Saturday, October 14, 2006

Week Twelve ~ 10-12-2006

Hello and a good day to one and all!!!
I have to be honest with ya'll...today snuck up on me and I had no clue what I was going to type about.  I prayed all morning, all afternoon, at lunch I browsed Bible.com, sent home an email to myself to think about reading Ruth {it's my daughter's middle name after all} and then after a mind-clearing shopping trip...inspired by my hubby who seems to know just when I need to get out of the house...so I came back and felt again that I was supposed to read the Book of Ruth.  But when I got done I thought, "very nice story, but what's it's significance?"  I went and got my trusty Self-Study Commentary for further research.   Then it hits me, ok,yeah, Ruth was David's Grandmother, as in "from the house and lineage of David."  Ok, so she's a distant relative of Jesus, but then again we're all Brothers and sisters in Christ.  I dug deeper.  Did you know that in the first Gospel of Matthew, he writes out the lineage of our Lord?  Why is this important you are asking?  I am getting to that, I promise!!!  See, in the first Chapter of Matthew where the family tree is laid out for us, there are only 4 women mentioned in there...yes, you guessed it Ruth is one of those chosen 4.  Why do I think this is significant?  That's what I was asking myself until I stopped thinking, quieted my heart and mind and asked the Holy Spirit for some much needed help.  Here's why I believe it is so inspiring...God inspired Matthew to list 4 women when traditionally speaking only men made up the family tree/records.  Ruth was not an Israelite, she was an outsider so to speak.  I believe God favored her, chose her to be in this important lineage of our Lord to prove once more what is a recurring, loving, gracious, merciful theme throughout His word...  It does not matter who you are...it matters whose you are!  And it does not matter where you come from...it matters where you are going! We all have a purpose in God's plan.  He has chosen each of us to play an important role.  We choose whether to listen to His call, but He calls us no matter our station in life.  In this day and age society tells us to question everything, evenour faith...but we don't need to.  We feel compelled to wonder, worry, blame, pity...  None of it has to make sense though!  You might have no clue as to why God is calling you, still believe you me if He is calling you had better listen up!  Listen up because He has great things ahead for you!  This week I am praying that the Holy Spirit quiets your minds and opens your hearts so you may hear God's call.  I also pray that He continue to allow me the great honor of your time each week as you share in my thoughts and reflections on His Word and His promises and His great power and love in our lives.   I continue to pray that God surrounds you with His love, favor and blessings this day, this week and always.  Have an awesome weekend and week ahead!
Love through Christ,
Niki

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