Looking at the Book of Ruth in order to look straight into the heart of God, we see that God is both willing and able to bless us financially and restore anything we lost. God’s willingness doesn’t waiver because you caused the loss. God’s love is unconditional for you. His willingness to help doesn’t depend on your obedience or lack thereof. If you are experiencing famine or loss in any area of your life, especially finances, Dr. Siohvaughn Funches urges and implores you to listen to this episode. Let God ignite your faith in a way that you see how you are entirely and richly blessed, completely restored, and redeemed by the One who loves you perfectly!
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Don’t Let Need Lead (Part 5)
We’re going to be continuing on and likely finishing up our series, Don’t Let Need Lead. This has been an on-time word for everybody. The world has been impacted in some way, shape or form by the pandemic and the challenges that have stemmed from it. It’s also timeless. It’s something that years from now, you can go back and read and I can. We can glean from it, gain wisdom and revelation, and be reminded the importance of not allowing need to lead us and instead allowing God to do so. Before we do that, we’re going to do what we always do and that’s take a moment and acknowledge God because you all certainly don’t need to hear from me unless it’s God through me. I would recommend that you don’t. I humble myself enough to say I love you enough and I don’t trust me with your life, but I do trust the Holy Spirit in me completely with your life and with mine.
We thank you, Heavenly Father, for the opportunity to get at the feet of Jesus and to hear His word. I pray God that you will give to each and every one of us all the more your spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus. Let the eyes of our understanding be enlightened all the more that we may know and believe what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in us, the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe Him according to the working of His mighty power.
I thank you enough and I praise you, Jesus, for as your good pleasure to expound on the scriptures to us about the things concerning yourself and open up our understanding that we might comprehend the scriptures and know you more. I thank you for the privilege of prayer, presence, getting to know you more. I thank you, God that this is the one thing that’s needed and you are going to prove that to us as we get at your feet. You get at the bottom of every problem, restore what is broken, redeem what is lost, even resurrect what’s dead, God. You do whatever it takes to do what you do promise for. You’re wonderful, trustworthy, glorious, true, faithful and beautiful as your heart. We are going to see the power of your hand in the land of the living by simply trusting in you, resting in you, believing in you, letting you love on us, God, and we love you back because you first loved us and we’re empowered to love one another more. In Jesus’ name, I pray.
God’s Currency Is Faith
For those who are joining us, I tell you and I can almost assure you, somebody joins us on the journey part way through or even toward the end, that’s not a problem. When people get on board, we welcome them. We do. I always encourage them to go back and read so that they can get everything God has for them. You don’t want to miss any of it. If you went on a game show and they say, “Here’s the prize. You get a house, brand new sports car, vacation, and a boat.” You’re never going to say like, “Never mind the boat.” No one says that. We’re like, “Yes. Even if I can’t swim, even if I sell this boat, give me my boat. Put that title in my name. I’m selling that by next week but I want my boat. I want my asset. I want all of my prize.”
God has prizes and God’s currency in heaven is faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ. Know that you’re not doing something and this is not a hobby. If it is a habit of yours that this is a great habit to have. In fact, we ought to pray that we have a habit of getting at Jesus’ feet and hearing His word because we get to know Him more. We trust Him more. The more we have faith, the more power we have to believe God for our miracles and even others. There are people who need your faith. You give them an impartation of your faith or they didn’t have the faith to pray and believe God but you prayed for them. It happened anyway and that’s love, that’s beautiful, and that’s power. God’s way for us to access this power is by faith. We even access this grace in which we stand by faith, the Bible says and so the faith to believe God is coming and it’s coming by hearing the word of God which is why I take time to pray during and before this show, God, none of me, all of you.
