The answer is ,faith. [Mark 4 v35-41 ]

I bought a mug with the words ,keep calm I,m a Man Utd fan,which I am,and as I watched them play [football] the other night I was anything but calm, I watched them hold on to win. Keep calm, it is hard to do sometimes ,in situations that are more important than a football team performing,when your life appears to be falling apart.I was with someone yesterday and he was getting so worked up, and my heart went out to him,as to what he has to cope with. Is it possible to keep your head, in other words keep calm when all around are loosing theirs?,that is a big challenge for all ou us.The disciples were anything but calm when a storm arose [ Mark 4 v 35 -41 ] Jesus was in the boat with them,asleep,He must have been exhausted,and they went to Jesus, woke Him, and asked,Master carest Thou not that we perish?.They really lost their calm ,to ask Him such a question, yet it is important to be honest, especially to our Lord, He can take it, and would prefer us to be honest, at all times in our relationship with Him. Jesus does not immediately answer them,He arises and speaks to the sea ,Peace be still, and the wind ceased, and there a great calm. Now note He didnt say to His disciples,peace be still,no he did something more important He told them they needed to exercise faith,they had lost their faith and so lost their calmness. What Jesus is saying to the disciples, and to us, if we are not going to be overcome with the storms of life, we need to exercise faith,it is as simple as that.

A prayer....../Dear God help us to live by faith, to face the storms of life, by faith, in Jesus name Amen /

A right spirit. [ Romans 12 v17 -21]

David was a man of God a man after Gods own heart, and yet he experienced his share of troubles,some undeserved others of his own making.Dont be disappointed if the best of men fail to live as they should, but observe how they act in success, and failure,and the important thing is dont judge them. When David was being hounded by Saul unfairly, he refused to hurt Saul,humally speaking ,he could have,he would not touch the Lords annointed.What he did was leave it with God to deal with Saul,consider the words he spoke to Saul,/The Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord avenge me of thee, but mine hand shall not be upon thee[ 1 Samuel 24 v12 ] There was no Count of Monte Cristo spirit in him,mybe you are experiencing unfair treatment,watch your spirit, and leave God to act on your behalf.Romans 12 v19 - 20 tells us,/Dear friends, never take revenge,leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the scriptures say,I will take revenge,I will replay them back, says the Lord./ but it does not stop there ,it would be easy to stop there and rub our hands with glee as we wait for God to destroy them,no it goes on to say,/Instead , if your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads/.

A prayer ..../Dear God grant me a right spirit in all things in Jesus name Amen/

Hardness of heart.[ Revelation 2 v1 - 7 ]

My love for you will never die, so goes a popular song, yet the person singing it may have been married three times, it was our Saviour who said to a group of Christians,that they had left their first love [Revelation 2 v4 ] .The warm flush of desire,and warmth ,of wanting to be in His presence, had disappeared,they were just going through the religous motions. They sang the hymns,prayed words but their hearts were not in it, it had become but an empty shell. When love goes out of a marriage,the marriage will suffer,and whan love goes out our relationship with our Saviour,that is sad, but it is more than that, it is a sin. We need to repent , our Saviour is not pleased with us when we replace love,with an other, true love is meant to stay true,meant to remain faithful,not to change like the weather. One of the reasons our Saviour gives for divorce is hardness of heart,[Matthew 19 v8 ],there is no better way of saying it,hardness of heart,and make no mistake about it it is a sin. Surely our Saviour does not deserve such an attitude, no more than a wife or a husband, we are commanded to love, yes commanded, and if we dont, we are sinning. You may bring out you reasons, for not loving,but consider, has God not a mountain of reason not to love this world,but that does not stop Him loving [John 3 v16 ]

A prayer..../Dear God forgive me for my hardness of heart,for my coldness towards others and especially towards You,by Your Spirit renew a right spirit within me, in Jesus name Amen /

T[he end wil be better.[ Psalm 30 v5 ]

And so Boaz and Ruth married and God blessed them with a child,they called him Obed,who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David.A story that started out so painfully ended so wonderfully,not only for Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, but eventually for Israel, and in Davids greater son Jesus, for the very world. In Ecclesiastes 7 v8, we read,/Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof/. Today you may be experiencing pain,loss,poverty,take encouragement from this story in the book of Ruth, trust God to bring you through to a better day. A better day,dont despair,in Psalm30 v5, we read,weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. You cannot see this with your natural sight, look with faith ,yes even through your tears, to God who can work all things or your good. It can happen now, dear child of God,but it will happen for ever child of God ,when we stand on heavens shore, there God will wipe away all tears.The great apostle who had his share of pain,wrote,/For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us[Romans 8 v18 ]/,so dear child of God hang in there, joy will come in the morning.

