Prepare to move! Prepare to go where you have never gone before. My God says we are not to walk by sight but follow the spirit as He leads.
In Ruth 2, we find Ruth and Naomi in Bethlehem. Although this was Naomi's homeland, it was a foreign land to Ruth. She followed her mother-in-law out of loyalty. When you follow the Lord into a foreign territory out of allegiance to His heart, you can expect the following.
1. Divine Connections
Ruth the Moabitess asked her mother-in-law if she could go into the fields and glean grain behind anyone in whose eyes she found favor (Ruth 2:2). She happened upon the field of Boaz. This was a divine connection. She could have landed in anyone's field, but the Lord ordered her steps to one of Naomi's family members. Proverbs 16:9 NIV In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps!!!!!! May the Lord establish your steps!!!
2. Divine Strategies
Boaz took notice of Ruth and gave her a strategy in Ruth 2:8-9a, "Listen, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field and leave this one. Stay close to my young women. Keep your eyes on the field in which they reap and follow after them." God has a divine strategy! God is going to bring the young into our churches, into our ministries, into our homes….I am prophesying to you -do not be afraid to bring the orphans, the widows, the young abandoned ones into your homes. Adoption is the Gospel. God adopted you! The young ones will give out of love for the direction and safety that you will provide. It will cause the Naomi spirit to break off of us—and release us from all bitterness of our past!!!
3. Divine Protection
Boaz also arranged for Ruth's protection, as it could be dangerous for a young woman to glean in the fields among the men (see Ruth 2:22). "I have commanded the men not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn" (Ruth 2:9b). God is protecting us even now from the world and the ways of the world. God does not want us cohabitating with the World. He does not want us becoming one with the ways of the world. God does not want us defiled. He will provide for us through divine connections! He will protect us! Go to the WORD-go to VESSELS of Gold (others that have living water and drink from what they have drawn.) I have had a new desire to go back to my spiritual mother & father’s teachings and learn again…drink again!
4. Divine Favor
In response to Boaz's strategy and protection, Ruth responded:
She fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, 'Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should acknowledge me, a foreigner?'"
Boaz answered and said to her, "I have been told all that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, and how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to a people you did not know before. May the Lord reward your deeds. May you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge" (Ruth 2:10-12). If we want to produce in the natural we come under. We have got to come under at the right time! This is the right time! This is the season of fruitfulness. This is the season that we are able to become pregnant with the things God wants to birth on the earth-through us! Through you! This is your season. Don’t miss it by not being in position to receive. Don’t miss it by not being under!
5. Divine Harvest
Ruth was willing to work, but her divine connection and divine favor led to a divine harvest. "When she got up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, 'Let her glean even among the bundles, and do not harm her. Also pull out some grain for her from the bundles and leave it so that she may glean it, and do not rebuke her'" (Ruth 2:15-16). Handfuls on purpose!
Purpose is in the seed!
Ruth's favor came from her right alignment. It's time to make sure we're aligned rightly in this year. Wrong alignments will hinder the harvest.
ACTION STEP: Check your alignment. Are you where God wants you to be? Are you doing what God wants you to do?
I believe in you and you need to believe in yourself.