Never Too Late

Never Too Late

When I write about Waiting On Your Boaz, I often hear from those who feel that it may be too late for them to find such a mate. I believe that nothing is impossible for God so we must not count Him out. After all, it is God who orders our steps.

Look at Ruth and Boaz. I’m sure Ruth thought it was too late for her having been married and widowed. She was not ‘as’ young as a new bride would be and she was a widow; not what one many men would want in a ‘new’ bride.

Boaz, on the other hand seems to have never been married. He was past His prime and much older than even Ruth. I’m sure he had put away all hope of finding the young wife of his dreams, let alone one young enough to still bear children.

So we have two people, who by all accounts of the times, had given up on love. But there was One who never gave up. There was One who was always at work; God!

As you wait and pray and pray and wait, who knows what God is working behind the scenes? Whether you are 18, 28, 48 or older, single or divorced, struggling with life or not, God has a plan for your life and it just may include your Boaz!

It’s Never too late for God! He may not come exactly when you want, but He’s always on time!

Perhaps there are loose ends He has to tie up. Maybe you are not ready to receive your Boaz or your Boaz needs a little more work. Could it be He has to move some people out of your life? People you don’t want to let go of? Maybe you are just not paying attention to the Boaz God has sent you.

Whatever the possible reasons, one thing is for sure; it’s never too late for God to work in your life. Your job is to keep your eyes on the Lord and walk with Him faithfully. Let God do His work in His timing.

Ruth had to go through the death of her first husband to get to her match. Boaz waited what must have seemed an eternity and probably had given up already. God was working; and God is working on your behalf.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.”

Romans 8:28

This is such a comforting verse! It says that your pain, your suffering, your struggles and experiences are not wasted! If you love God and are called to His purposes (not yours), He is busy making sure everything you go through is applied towards your good.

If your Boaz would be a ‘good’ thing for you, rest assured; God is on the job! He is working on your behalf. He is inching you ever so closer to what He has for you.

Question is;

How much work does He have to do to make things happen for you?

I believe, though God is sovereign, He gives us free will and works with our choices. I believe we “increase” or “decrease” His good work on our behalf by our actions and choices.

God has a plan for each of us and imagine it looks like a super highway and along the way are our ‘good’ destinations He has for us. He puts us in the drivers seat and gives us directions. As we drive, we get detracted and miss our exits.

If you’ve ever missed and exit, you know you must jump off the next exit, double back and try to find your way back on the correct direction. Same with life; when we miss God’s exit, we miss or delay what He has or had for us.

It’s never too late, but it sure puts us way behind schedule! So don’t give up. Stay in the driver’s seat and fix your eyes of God for direction and let Him lead you and tell you what exits to take and what places to stop.

If you find yourself lost; take a deep breathe, jump off the next exit, double back and begin again. It’s never too late!

God Bless

Recognizing Boaz

Recognizing Your Boaz

So, you decided to Wait On Your Boaz. You have read about Ruth and Boaz, read blog post from Wait On Your Boaz, preparing yourself to receive your Boaz and prayed to God to send you your Boaz. Now What?

In order to receive who God has for you, you have to know what to look for. Many women complain that there are no ‘good me’ out here for them, when in reality, many women pass up the good men for the jerks because they cannot tell the difference.

Your Boaz should NOT be just about good looks, a nice smile, smooth words, nice job and car, muscular build, fashionable clothes and big connections. If he does have all that, great! But that is NOT what you should be looking for.

If you want to recognize the guy that God is sending you, you must think like God. How does God choose? Let’s look at what God said to Samuel when He was selecting a king for Israel.

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not 

see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the

Lord looks at the heart.”

I Samuel 16:7

God knows looks can be deceiving and chances are, most guys in general tend to put their best foot forward to get you hooked. It is only too often that the ‘now’ love struck woman finds out his true colors down the road.

So let’s look at some guidelines to look for when waiting for your Boaz.

1. Christian. Make sure your potential Boaz is a practicing Christian. I’ve stated good reasons for the ‘why’. A man who is accountable to God will be much more likely to treat and respect you in a godly manner than one who is not.

I ‘do’ want to point out the ‘making sure’ of his Christian status. Anyone can talk a good game and this is why ‘waiting’ is imperative. Wait and observe how deep his Christianity goes. Does it show only when you are around, or is it full on all the time? Does he pray with you? Read the Bible with you? Attend church with you? Is he respecting you according to God’s standards? And everyone else? Wait and watch and all will be revealed.