A prayer..../ Dear God grant us the grace we need to come through our troubles, and help us to trust Your providential care, and faith to see through our tears,a time when You will bring us to that time of deliverance,from all our cares, in Jesus name we ask this Amen /

Ask and you will recieve. [ Matthew 7 v 7 -11 ]

In chapter 4 we see Boaz going through the proper procedure as was required,he didnt elope, and it looked like ,someone else was going to marry Ruth, but it didnt happen. No this godly man was going to marry Ruth, it appears that he desired her to be his wife,we are told that,if we make God our delight,that God will delight to grant us the desires of our hearts[Psalm 37 v4 ]. We see this so often in the bible,Abraham desire for an heir,Jacob the blessing of God, Solomon his desire for wisdom,Nehemiah the restoration of Jerusalem.What is the desire of your heart? ,sometimes it seems impossible ,that you could ever have that desire,you may been to weak in faith ,even to let God know your desire, never mind anybody else. Well God knows this, could it be He is just waiting for you express this desire to Him?,mybe He will say to you why did you not come to me sooner, I was waiting for you to ask, and you would have recieved, the very desire of your heart. I am your loving heavenly Father, one who delights to bless you , my child,yes you are my child, you are not a beggar. Consider, as earthly fathers,give their children so much, how much more will I give unto you,for I am your loving heavenly Father.

A prayer...../Dear God we rejoice in Your Fatherhood,and we bring our desires unto believing that as we delight ourselves in You ,You will grant us the desires of our heart in Jesus name Amen /

If God is in it.[Isaiah 43 v13 ]

When Ruth returned to Naomi ,she told her what had happened , how Boaz had shown favour unto her,Naomi sees in this providential meeting ,a way out of their difficulties.Boaz was related to Naomi through marriage, and according to Deuteronomy 25 v 5-10, it stated that a near relative could marry the deceased husbands widow, if he chose not to,the next relative could take his place. It was not by chance that Ruth had come into contact with Boaz,so Naomi gives Ruth advice how to act ,that it would go well for her. Naomi gave the advice, Ruth was humble enough to listen ,take the advice, and act upon it. So the story unfolds, Ruth goes to where Boaz was,and informs him that he is a near relative,Boaz understands the implications,that Ruth would become his wife. It would appear that Boaz was an older man[3 v10 ], but this did not matter for God was in it, and that is whats inportant in every thing. Ruth returns to Naomi who again gives wise advice, sit still[3 v18],there is a time for action and time for waiting,may God help us to know the difference, and respond accordingly.

A prayer.... / Dear God help to see beyond the difficulties that we are facing, and to believe that if You are for us then all will be well, in Jesus name Amen /

To God be the glory. [ 1 Corinthians 10 v 31 ]

Boaz not only protects the vulnerable but showed kindness and he did it in an anonymous way,he told his workers to permit Ruth to have free excess to his crop, and to also to leave some heaps of corn on purpose. As evangelicals we stress that we are not saved by good works,but good works are an evidence that we are saved[ Ephesians 2 v8-10 / James 2 v 18] As to our good works, of whatever kind,we are to do all to the glory of God,we are not to broadcast what we do,that includes praying,doing and giving. Our Saviour stressed the importance of doing things secretly,the result ,our Father in heaven will reward us openly.[Matthew 6v6 ]Our Saviour was speaking to religious people who took great delight in showing how religious they were, and they were religious, but it was mans religion,done by man as unto man. Whatever we do, and we must do good works,God must get the glory,when we take the glory we are robbing God,of what is His due.

A prayer..../ Dear Heavenly Father help me never to rob You of Your glory in Jesus name Amen /