07-20-2020, 09:05 AM
LIVING WATER CAC DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
Monday, July 20, 2020
YOUR DECISION DETERMINES YOUR
DESTINATION (II)
Read: Ruth 1:6-2
Ruth 1:6-22 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.
With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.
May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”
And said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?
Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—
would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them?
No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”
When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
MEMORISE: But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:16,17).
EXPOSITION
Yesterday, we saw the effect of the choice the prodigal son made. Today's, let us look at how a good decision can have lasting impact in ones life, as we study through the life of Ruth, one of the daughters-in-law of Naomi.
Choice is your right to choose between two, or more options. Decisions is like a pregnant woman that can only give birth to only one of these — destination or destruction.
Our character in this dose of the Living Water had to make a choice between two options — to follow her mother-in-law, or go back to her people. Whereas, she probably had seen the great difference between Yahweh, her husband's God, and the pagan god, her people were serving.
What benefit had she derived over the years from serving the pagan god, with her parents before her marital union with her husband, she must have noticed great difference and inexplicable benefits of serving the God of the Jew's. Likewise, you have to weigh the likely outcome of your actions before taking them.
Here are few things you need to take note about decision:
1. Where you are today and would be tomorrow are affected by your choices/decisions.
2. Your decisions will either make or mar you.
3. Your decisions will either increase or decrease you.
4. Your decisions will promote your breakthrough or breakdown.
5. Your decision can make you a message or mess.
The prodigal son's decisions to make a U-turn, to choose life, rather than death, made his life to become a message out of his messed up situation. May the Lord teach us how to make decisions wisely that will make our lives a message and not a mess.
PRAYER POINTS
1. My Father, teach my heart to rely on You for my decisions.
2. O Lord, help me to always weigh the consequences of my choices are and actions even, before undertaking them.
3. My Father, may our government decisions be always influenced by Your Word, in the interest of the masses.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Esther 3-7; Hebrews 11
Monday, July 20, 2020
YOUR DECISION DETERMINES YOUR
DESTINATION (II)
Read: Ruth 1:6-2
Ruth 1:6-22 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.
With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.
May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”
And said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?
Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—
would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them?
No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”
When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
MEMORISE: But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:16,17).
EXPOSITION
Yesterday, we saw the effect of the choice the prodigal son made. Today's, let us look at how a good decision can have lasting impact in ones life, as we study through the life of Ruth, one of the daughters-in-law of Naomi.
Choice is your right to choose between two, or more options. Decisions is like a pregnant woman that can only give birth to only one of these — destination or destruction.
Our character in this dose of the Living Water had to make a choice between two options — to follow her mother-in-law, or go back to her people. Whereas, she probably had seen the great difference between Yahweh, her husband's God, and the pagan god, her people were serving.
What benefit had she derived over the years from serving the pagan god, with her parents before her marital union with her husband, she must have noticed great difference and inexplicable benefits of serving the God of the Jew's. Likewise, you have to weigh the likely outcome of your actions before taking them.
Here are few things you need to take note about decision:
1. Where you are today and would be tomorrow are affected by your choices/decisions.
2. Your decisions will either make or mar you.
3. Your decisions will either increase or decrease you.
4. Your decisions will promote your breakthrough or breakdown.
5. Your decision can make you a message or mess.
The prodigal son's decisions to make a U-turn, to choose life, rather than death, made his life to become a message out of his messed up situation. May the Lord teach us how to make decisions wisely that will make our lives a message and not a mess.
PRAYER POINTS
1. My Father, teach my heart to rely on You for my decisions.
2. O Lord, help me to always weigh the consequences of my choices are and actions even, before undertaking them.
3. My Father, may our government decisions be always influenced by Your Word, in the interest of the masses.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Esther 3-7; Hebrews 11