Hearing from me doesn’t give you the faith you need to get your miracle or you’ll breakthrough but hearing from the God that lives on the inside of me can cause you to do all things through Christ. I don’t take this lightly and it’s a privilege for me to be served by God and be the one He’s serving others through, but all glory to Him. We’ve spent the last several episodes allowing God to renew our mind with His word, which is what we do on this show. This is never the place. You have to take my word for it. You don’t have to rely on my revelation. I’m always pointing people back to the word of God because Jesus is the word. I’m saying, “He’s your savior, Lord, provider, healer, faith, strength, marriage keeper, and the one that turns the wayward child back home.” That’s all Him. None of me. I got to rely on Him like you do. I point people and I direct people to the word of God. That can’t fail you. That can’t disappoint you.
It’s an impossibility. We’re always doing that and we’ve been letting God constantly renew our mind over the last several episodes specifically in the area of God is our provider and His absolute unfailing promises written in the word that He will provide for His children. Not only will he provide for us, it is His will to provide for us. He wants to provide for us. It’s His joy. The Bible says, “It’s the Father’s joy to give you the kingdom.” This is His good pleasure. It says another translation is to give you the kingdom. It’s God’s will, ways, and heart to provide. We also look at the scriptures and you have to hear this if you haven’t already. I would encourage you to hear it again because the word of God doesn’t come back void or empty, but it accomplishes what God sent it to do when He releases it out. Through me, He has sent that word out. That word can’t come back void, empty. It’s out now. You must accomplish what God sent it to do, so don’t get tired of hearing it.
The Bible says, “Faith comes by hearing.” That’s in the continual tense. You’ve got to get in on this. These are God’s ways and they’re easy-peasy so we want that. We’ve been looking at God as our provider and looking at the various scriptures. We specifically looked at a passage of scripture in Deuteronomy 28. We went through about thirteen verses. I would encourage you to do that too because God established for us beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has these amazing plans for us, much better than anything we could think of or imagine. These plans include financial success and prosperity. The Bible says, “I pray that you will prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.” It’s important that it even commensurate to, just as, equal as your soul prospers. You’re getting soul prosperity now. Every time you read this blog, your soul is prospering. Your mind is being renewed. You’re born again.
God Is The Solid Foundation
The effects of that is God lives on the inside of you. God dwells not only with you but in you. Because of all of this, God has for you and me. It’s great news but it was important that we started there because we can’t build a house without a solid foundation. The only foundation that’s solid is God because there can be people who even can help us but they don’t, there are people who could help us but they won’t, or there are people who want to help us but they can’t. It’s important that we build everything not on people that includes us. We, people as ourselves, will feel I’ll do it for myself because I definitely have my best interests at heart. You’re also human which means you’re limited and you can make mistakes. You can main wheel and you can have a bigger mess than somebody who even intended evil. Welcome to humanity, don’t shoot the messenger. It’s the truth what I said, the only sheer solid foundation.
How important is your life to you? How important is your marriage? How important are your children? If this is important, how important are your finances? What does it mean to you to prosper and have good success? What does it mean to you to have a beautiful house? If it means something to you, I encourage you, build it only on the sheer foundation, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the word of God. God is building everything upon that rock Jesus in our life. That’s what he’s doing even through this show. I’m grateful to be a part of it because when it matters to me, it matters to me. If someone’s child is faced with a terminal illness and you mean to tell me they can take them to the best surgeon in the world, they are going for the best. I’m skipping go, I’m not collecting $200, and I won’t need to go to jail.
I’m getting straight to the point and top. My children are in need. I want the best. You’re not the best, you want to get away from me because you’re wasting my time at a critical moment. I’m looking for the best. Good isn’t good enough. I’m looking for great and I’m looking for the greatest. It’s as simple as that. God is the greatest. What we’re doing is taking our whole life to God, all the matters that pertain to life to God and we’re saying build it on you, put it in your hands, you are the best surgeon, healer, restorer, builder, you have the best ideas, you’re the wisest and you’re the richest. I’m going to the best. I am skipping go people. I’m not dealing with that anymore. I dealt with that, I wandered in that wilderness and that dry place. I don’t want anything to do with it ever again. I’m good.
