March 24, 2019
My Dear Brothers and Sisters, I greet and bless everyone in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. The blessed word that God has given for you today is from the book of Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
My dear Brothers and Sisters the above context tells us that God is so concerned about you and your family. God wants to grant you peace and not do evil for you. Therefore put your trust in Him. He who called you is faithful. He will neither leave you nor forget you. He has engraved you in the palm of His hands. Your walls are ever before Him. The Lord desires to give you a better life. He does not want you to suffer the hard way you have lived. He wants to give you a completely new life. In the Bible, we see, that everything was against Ruth. She shared her tears with the Lord. So she held on to her Mother in law, Naomi. She decided to hold on to her mother in law, in order to receive the blessing of the living God. She clung to her Mother in law. She said to her mother in law, “Your people shall be my people, And your God my God. Where you die, I will die.” She was determined to hold on to her mother in law, even though she was a childless widow, and not leave her alone at any cost.
Therefore God blessed the latter part of her life to a glorious one. God also blessed and honored Naomi who loved Ruth for who she was. She wanted to do good for her and therefore sent her to work in the fields for Boaz who later married her. And Ruth bore a son Obed and made a new generation and the people of the town praised Naomi who was an elderly widow. God changed their sorrow into joy.
My dear Brothers and Sisters, I wish to illustrate an incident as to how God blessed a couple who once came to me crying about their unhappy married life. A young girl came to see me and she said, “Sir you too came to my marriage and blessed me on my wedding day. The members of my husband’s family are closely associated with you and your ministry. But I am not able to get along with my husband and his family. So I left my in-laws house and now I live with my parents. I have decided to divorce my husband. Please show me a way. ”I was shocked to hear this from her because I know the bridegrooms family very well and they are very god fearing, so how can this happen. I was disturbed in my thoughts. So I called up the boy and spoke to him to know what was the problem and why she had left the house. Then I cried to the Lord and said, “Lord this marriage was conducted by several men of God. And God Himself conducted the marriage let no man separate this marriage. If she could not live in that family then she cannot live in any other family. I also realized that there is no family where people don’t make any mistakes. So I called the couple to my office once again and gave them counseling. I told the girl to join her husband before things worsened. Then God spoke to her prophetically saying “who knows if God would give a project to your husband in America and you too might go and live there. “So she left my office peacefully. After just ten days of their visit to my office God gave her husband an onsite project and asked him to go to USA. As soon as he left to USA he prepared a visa for his wife also and took her to America. Thus just as God joined Ruth and Boaz, God joined both the husband and wife and settled them amicably without any problem. So I wish to say that if you struggle for the welfare of your family like Ruth God will definitely exalt you and bless you.
Prayer:
Our loving heavenly Father, we thank You for this blessed day. Lord teach us to adjust with our spouse and our in-laws like Ruth so that we can enjoy a good family life. Help us to be honest with each other and extend love, care and bear one another’s burden. Help us to have a better understanding and maintain a good relationship within the family circle. In Jesus name, we pray.
Amen.
