Author: missionspaul

How did you spend today?
My day was really busy.
Yet throughout the day I didn’t forget.
I remembered our missionaries who died.
Yesterday 23rd June 1978, 830pm, it didn’t get any worse for our Elim missionaries at the Emmanuel Mission School in Katerere, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).
Terrorists came over the hills from Mozambique and headed for our missions station. The missionaries had just finished their evening meal when they captured and led them to the school field. What they did to our missionaries was unthinkable. So much so that the bishop of the Church in Rhodesia and South Africa said the next morning when he visited, ” we saw no humanity there”.

On this night there was desolation.
An orgy of carnage, mutilated bodies of 13 missionaries, one had to tried to flee through the bush but died later. What they did to the missionaries is unspeakable.
Later the terrorists were caught or came forward to confess, some sought forgiveness.
They gave their accounts of what transpired that night.
The missionaries had been singing hymns as they were violated and killed.
They sang in surrender to Christ and to comfort their children.
Local Africans said later that on some dark nights when the wind blows through the trees the sound of hymns in the midst of cries of fear and pain can be still heard drifting across the sports field at the school.

They laid their lives down. They were ‘my witnesses’.
May we all live our lives in the light of their death.
May we all give money to the Church planting Elim Missions is resourcing around the world in honour of their lives.

No I didn’t forget.

He is more than enough! – Ruth 2: 14 – 18
He is very safe
“Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don’t embarrass her. Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.” 2:15-16
Boaz protected Ruth, he called that there be no embarrassment or rebuking of her and he made sure that her work was productive. The fields were a dangerous place to work, particularly if you were a foreigner as Ruth was. Naomi is relieved later when she hears Ruth has been working in Boaz’s field, for she knows that in someone else’s ‘you might be harmed’v22.
Ruth worked in Boaz’s field and she did not know but this was the safest place to be.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. I will fear no evil for you are with me. I will fear no evil for you are with me. I will fear no evil for you are with me.
Why was Jesus asleep in the boat during a storm? It was because he felt protected and provided for by His Father. He was safe. It is only possible to make the discovery of being safe when in a place of turmoil and danger.
So whether you are in a home-made wooden boat as the earth is being flooded, or walking through the middle of the Red Sea, or firing a stone at Goliath, or having fellowship with a den of lions or spending a whole day in the fields working on your own. It is only then that you realise that the most potentially dangerous places can be the safest places of all. Why? I will fear no evil, for you are with me and He is more than enough.

Expectation leads to Encounter – Ruth 2:1-13
We need to live lives of an expectation of favour from the Lord.
An expectation of favour that says, ‘Let me go to the fields.’
What caused Ruth to say ‘Let me go’?
c. Her secure position
“May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” 2:12
This prayer of Boaz uses imagery for God like that of Moses:
“Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.” Deut 32:11
The Psalms speak of the wings of God as places of safety (Ps 17:8); places of refreshment (Ps 36:7); places of stillness (Ps 57:1); places of hope (Ps 91:1).
For Ruth it is the place of refuge.
“O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in times of distress.” Jeremiah 16:19
Ruth had come to know Naomi’s God, the God of Israel. She had found Him to be accessible to the troubled and bitter person. That He was the One to turn to when needing help, safety, relief from distress, trouble and affliction.
We will face many problems, attacks, failures and sins. God welcomes us to run to him and under His wings we find security.

Expectation leads to Encounter – Ruth 2:1-13
We need to live lives of an expectation of favour from the Lord.
An expectation of favour:
That says, ‘Let me go to the fields.’
What caused Ruth to say ‘Let me go’?
Faithfulness
“She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.” 2:7
We must understand that our lives will contain significant amounts of time spent working steadily from morning till night doing something that is mundane, humbling and simply not what you know you could do given half the chance.
Yet it is in that place that faithfulness is born.
There will be times when you find yourself in a place that tries and tests you more than you think you could ever possibly imagine.
You have given so much, your arms ache from reaching out, your legs are buckled, you are burnt from the midday sun, you cannot give another ounce of your life and you know that come the morning you will have to do it all over again.
“God of my destiny, I want to become somebody, I have been expecting your favour, my expectancy has overcome the disabilities in my way, it has caused me to do what I can do, but where is my encounter?”
Yet, God doesn’t seem to be taking any calls. The answering machine of heaven is switched on.
There are times when you will just have to say “My encounter may not look like it is going to happen in the near future, but I’m remaining faithful because I still believe it’s going to take place”.