I know some people say like, “They can have a chance to go through it. They would do it again.” I’m like, “You’re better than me. If I had the chance to do it again, I would say, ‘God, take me.’” That was way too much. I never have to see that darkness again and I’m fine. I don’t get that. I guess I haven’t arrived yet according to those people. I might not want to arrive because even God said, “The same affliction will not arise twice.” I liked that better instead of going around the same mulberry bush and coming up with nothing. I like God’s will for our life. It’s a good success, good prosperity, no strings attached, more than enough. We saw that in the scriptures that you’re not only blessed and your family blessed, but you’re blessed to be a blessing, which means God gives you more than enough. Since we saw this in the word and we know God’s will is His word. We know there’s a perfect will of God that we prosper and have good success.
We can’t argue with that because with God, no sorrow is going to be added to the success, the wealth, and we’re talking finances, money. I know that makes religious folks uncomfortable but we’re talking dollars and cents. Give me all of mine. If God gave it to me, people are like, “Leave the change.” I’m not leaving the change. I won’t mind. We know that it’s God’s will and it was good for us to establish that first so that we can know we have no need of making deals with the devil settling for less, making deals with people, or compromising our character, the fruit of our character for a dollar. When our Father owns everything, the Bible says, “The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness therein.”
We are heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, bless with believing Abraham and heirs of Abraham. Abraham not only in his heirs prospered, but even in the driest seasons, even in the most severe famines, Abraham and all his descendants persevered and prospered right in the midst of that mess. They were the manifested miracle. The tangible power of God that even calls heathens who didn’t believe in God to say, “God has to be real.” It’s no way in the world we going through this yet you are still on top like that unaffected. As a matter of fact, not only unaffected by the famine, you’re gaining wealth through the famine. That right there will make the heathen say heaven is real. God is real. Jesus is Lord. He has to be. Mathematically speaking, it is not spiritually deep. I’m just doing the math.
Book Of Ruth
He got to be God. There’s no reason for us to allow anything other than God, to lead us into financial prosperity and good success. The blessings of the Lord make us rich and He adds no sorrow with it. We began to look at the Book of Ruth and we saw that in the Book of Ruth, there was a famine at that time. We looked at Naomi and her family, the book opens up, talking about her and her husband, Elimelech, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, and how there was a famine in that land. They left, went to Moab, and they were in Bethlehem, which means House of Bread. They left the House of Bread and they went to Moab, a nation that was previously cursed.
They had a need. Seems to be no grain, not a lot of production of food in Bethlehem. They got a belly and it’s growling a bit. Instead of letting God lead them, they let that need lead them out of the House of Bread, which represented the will of God and provision. God is not the provider when the stock market numbers are favorable to investors. God is a provider whether the stock market numbers are soaring or plummeting. God is still God. God doesn’t waiver. The currency and economic system of heaven is completely and wholly unaffected by these things that are happening down here. The Bible says the Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness therein. All of it belongs to God.
I always say this and I say this to myself sometimes before I pray. We’ll slow down a bit before I start rambling off. Sometimes I will take a moment and meditate on different things about God and His word. God is God regardless of what is going on. His word remains true without doubt, no matter what is going on. That’s what happens. It is what it is. God is still God all by Himself no matter what. Circumstances change, finances can fluctuate but God remains the same. These people let need lead them and there were definitely severe consequences for doing so. They left out of Bethlehem, went into Moab and lived there for a while. Naomi’s husband died.
One of her sons died and her other son died. While they were letting need lead them and gain what they thought was bread or they thought they were saving themselves instead of trusting God to save them, they recognized their need and said, “We better hurry up. We got to save ourselves.” In doing so, they ended up dying. The Bible talks about the one who loses his life will save it but the one who tries to save his life will lose it. We are part in this play called life. It’s to put our trust in Jesus. It’s to follow him even if you look like a fool in doing so. He used to do it anyway. God knows what He’s doing whether it ever makes sense to us or not. We have to understand. God knows best.
