trouble and stand on it until we win. When the temptation to give up comes, come against it with what God has said about that situation you’re dealing with. Shout that scripture from the mountain top, and believe God. The power of God will come and energize your faith filled words to destroy the works of the enemy. Today we fight the good fight of faith. It’s a good fight because we win. Sometimes you just have to get ugly, loud, and very authoritative against the enemy because it’s all they know and the only way they will back down. Desperate spiritual measures for the desperate spiritual times we live in. In today’s world you better know for yourself how to stand your ground when the enemy comes. Everything has been heightened to a whole new playing field concerning Satan’s tactics against us. He knows his time is winding down, the lake of fire is Satan’s final resting place and he’s beginning to smell the smoke from it (Revelation 20:10). Let us not become weary in doing good, Fight! Win!

The demonstration of love was presented for a good reason. God loved us so much that He sacrificed His only begotten Son for all the evil mankind committed. Justice needed to be satisfied so God could have a relationship with us, and then fellowship with us. We dug a hole so deep in being separated from God through sin, we couldn’t get ourselves out of it. The hell Jesus went through literally, goes far beyond anything we could imagine as punishment. Bad behavior must be met with strong deterrent measures, but the sin of mankind was sealed in our hearts making us spiritually dead to God, and impossible to reform. We are now new creatures in Christ Jesus, through the miracle of the new birth we have a new heart, totally alive to God. This new heart is capable of expressing the agape love of God towards others once developed in us. We can love like the Lord loves His people. The unadulterated, undeserved, long suffering, and understanding love of God is to be used by us to love one another. Natural human philia love, the intimate authentic friendship love, will not help in loving the unlovely. Liking the person has nothing to do with the actions of agape love. We were God’s enemies when He sent Jesus to die for us (Romans 5:10). Since God loved us, we ought to love one another.

We are instructed by the Lord to cast all our care on Him because He cares for us. Believing that is the key to its reality. We must know for ourselves God’s got our back. Just like anyone else, we can all be hesitant to trust the words of people, especially in today’s world. But the Lord, Who is the same, yesterday, today and forever can be trusted (Hebrews 13:8). He doesn’t fold from opposition that would pressure Him out of keeping His word, because He’s God. Trust comes to us when quality time is spent together with someone, and over a period of time without default of the unspoken friendship code. To say don’t have anxiety about anything in and of itself, how do you do that without help. You cannot successfully be freed from chronic anxiety or worry unless you have a relationship with the Lord. Our fight against anxiety or worry must be met with the word of God. The reaction in our minds (and sometimes it affects our bodies), from anxiety and worry can put us in serious bondage. Worrying about something that may never happen is crazy. We have the word of God to replace and come against anxiety. Finding out what God’s word says in any subject is our portion as His children. People are destroyed from lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). God cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. You’re covered, stop worrying!

God says, my power is made perfect in weakness. When we are weak physically, weak in mental capacity from weariness, and exhaustion or simply overworked, these are the times when the Lord can more easily get to us and help. There’s a constant balance that’s necessary in finding what our hands find to do, and simply doing nothing in a particular season. We were made for constant movement. That would include going to work, figuring things out, making sure something planned happens the way you expect it to, etc. We are in the habit of taking care of stuff ourselves, it is vitally important to slow our roll for God’s input to help. At times we can get too busy for God. When we are weak, then are we strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (2 Corinthians 12:10). Through the consistency of daily prayer we learn to keep our flesh under control, our dirty thoughts at bay, and sensitivity to the Lord’s instructions will help keep us in balance (He should be ordering our steps and our stops). Keeping our busy active minds at peace can be a serious issue in and of itself, we think we can do it all sometimes. God’s strength and power show themselves more effectively in our weaknesses. When we’re under attack in our bodies with sickness, or any area of life, and you’ve had enough of it, that’s when God says, my grace is sufficient for you, you will be fine.

When we are seriously minded and dutifully firm in our prayer life, we build in our flesh the habit of praying in spite of our feelings or emotions of the moment. To meditate on God’s word day and night, we make our own way prosperous (Joshua 1:8). Devoting ourselves to prayer is the way to begin clearing the roadblocks of life out of the way. You begin to put in place tracks of safe passage in life for yourself and your family. Prayer gets and keeps the Lord in our lives to oversee our destiny and journey in living our best life. Prayer is simply talking to God and eventually listening to His voice of instruction. That still small voice of God becomes more easily discernible after a period of spending quality time in prayer with Him. We should be watchful and thankful during our prayer time. The word watchful in the Greek means, to be awake. How many of us start praying and minutes, some of us seconds later, we’re snoring fast asleep. To be vigilant in prayer is our portion as christians, praying early in the morning if possible. Our freshest self, is always after a decent night’s sleep. Thanking the Lord during our prayer time enforces our faith’s stability, and can help speed up help from above through the prayer of thanksgiving. When you’re thanking God for the answer before it comes, with true exuberance, you’re not concerned about the how’s, and why’s of your situation. Devote yourselves to prayer, it can save lives, including your own.

But let justice run down like waters and righteousness as a mighty and ever-flowing steam. These two attributes of God’s makeup are of great importance. Without justice things would be even worse than they are now on planet earth. Justice should remind us we are accountable for our actions and behavioral problems. Justice helps keep us from totally yielding to our lower nature, which is more animal-like. Once you have succumbed to the leadings of your flesh and its inordinate desires, you leave your right standing with God. You basically lose the benefits of a righteous life, which is God blessed. As justice runs like waters in our circles of influence, we have the assurance of a safer, and less stressful life. Without justice we would self destruct. Without righteousness we’d be in just as bad a shape as living without justice. To not have right standing with God means you are hell bound, and on course with an eternal punishment with the devil who was working on you all the while to ignore God. Justice needs to roll on like a river and righteousness like a never failing stream. The Lord stands behind justice and righteousness because He is the epitome of both.