Expectation leads to Encounter – Ruth 2:1-13
We need to live lives of an expectation of favour from the Lord.
An expectation of favour:
That says, ‘Let me go to the fields.’
What caused Ruth to say ‘Let me go’?
a. Information
The Levitical laws commanded the harvesters to leave behind a portion of the crop including the edges of the fields of grain to be collected by the needy, the helpless, the poor and the traveller.
Ruth did not let the shock of her unexpected events or her grief at what she had lost keep her away from what she could be doing in gleaning the fields.
It is so much easier to stay in bed and wait for destiny to knock at your door than it is to get up and do what you can do.
Ruth went into the fields because she knew that that was what she could do. Maybe Naomi told her about this clause in the Levitical law. But knowing something isn’t good enough. Information is not enough, revelation is great but if there is no application of the information then so what?
Sometimes we can read too many books and hear too many sermons! Some sermons need to be preached in the same way containing the same message week after week until people live in the light of them.
What do you know? If you didn’t receive anything new from God’s Word for the rest of your life but just did what He has already told you then your life would probably still be transformed for the better.
Daily prayer times, reading the Bible, meditating on His Word, loving other people, giving 10% of your income and giving offerings on top of that, telling people about Jesus, worshipping Him, being filled with the Holy Spirit, faith and trust, obedience and holiness. We know so much!
Ruth acted on what she knew.

Expectation leads to Encounter – Ruth 2:1-4
Does your expectation serve your disability or does your disability submit to your expectation? You must never allow your disability to set your pace and plot your course.
God took a woman from Moab, a nation which He brought judgment upon, in order to eventually bring about the birth of His Son. Ruth was obviously not aware of her significance, however, she lived with expectation and her expectation overcame her disability.
V2. The word for favour is Ratson, it means pleasure, desire and delight. Ruth had an expectation that someone would be pleased with her and would then allow her to continue to work in the fields. You must have an expectation of the ongoing favour of the Lord on your life.
Is Jesus known as Jesus Christ of Bethlehem? Jesus Christ of Jerusalem? Neither: He is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Nazareth, the place where Nathanael would say, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ But it was to Nazareth, a remote tiny Galilean town that angel Gabriel came to a young virgin girl named Mary. To Nazareth, a town so insignificant it wasn’t even included on the census lists of that time. It was here that Gabriel announces: “Greetings, Mary, you who are highly favoured!” Mary of Nazareth was chosen for a unique role.
Raise your expectation to believe that God has chosen you for a role that only you can fulfil. That under His favour you will become all that you can become.
No matter what you’ve done, or how inadequate you feel or what disability lies in front of you. You may have come from Moab or from Nazareth. It doesn’t matter how much you feel you have failed, God the God of Nazareth is favouring you. Jesus of Nazareth is living in you.
Stop looking at what stands in your way, whatever difficult or disability it there, get over yourself and look with expectancy for the favour of the Lord.

Expectation leads to Encounter – Ruth 2:1-4
Can I make ‘As it turned out’ turn out?
In some ways we have an enormous ability to make things happen in a general sense. We can be like Sarai who took Hagar and gave her to her husband Abraham and Ishmael was born. There will always be a way to make things happen and yet it not be the right way. There are many who have had to settle for God’s second best because they tried to make their destiny come to them.
Did Ruth do anything to make ‘as it turned out’ turn out?
The answer is yes, even though it was a total surprise. Ruth was not looking for Boaz like Sarai was looking for signs of a son. This was a surprise divine encounter for Ruth that she had no promise of. Yet though she was unprepared to meet Boaz at the same time she was very prepared.
I believe opportunities await those people who live their lives with expectancy. Some people will never realise their potential within them because there is no expectancy coming out of them.
Three servants were entrusted with amounts of money according to their ability. Two men went to work immediately with an expectancy of gaining and they doubled their money. But one man was a pessimist, he didn’t even put it in a bank to get interest, but he dug a hole and buried it in the ground. He was not expecting his money to grow. After a long time their master came back home. To the men who lived their life with expectancy and who had gained for their master more than what he had entrusted them with they were well rewarded. But the man with no expectation was stripped of the money that he had.
We must live expecting to produce and not hide away in negativity.