I don’t even know if you got to know so much about God to know that. Even as a parent, you’ve got a 40-year-old parent and you’ve got a 3-year-old child or a 1-year-old child. That child may think, “I need more candy. You don’t get it.” They’re sincere but they’re sincerely wrong. They don’t know more than that 40-year-old parent. Trust is what you need to do because figure it out, you may never do and I’m not diminishing the wisdom God has given us by any means. Compared to God, I’m saying this is a one-year-old with a 40-year-old. If not greater, it may be a 1-month-old with a 40-year-old.
Who knows how much we’ll realize we didn’t know yet when we get to heaven? Although there was this famine in the land, God showed me this. If you go through the Book of Ruth and we won’t go through the whole Book of Ruth, we’re pulling out some truths that God wanted us to know which are applicable to us because apparently in the world, there’s a famine now. The early part of 2020, there’s a famine. No one’s questions it. It’s in every nation. There is no Moab to run into. If you run into another nation, it’s like, “They’re going through it.” Nowhere to run except for up. You got to look up to the hills from which comes your help because to look outward, whether it’s north, south, east, or west, above the equator line or under it, everybody’s feeling it.
We are to trust God to lead us. The Bible says. “As many as there are the sons and daughters of God are led by the spirit of God, not led by themselves or what they think they need.” Interestingly, God showed me that when you go through the Book of Ruth, probably many of you have, and if not, I encourage you to do so. It’s a short book but it’s filled with the goodness of God, the power of God, and the love of God. You see Jesus, He’s depicted through the person of Boaz in this particular story. It’s wonderful to see Jesus as our Kinsman-Redeemer, Jesus is our redeemer. That’s why you hear that song, My Redeemer Lives. I love that song. It’s great.
That’s a great place to worship if you feel like you lost something or the devil has stolen something, it’s good to worship God. God told me once, “However you worship me is how I will manifest myself.” Your worship should be strategic. Lord lead me even in worship. Jesus is our Kinsman-Redeemer. He’s great because we all have experienced loss. I’m not saying we’re going to continue experience and loss. Let’s decree it, in Jesus name, no more loss. God willing, no more loss, in Jesus name. It’s important. If you do feel like you’ve lost something, it’s good to see Jesus in the Book of Ruth because He’s your Redeemer. With that, you know all is not lost and it’s nothing that He has lost that He can’t redeem and He wants to redeem it.
You got your savior, willing and able. We saw that in this famine in this land in Bethlehem in the Book of Ruth if you’ve been through it or will go with that wisdom and read it. Although Naomi and her family flee from Bethlehem because of the famine, God told me these words, “Don’t flee in the famine.” Things get dry. That can even be like in a marriage situation. God was saying don’t flee because there’s no doubt as a famine but I’m still God in a famine. Don’t pack up and run. Don’t do that. I’m still God even in a famine. Don’t flee during the famine. Trust God, dig your heels in deep and trust God all the more and look up the scriptures of these people who were experiencing severe famines.
A famine is a famine. That’s a spirit whether that spirit touched the marriage, a belly, finances, children, intimacy, or somebody, man or health, it’s still a spirit. God has dealt with that devil and conquered every time. Trust God. In this story, you see that there were two relevant relatives of Naomi. One of them represented the law and the other one, Boaz, represented Jesus as our Kinsman-Redeemer. Interestingly, both of these relatives stayed in Bethlehem. There’s no record of them leaving or fleeing in the famine. Naomi decided to go back to Bethlehem, back to God. Now she’s not going to trust herself, she wants to trust God. She said, “I’m back to trusting God. I lost my mind for a minute, but I’m back.”
She’s back to trusting God. She came with her daughter-in-law, Ruth. This book, the Book of Ruth, not the Book of Naomi. She was the real queen and character in this true story but nevertheless. Ruth was a Moabites because remember they went to Moab, one of her sons married Ruth. Her other son married a woman too but she didn’t go. She stayed back with her pagan gods in Moab. Ruth dared to believe God. She’d heard enough about this God, Jehovah, Yahweh, that she wants in on this. She’s willing to trust Him even though she doesn’t know nearly as much as Naomi. I’m thinking she knew enough to say, “I’m leaving everything I know behind. I’m going after God.” That was a wise woman. That was a wise decision.