2. Affectionate. Love and affection are extremely important in any          

Relationship. Your potential Boaz should be ‘loving’ and looking to give his love away to you. Under God, you should be a major priority in his life.

Don’t fool yourself by making excuses why he cannot treat you the way you deserve to be treated. There is NO excuse for abuse and neglect. Let me clarify that; men ‘make’ excuses, but you should NOT accept excuses for abusive and neglectful behavior. God will NEVER send you an abusive and neglectful man from Himself.

3. Work Ethic. Is this soon to be Boaz a worker? Can he provide? Is

he a hard and consistent worker? Or does he make excuses for why he cannot get his life together?

If your Boaz cannot work steady or makes excuses for why he cannot work, what will happen when he becomes your mate? Make sure your Boaz, or potential Boaz has a J-O-B and works hard for himself and his future, because that future may some day include you.

4. Life Goals. Your Boaz and you should share similar goals; at least

Goals that move you in the same direction. You cannot hope to succeed if you have two different visions and moving in two different directions.

If you want a family, a nice home, maybe some vacation time; it will not work if your Boaz wants no kids or cannot control his finances. What if he is consumed with ambition? You may find yourself and your dreams being placed on the back burner.

Take your time and discuss his past, present and future. Find out where he’s been, where he’s at now and where he sees himself in the future. Go slow so you can observe things clearly.

These are some basic things to look for. God will not send you dysfunction or confusion. He will not send abuse and neglect. He will not sent you selfishness or immorality. God looks at the heart and He will not send you a Boaz whose heart is not ready to be with you.

Your job is to WAIT! Wait and go slow with open eyes. PURPOSELY look and check to see if your potential Boaz is the real deal and not an imitator. If God has kept you waiting for your Boaz, a little more waiting will not hurt the outcome. Waiting will only reveal what is hidden.

“For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open,”

Mark 4:22

Do Not Be Unequally Yoked

Do Not Be Unequally Yoked

I know many of you are waiting and looking for your Boaz. It seems at times that things just are not moving fast enough. It’s a natural tendency to want to try to ‘help’ God find that special someone.

When you get to this point in your mindset, the mind can play all kinds of tricks on you. You began to see illusions of the perfect mate where perfection does not exist. You start to overlook obvious warning signs and focus on any and every seemingly good quality in that person.

God says “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”

2 Corinthians 6:14  

It is a clear instruction from the Word of God that in choosing a mate, to make sure they are a believer also. Why? Again, God points to ‘commonality’.

Things in common, unite. Differences tend to divide. Let’s exam this is the spiritual context in which it is written.

Say you disregard God’s command and date/marry an unbeliever. You are happy for a while until the differences start to become bigger issues. You want to attend church, he does not. You try to overlook this, but it makes you feel alone or less than united. The same occurs when you find yourself worshipping alone, praying alone and studying scripture alone.

When problems arise and decisions must be made, you consult God and His Word for guidance, while your make decides the best way is ‘his’ way; and we know where our choices lead.

What about tithing and giving? You want to honor God, but he sees it as a waste of money and refuses. He’d rather hang out with the guys and drink rather than be the spiritual leader of the home. When it comes to ethics and morality, he makes his own rules and you are left to deal with the consequences.

The list goes on and on and makes for a difficult relationship.

The same examples can be applied to many other areas in incompatibility. If you are unequally yoked in education; it will not be too long before the educated half grows tired of their less than educated partner and grows apart. Same can be said in instances of careers. Moral, political and/or sexual standards can also be added to the list. All this differences can have a snowball effect with devastating results.

God is trying to protect you from all this. He is not saying that those who do not have these things in common with you are less than you or are bad people. He is saying that you ‘two’ are not ready to build a relationship on.

Jesus said it far better than I ever could in Matthew 7:24

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

God wants you to build a strong foundation! There is no greater foundation built which is Jesus Christ! You have begun to build upon this foundation by accepting Him as your Lord and Savior. What builder starts with a strong foundation, only to build a weak structure?

Strength begets strength. Start strong and finish strong! Build upon your rock and do not settle for less than the finest and most compatible materials God has to give you to build your life.

Lastly, understand what a ‘yoke’ is. A yoke is a harness that is placed on two oxen to make them plow in unity. If the yoke is uneven, the oxen do not move as one and the job will be difficult, if not disastrous. Oxen equally yoked move in sync; the same direction.