Expectation leads to Encounter – Ruth 2:1-4
‘As it turned out’ – NIV; ‘And as it happened’ – NLT; ‘and she happened to come’ – NASB; ‘and she happened to stop’ – Amplified But this was not a stroke of luck.
We are always privileged to see the bigger picture as we study the Bible.
It was the intention of God that Boaz, an Ephrathite in Bethlehem, be married to a young Moabite woman named Ruth. It was God’s plan that they would have a son called Obed, who would be the father of Jesse, the father of king David and who’s genealogical line would eventually produce Jesus Christ of Nazareth, God’s Son.
How would that happen?
It would be by a meeting of man’s will and God’s will in a divine encounter.
God had to wait for Ruth to be born, grow up, marry Mahlon, Elimech and Naomi’s son, wait a further 10 years for Mahlon to die, then wait for her to return with Naomi to Bethlehem. He would then wait for her to glean the fields. He had to wait for her to enter the part of the field which belonged to Boaz. Finally comes that divine encounter between Ruth and Boaz that God fore-ordained and which we are yet to study in detail.
But can you see the long road to that encounter. Maybe God had to protect situations to make sure the divine encounter took place. Maybe God had to send angels to protect Boaz’s business. Maybe during the famine Boaz thought of selling his fields and angels were sent to make sure there was no sale. “I need that field for in 10 years time there’s going to be a divine encounter there.”
You may be waiting for something to take place, waiting for God, think for a moment, how long has God had to wait on us, the years of protecting situations, waiting for us to get into the right place for a divine encounter.

It’s never as bad as all that! – Ruth 1: 19 – 22

There was a change of her confession
Previously we read that Naomi had spoken of God as Lord. (1:8-9). The name ‘Lord’ speaks of His covenantal love.
But as she arrives back in Bethlehem we see a change of confession, (1:20 –21). It is this change of confession of God’s name that reveals what has taken place behind the scenes of Naomi’s life as she was trying to come to terms with her life.
The name she calls God now is ‘Shaddai’. It means all-sufficient God, eternally capable of being all that His people need.
The Christian who has grown to know God as Almighty (Shaddai) knows that everything that happens to their life, especially the meaningless suffering is already in His hands. This key is what enables them to cope.
Naomi was in effect saying, “Yes, its bad, I feel pain and loss, but I can leave all this in the hands of one who is all-powerful. I leave the explanation and the responsibility for my bitterness with Him. Don’t look on me like you used to, don’t respect me like before, my life is in ruins, I left the House of Bread with everything and now I have nothing, but all of it is in the plans of the Almighty (the God who is at His best when man is at his worst) and it is He, our Lord (the God who made a perfect and all time covenant of love with us) who has brought me back to the House of Bread.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned or scorched, nor will the flame kindle upon you. Isaiah 43:2
Your waters, rivers, fire and flames may be different and at different levels through out your life. But this is a promise from El Shaddai, God Almighty. “I will be with you”.
It’s never as bad as all that.

It’s never as bad as all that! – Ruth 1: 19 – 22

There was a change of her circumstance
‘Can this be Naomi?’ shatters Naomi. It brings her face to face with her circumstance. Her circumstance has dramatically changed, because she has lost so much. She wants to change her name from Naomi, meaning pleasant to Mara, meaning bitterness. She was once living a full life but now it is empty.
“Don’t call me Naomi anymore. That’s what I once had, but my circumstances have changed.”
Her life has gone so far off course that her very identity has changed. “Call me bitter.”
At some point we all will experience loss. Great hopes and dreams can be blown away. You know what could have been, what should have been or even what was had this or that never happened to you. You and others were on the verge but today things are different. This bitterness can even be tasted:
He has filled me with bitter herbs. Lamentations 3:15

And yet at times being empty can be a good position to be in.
• Before creation the earth was empty.
• The widow’s poverty only came to an end because she had empty jars. 2 Kings 4.
• The disciples fishing boats only began to sink under the weight of the catch because they had gone out to fish with empty boats. Luke 5:7
• The disciples were baptised in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost because they were not already filled. They were empty vessels. Acts 2:4