Everything in her life was touched by the power and love of God. It was glorious and great. They are people who pray to get half-way of what Ruth got to gain the ground she gained in life and still would be doing well. God, I’m saying hooks you up when you put your trust in Him. As I said, those two relatives stayed and they were both wealthy enough to redeem Ruth which would have obviously had great effects for Naomi too and brought her redemption, salvation for that house, in fact. One of the relatives wasn’t willing, that’s the one that represents the law. The law is unbending. The other one was Boaz, who represented Jesus, the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who all though knows every right and every wrong.
He’s the one who declared mercy triumphs over judgment. He’s the one who God declared, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” Not only that, but God didn’t send His son into the world to condemn, but that through Him, Jesus, the world would be saved. I wish somebody would have broken this down for me a little bit early in life because the picture that was painted for me about God was one very harsh and made you want to do anything but draw near to Him. It was like, “Run, Forrest, run. Real talk.” Another interesting thing that God showed me was provision proceeded the problem in their life. Making a long story short, God caused Boaz to fall in love with Ruth and quite quickly, in fact. Not only that, Boaz was a wealthy man.
Not only that, Boaz was related to Naomi because of her husband who had previously passed. He was a family member. Boaz was a relative, a wealthy man, and God put his love in Boaz’s heart for Ruth. God put a willingness in Boaz to redeem Ruth because if you’re going to redeem somebody back in those days, they would buy them back their property, bring restoration and redemption to their name and their properties or wealth was lost to a family. God had provided a way that they could be redeemed. God anticipated that there will be mistakes made or even others who would do wrong to us and it would cause a loss. He had this provision, this redemption promise in place.
He had it under the law, but we can learn a lot from it now because Jesus is our Redeemer and He lives. God’s heart is still to redeem and notably, God redeemed these people through Boaz even though the whole need for redemption started with them letting need lead them instead of God. These were mistakes that Naomi and her family made but God is good. He came and turned their mess into a miracle and cleaned up the mess He didn’t make. The Bible says that Jesus restores that which He didn’t take away. God is that good. If we can believe that God is that good then even when we do wrong, even when we say, “This thing is a mess. Who did it?” “It was me.” It’s always like your voice gets lower.
I know mine does. They’re like, “Somebody else did it to me.” You’re like, “God, did you see what they did?” My volume is way higher. When it’s like, “Who calls this particular man” I’m like, “It was me, Lord.” You can barely hear me. Human nature is funny. I laugh even at myself sometimes. I thank God and I love Him more because I know He loves me through all of it like my high-volume days and I’m like, “It was me.” My lowly confession, “I did it.” I love Him because He loves me no matter what. It’s crazy but it’s true. I am madly in love with God who’s madly in love with me even when I’m mad. God showed me that not only did those relatives have that wealth, which means God prospered His people although there was a famine, in spite of the famine.
Naomi and her family didn’t have to run anywhere. Boaz didn’t run anywhere. The other relative that represented a law that did have a right to redeem Naomi, Ruth and her family but wasn’t willing to or didn’t want to because Ruth was a foreigner. He didn’t want anything to do with it. As I said, he represented the law which was unbending. At that time, the blessing of God was for the Jewish people under the law, “I’m not giving you this redemption blessing. You’re a foreigner,” and dismissed her. The whole bride of Christ was a foreigner meaning non-Jew. God said, “I love you so much. The Ruths, the Moabites, the foreigners, the non-Jews, I’m sending my only begotten son to die in your place. Even though you curse on me and worship other false gods.