This is what God wants for you as you “Wait On Your Boaz”. He wants a mate that will move in the same direction with unity as you. The top priority is spiritual unity, but do not neglect unity is the purpose of your life together, income level, education, family upbringing, sexual relations, money management, entertainment and life goals.

You have a great foundation; build upon it correctly!

God Bless.

Change

Whenever you feel as if God has failed you, left you or doesn’t love you anymore, remember this: It is your views that have changed, not God. Your outlook on God and life can change with each circumstance, but God NEVER changes. His love, goodness, faithfulness and holiness is ALWAYS the same! 

Malachi 3:6 "I the LORD do not change.”

Let's Get Real!

LET’S GET REAL!

Can I get real with you? Can I open my heart to you? Can I put it all out there for you? Can I let you into my head and heart?

There was a time that I was as far from God as anyone else. A time when I lived for myself, did what I want, answering to no one. There was a time when I was on my own path; the path that leads to destruction and pain.

I remember thinking life was at its greatest when I was my worse.

Slowly, my God began to call me to Him. It was rough and I fought it every step of the way, but God doesn’t give up easily. I remember when the world I created came crashing down.

I went from being my own little king to the king of sorrow. I remember the night I threatened to take my own life in blind anger and drunkenness. I remember being rushed to the emergency room and told I may not make it.

May not make it? What?! Oh, no! I know what I said and did, but….death….is final. “Oh God help me! I’m sorry.”

I remember getting real with God that night. I remember how He worked a miracle and saved me! I gave Him my life and began to walk as a new creation.

I wish I could tell you that I was a stellar Christian, but I can’t. it’s not for lack of trying. It’s just that I still had so many of my old ways still hanging in the closet. I remember backsliding fast and wondering if I was even a true child of God.

Thank God Jesus said, “Whom the Father has given Me are Mine and no one is able to pluck them from My hand. I will not lose one.”

Thank You Jesus.

My new low brought me to my knees. I cried out to God that if He’d still have me, I would serve Him. I asked for a perfect mate to begin a new life with and to start a family with.

As before, God worked a miracle again! He moved me hundreds of mile away and gave me that helpmate and we started that family and He blessed us abundantly!

A nice home, cars, money, more children. God built us up and kept us safe. A great church, godly family and beautiful friends. What more could I ask for?

And true to my word, I was faithful…until… Until I took my eyes off my Savior and onto myself and the world. Until the blessings became more important than the Bless-Or. Until pride and arrogance set up a temple in my body and defiled the temple of God.

“Whoever defiles the temple of God will be destroyed!”

So God began to destroy me.

First it was loss of money and possessions. Then my health was attacked. My family relationship strained. I cried out to God..WHY?!

Why have you walked away from me?!

“I never walked away from you. You walked away from Me.”

…”I know…and I’m sorry.”

How could this happen? How could I be so dumb? How could I keep screwing up so much?

Why does He love me like He does?

Again, God rescued me. He saved me! He picked me up and washed me clean. He threw His arms around me and hugged me tightly. He put a new ring on my finger and robe on my back and slaughtered the fatted calf. He called me …son.

Oh how I love Him. My Father God. My Savior God. My Helper God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit…my God..my awesome and glorious, true and living God! Hallelujah!

Now I sit here being real with you. Real with you about being real with God. It doesn’t matter where you have come from or where you are at. Yesterday is past and the present is right behind it. Today is the day to get real with God. Humble yourself and go to Him. He’s waiting to love on you like you can’t understand.

He knows your wants. He knows your needs. He knows your weaknesses. He knows dreams. He knows YOU! And you…. Are the Apple Of His Eye!

You want your Boaz? Good. But find the Bless-Or and don’t get caught up in chasing the blessing. God has many gifts He wants to shower on you, but the greatest gift is God Himself.

Take the lessons of my life to heed. God is the ultimate prize in this life and the life to come. He is Beautiful, Loving, Graceful and Merciful. He is Forgiving and Faithful…even when we are not. He longs to build a relationship with you and to continue in it.

He is the ULTIMATE BOAZ. He is the ULTIMATE HUSBAND, Friend, Lover, Confidant, Teacher, Guide and Master. When you have Him, you have everything. Walk close to Him and He will give you everything else. When you stray, He is waiting to take you back…again, and again, again.

God Bless You.