If you love me that much and I’m doing too much, then you love me, now that you save me and wash me clean with your own blood.” Same for you, people of God and born again. If you’re born again, that’s for you. Both of these people had money. They had enough wealth to sustain themselves and redeem this family from the poverty they got themselves into. They never flee during the famine. They stayed in the will of God and God prospered them, blessed them, that they would have more than enough to be a blessing to others. We don’t have to flee during the famine. God is still God even in the famine. Don’t pack up and run. I don’t care what the challenges call that you’re facing. I do care that you’re facing a challenge and more importantly, God does.
If you care, he does. If you like God, I wish my eyebrows were fuller. I promise you that matters to God. You were like, “Don’t bother God with it.” Are you out of your mind? God is my best friend. I’m dealing with Him with all of it. I wish I didn’t have to say, I’m saying it. God is interested even in my eyebrows. I believe He loved me. If you count the number of hairs on my head, it matters to you that they get more filled in the end. That’s my thought. I believe God is that good. Believe with me. God’s provision, as I said, proceeded this problem. He had Boaz wealthy. It was God who calls Ruth. The Bible says. “She just happens to come to the field.” She came to the field as a gleaner. That was the poorest people at that time. They didn’t even pick-up harvest. They gleaned whatever was left after the harvesters got all of the crops and they got whatever crumbs basically fell. This man immediately notices her.
He loves her. He wants not only once to bless her, He begins to bless her. God even blesses her on the way to her full redemption. He’s given them bread. He’s telling the people make sure that grain from the harvesters purposely falls for her, the gleaner. She not supposed to get that but favor isn’t fair. You heard me saying it. It’s true. It may be not the best way to say it grammatically but it’s true. I love how God did this. Long story short, Boaz falls in love with her. He goes through some things in order to redeem her because the law was a process for redemption, but he went through all of that to make it happen. One last point before we close, during the time of her waiting to be redeemed because he had the power to redeem her, he had the desire to redeem her.
She agreed to be redeemed because remember, Jesus won’t force His will on any of us. She wanted Jesus to save her, so to speak. Boaz represented Jesus. Here’s an important question because some of us are right here at this part of her story, we’re in the waiting room waiting on redemption, so to speak. What do you do there? What do you do in that place? You find this in Chapter 3 in the Book of Ruth. I love Boaz, who is a shadow of Jesus Christ. He is a picture of Jesus Christ. He’s a way for us to see Jesus, His character, and His heart even in the Old Testament says to her. If you’re somebody who says, “I’ve heard God through you, Siohvaughn, and I’m not going to let need lead.”
I see that God redeemed her. He’s no respecter of person. I got the faith to believe He’s going to redeem me. What do I do? Jesus told this woman through Boaz what He’s telling you through me. This is in 11:3, “And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman or a woman of worth.” If you say, “Do I qualify? Am I that?” You’re born again, you are definitely worth it to God. You worth Him dying for. I look at what the mother-in-law says towards the end of that same chapter. It’s verse 18. She said to her, “Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out. For the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day.” All of her advice, fear not because I’m going to do everything that’s needed for you.
That’s your word from the Lord. This is also, sit still. That’s rest. Trust God. Don’t worry about how the matter will turn out. That’s not you. Your job is not to think about how the matter will turn out. Your job is to focusing on sitting still, trusting Him, trusting the one, look to the one, He’ll look to the do’s and don’ts and the how’s and when. That’s His part in this play call life. Our part is to sit still, to trust Him, knowing that we can sit still and rest because He won’t rest. He works this matter out favorably for me. That I know about my Jesus. I pray that blesses you. I pray that God seals His very word and promises to you and your heart with the blood of Jesus.
I thank you, Lord, that you have planted the seeds in us, they take root and they bear much fruit that remains for your glory, Jesus, for the glory of your son and for our good and the good of multitudes of others. Now, in our generations, as so long as this Earth remains and in heaven, in Jesus’ name, we pray. I love you very much. Thank you so much for trusting God in me with something that’s important as your precious life. God bless you all the more. I love you so much. I thank you for being with me on this journey.
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